This may turn out to be long but, I want to give all details I can. My car doesn't seem to like emissions. It's due to go through again, and every time I pull into the test lane....the car won't start. This all started about 6 months ago when I turn key and get nothing. Radio goes off but nothing from starter. It was once a week for a while, then turned into every other time I hit the key. I put a nos motorcraft ignition switch in and all was well for 2 months. Then, I tried to go thru emissions and it fails to start. I push start it and the next time I try it...no start. If I jump the relay, it's fine for another week before it acts up. So, I thought relay acting up. Replace relay. Worked for 3 or 4 starts, then, starter hangs after start so, I have to unhook battery and beat on relay for like 5 minutes to reset it. Now today it worked right but, when I get home from work and shut car off and remove key.....car is still running! What gives? Something causing feedback to relay? How do you even check that?

 

I had this problem before with mine as well. Its probably just a cheap relay that you have. I think I bought my last one from ford and it hasn't given me any problems.

 

The solenoid grounds through the the body, so make sure your solenoid has a nice tight connection to the body, and that you don't have a painted bolt or something like that impeding the ground.

 

The starter relay has a wire attached that goes to the ign circuit to allow for battery voltage to the coil during cranking. If just this set of contacts stick in the relay, it will cause the problem you've described. To troubleshoot quickly, just pull this wire off of the relay (brown wire off the rear most small terminal) if the engine dies the relay is bad. If it doesn't, you have a problem in the switch that is going to have to be isolated to either adjustment or a bad part.

 

Well...the mystery deepens. The car started and stopped on request the rest of the week but it seems to have developed a severe ignition miss between 800 and 1500 rpms. under load or not, it just doesn't want to run in that range. I'm thinking this is a continuation of the same issue. When I say miss, I mean that it spits and sputters and backfires out the exhaust. I have to get it up above 1500 and slip the clutch to get it moving but, above that, it seems ok.

I have a few thoughts....what kind of power should be at the coil with a pertronix? I have 8.5-9 volts. How much advance should I get from my vacuum unit. I only get 8 degrees at full vacuum. That seems kind of low.

I'll keep that in mind to disconnect the relay wire to coil if it acts up again. Also keep a test light in car for when it don't start. I believe ground at relay is good, clean, and tight.

 

I'm pretty sure you need 12V at the coil.

 

I believe that I have this one fixed. (almost) It seems that when I had the power draw that killed the battery, it burned up the coil. I threw another coil on it and it seems to run a lot better. Still need to road test it but, that aint happening today. (had a few beers already). I had to measure the old coil and it has 2 ohms across the primary windings and 10.1k across the secondary (from either the pos or neg) Does anyone remember what it's supposed to be?


Also, I'm thinking somewhere around 9 volts at the coil is correct due to the resistance wire.

 

I was under the impression you had a modern ignition, which would require you to remove the resistor.

 

Stepman,
primary coil R= 0.5 to 3 ohms depends on coil. no specs on secondary but your number looks ok.
9 Vdc is pretty good for a resistor wire circuit. Pertronix recommends that you not exceed 8 amps draw to the coil primary (9V/2 ohms=4.5 amps)

 

Thanks jig. It's been a while and I couldn't remember the specs. The actual voltage at my coil is 8.6v, so, I'm good there. The coil did turn out to be bad. I replaced it and car ran great today. When I was at work yesterday, my starter stayed engaged on me again. After hitting the new relay, it quit. So, I replaced the new relay. I hope I'm good on everything now.I hate it when multiple problems come up all at once. Friday I should be able to get through emissions now.