Hi all, i have an x19 rally car which suffered a small fire and now doesnt want to start. It has a Guy croft twin cam beta engine with the beta electronic ignition and what seems to be happening is that as soon as the ignition is turned on the amplifier module gets very hot very quick, spin the engine over and no spark. Im hoping someone may be able to help with this. All help will be gratefully recieved!!!!

Pilp said:

Hi all, i have an x19 rally car which suffered a small fire and now doesnt want to start. It has a Guy croft twin cam beta engine with the beta electronic ignition and what seems to be happening is that as soon as the ignition is turned on the amplifier module gets very hot very quick, spin the engine over and no spark. Im hoping someone may be able to help with this. All help will be gratefully recieved!!!!

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You have an electrical short somewhere in the ignition wiring. That amplifier getting hot means there is a large current draw through it.

As I'm sure you've already realised, the problem with even small fires in cars tends to be the electrics are the first thing to be ruined.

If it is any help Guy Croft now has his own forum that may be of further assistance to you (http://www.guy-croft.com/) and it is worth asking there as well anyway (if you haven't already).

Hi, thanks for that, i had assumed the same but im no electrician, interestingly it did have a spark, after the fire i drove it into the workshop where it has sat while i assesd the damage. Since then it has been misbehaving, i had assumed a dry joint somewhere, it has a bespoke wiring loom, i am considering just re wiring the whole thing.
Many thanks for your advice.

Ok, here is the update, still no spark, with a multi meter set to ohms the dizzy reads 1014, this spikes when the engine is cranked so is working, with the ignition amplifier pluged in there is 9.4 volts at the coil, unpluged there is 12.3, i have replaced the amplifier with a know good one and it is the same. However, i cannot find a ballast resistor in the loom anywhere which this system should have.
Im assuming the ignition switch is ok as power reaches the coil, socould it be the coil is not working properly and the amplifier heating is because the charge is not being fired?
Failing that if anyone reading this is good with electrics, not to far from leicestershire and would like a look let me know! I can provide bacon rolls free range eggs and even shoe your horse for you in return!

Can you explain your test process to me with regards to the dizzy?

Between sparks, the resistance across the low tension circuit on the distributor should be infinite as there is no circuit. As the points close a circuit is made (almost - it has to spark across the points gap). Technically from a resistance point of view while the engine is not cranking there is never a circuit worth mentioning regardless of the position of the distributor.

Hi, electronic ignition so no points, it has a copper wire winding and i believe it is a magnetic field created which is what gives the reading on the meter. Im at the point where im going to get an auto electrician to it as im convinced its going to be something simple but needs an expert to find it

Fixed it! eventually found the two wires that had been melted together in the fire. Took less than 10 minutes to repair but 3 weeks to find! Ho hum