Here's what I've found so far today about my voltage drop:
Solid white wire, and white/blue wire from wiring harness (the harness
that leads to the passenger compartment) both join at a junction plug
which used to connect to the original ballast resistor (I removed the
ballast resistor when I installed the Pertronix ignition). Now, the
white and white/blue wires described plug to a single blue/white wire
(that used to connect to the other, "out" side of the now non-existant
ballast resistor) that goes to the + side of my Pertronix coil.
With engine off and ignition switch on (which is how Pertronix told me
to test it out): When that blue/white wire is connected to the + coil
terminal, I read 8+ volts (to no more than 9) at the + coil post.
Measuring the wire going from the coil + side to the ignition module
also gives that same 8 volts, when it goes through the coil.
Again, with engine off/ignition on: If I bypass the coil completely, I
get a full 12-13 volts all the way up the wire to the ignition module.
As soon as I connect that full 12 volts wire to the coil, however, the
coil + terminal only reads 8-9 volts.
Does this mean anything? In cooler weather, the same reading at the coil
terminal post was no more than 7.25 volts. Now that it's about 85 out, I
get a slightly higher (8-9 volts) reading at the coil + post! (??)
With the engine running and everything connected back up, I get 12.25 to
13 volts at that coil + post. Pertronix said this is irrelevant, though,
and that the engine off readings are what to look at.
Do I have a bad coil? I replaced the coil last year to try to solve the
same problem (stalling, and acting like the key was "blipped" off and
back on, etc., especially in very hot weather).Unfortunately, I didn't
take all these voltage readings back then to compare to now. Pertronix
claimed their coils almost "never" go bad. Truth, or fiction? Maybe I've
had two in a row that have gone bad.
Steve Sage
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