lately i have been having distributor problems.
how can i tell when the coil, ignitor, cap, or rotor is about to go out? i already replaced the ignitor and cap. today while i was driving and at a constant speed, my tach needle suddenly bounced up and down, erractically. sign of something about to die?

 

There is really no way of testing that stuff, unless you have the right equipment. Sooo, your pretty much left out on your own, of replacing peice by peice, until you hit it, otherwise it's off to a shop that can. Might try checking all your connections, etc...

Usually, a bouncing tach is a sign of bad igniter (as you probably already know...), could you have gotton a defective(sp) one, straight out of the box. Just a thought.....


[Modified by 88_SC_CRX_Si, 7:54 AM 6/17/2002]

 

Loose wire connectors on the igniter can cause that.

 

i too had the same problem a day after my swap. i thougth it was my plug wires but when i saw the distributor, the bolts were all loose. turns out that i had lost one bolt, one was half way out and the other was barely tightened. thightened that bad boy down and it was all working fine.

 

You can check the condition of the coil using a current probe and O'scope, but I doubt you have these [you would be checking the current ramp]

Do make sure all connections to the Ignitor are tight, as someone has already stated.

If the coil was on its way out, it can take the igniter with it. The primary coil resistance is very low, so there is a lot of current draw going through the primary AND the ignitor.

If you can get ahold of a DMM, test the resistance of the the windings....might give a clue.

 

could it be your alternator?? my bro had the same problem..