Pertronix Nightmare

[solidaxle]

Having personally converted a lot of 6 volt distributers to Pertroxix I can say a generator will not cause a failure. Failures experienced are what others have written leave the ignition on with out starting, incorrect coil or ignition wires.

The Pertronix system is so simple to use and extremely reliable and also responsible for incredibly fast speeds by many users.
Ronnieroadster

I concur with Ronnieroadster, I have 6volt system with a generator, non-solid wires with a Mallory best coil. The Pertronix has been working flawlessly. The only time I had a problem was my fault, I left the headlights on with the car not running and ran down the battery, pushing the car and popping the clutch would not start the car. I believe the voltage was to low to fire up the electronics.

 

[Ron_r1959]

Read a lot of pros and cons about Pertronix, had to see for myself. 1st one come in look like someone tried to install , wires cut! sent it back!! 2nd one installed NO SPARK! contacted customer service, this guy I talked to is in the wrong business! pretty much said I didn’t know what I was doing, that I installed it wrong, finally got him to email me how to bench test the unit. needless to say the unit tested bad. they say the third time’s the charm, not in this case! When it came in I benched tested it and it test good, finally!! Installed and it fired up, ran for about 5 minutes then died??? sent it back and back and staying with “POINTS”

You do have to be very careful on your choice of negative and positive ground units and also on how you wire the coil. You also have to run the correct coil with them, I haven't had experience with the older cars, but I have used them on the tractors and had pretty good luck. I have heard they don't work well with the early 59AB v-8 engines however due to the heat from the radiator.

 

[Mart]

Call me old fashioned but you never hear anybody say Ford crab stock ignition nightmare.
I'll get my coat.

 

[Mart]

Call me old fashioned but you never hear anybody say Ford crab stock ignition nightmare.
I'll get my coat.

 

[1948F-1Pickup]

This all seems to be coming back to an underlying issue that 1 instructions issued by the supplier are not specific enough in the cans and cants 2 people being people tend to think installation instructions are only the suppliers opinion 3 most of us dont under stand fully how some of these so call advances in technology actually work and their limitations also i havent heard of any supplier listing a complete kit [ignition unit any filters required coil and lead sets this would remove a large portion of what seems to be common errors

Your post got me thinking-
I'm wondering if some of the issues may come down to something lacking in Pertronix instructions. I re-read both the old Perlux and the Pertronix 1 instructions and nothing is mentioned that I saw of insuring the unit is solidly grounded. Wonder if that plays into it? I personally don't know and don't care because I no longer use them, but it's a curiosity.

 

[Masot]

perfect

 

[Masot]

in Mallory

 

[Fritz]

Call me old fashioned but you never hear anybody say Ford crab stock ignition nightmare.
I'll get my coat.

I hear it all the time. Guys on here complain a lot about the quality of new points, condensers, coils. That’s why I gave up on the stock points and went 6v Pertronix crab. Pertronix customer service has been great the several times I called them. My problems I was troubleshooting were never the fault of the Pertronix units or coils. Use what they recommend. It’s been flawless for me for almost 10 years.

 

[tubman]

I hear it all the time. Guys on here complain a lot about the quality of new points, condensers, coils. That’s why I gave up on the stock points and went 6v Pertronix crab. Pertronix customer service has been great the several times I called them. My problems I was troubleshooting were never the fault of the Pertronix units or coils. Use what they recommend. It’s been flawless for me for almost 10 years.

I find this to be an interesting statement. Never, in my over 60 years of running Ford flatheads (or other makes and models) with standard points ignition, have I ever had to call anyone about them.

 

[Ronnieroadster]

I find this to be an interesting statement. Never, in my over 60 years of running Ford flatheads (or other makes and models) with standard points ignition, have I ever had to call anyone about them.

Could be because your just the best at everything you? LMAO

 

[Fritz]

I find this to be an interesting statement. Never, in my over 60 years of running Ford flatheads (or other makes and models) with standard points ignition, have I ever had to call anyone about them.

You’ve never asked anyone a question about Ford ignitions?

Calling Pertronix customer service is the same as posting a question on this forum. It’s an attempt to learn about something unfamiliar to you. I wasn’t blessed with the inherent knowledge of antique Ford engineering, so I have to ask questions to figure it out.

 

[Crankster]

Maybe something got lost in the translation here. Nobody called Ford Motor Co. when they had basic ignition problems back in the day. Fritz however, was just pointing out that none of the problems he was troubleshooting were ever actually attributed to the Ignitor system itself. That's how I read that, anyway.

After following along with lots of automotive discussion forums it's obvious that people often install the Ignitor system because the contact point ignition system is a bridge too far for them in the first place. But the Ignitor point replacement also has its own lore and rituals to be followed, and that's the crux of the matter. Nobody can be bothered to "RTFM", regardless.