KittyCamper84 wrote:
Do I need a specific coil or will any one do? I have a few lying about in the garage!
You DO need a specific coil. They will be on the brickwerks website
HERE. They are identified by the colour of the sticker on them. They will also list hall sensors and ignition modules, but as mentioned, a temporary swap is a good way to go
KittyCamper84 wrote:Does the hall sensor give the coil the signal to pulse?
Yes
KittyCamper84 wrote:if so then it could be that the coil is ok and the module is preventing the signal getting to it?
Yes
KittyCamper84 wrote:Also, could any of these things have caused the misfire? i'm wondering if something was on the way out and ive finished it off during the compression test?
Possibly.
If you have no sparks, try this, carefully !!
Take all the wires off the low voltage terminals of the coil.
WRITE DOWN what went where, don't trust your memory !
Arrange the king lead so the dizzy end is fastened (tie wrap etc) so it's end is a couple of mm from some bare metal on the engine.
Connect a bit of wire from one of the low voltage terminals of the coil (does not matter which for this test) to a bare bit of metal on the engine. You can do this in a very "temp" fashion, ie, just wrap the bare bit of the wire around say the alternator bracket, or go posh and secure it under a random bolt.
Now the bit were you have to be a bit careful. Get another bit of wire, thin is good here, like a bit of ordinary speaker wire. Then carefully connect a jump lead from the +ve terminal on the battery. Watch out for the other end as it is live with 12 volts. No danger of a shock, but don't let it touch any metal on the van or you will have a heavy duty short ! (same precautions as when jump starting). Now connect your thin bit of wire to the other end of the jump lead. Now "flick" the bare end of this thin wire across the
other terminal of the coil.
Note = "flick" it across,
don't hold it on, and hold the wire by the plastic bit with just a bit of bare wire visible. You will (should) get a bit of a spark from the coil terminal during this "flicking it across" procedure, but that is normal and not important. What you DO want to see is, as you flick it across the coil terminal, can you see a decent spark coming from the king lead to the engine block ? If you can then chances are pretty high your coil is OK.
Reason = What "we" are doing here is simulating what goes on when the engine is running, all be it in a simplified form. ie, a permanent 12 volts on one terminal of the coil, with the other side getting very short pulses to earth. In an older vehicle with points, this is exactly what the points do.
By the way, it takes less time to do this test than it does to write (or read) it
Just take care with the live end of that jump lead (or if you don't have a jump lead, improvise
) as I say, no danger of a shock from it, but don't let it accidentally touch summat.
)
)
