theory of ignition - troubleshooting

[HalcyonS]

Hanley
what is an OPSS? Its none of these I guess

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[hanleyclifford]

Originally Posted by HalcyonS

Hanley
what is an OPSS? Its none of these I guess

Oracle Platform Security Services
Ontario Provincial Standard Specification
Operations Safety System (US FAA)
Office of Public Service and Science
ORCHESTRA Process Support System
Overwhelming Post-Splenectomy Sepsis
Operations Specifications Application
Operations Sales and Service Council

OPSS is jargon on this Forum for "oil pressure safety switch".

[hanleyclifford]

Regarding cranking voltage: I start my engine from inside the cabin with my eyes right on two digital meters - voltage and amps. Even with two 31's fully charged the voltage drops below 12 volts within seconds. I have #2 cable all the way to the starter. Industry standards notwithstanding I would be surprised if anyone can hold 12 volts starting an A4 - somebody prove me wrong.

[ndutton]

How long are your cables?

[HalcyonS]

[QUOTE=Dave Neptune;76071]Simon, that may be one of the old 8V coils from the ole days. They were the ones that required the ballast resistor and the use of the terminal on the starter. They were fed the 12v for a hotter spark at start and once started the ballast dropped the voltage for the 8v coil. I still run into one of those once in a while.
Did your coil bracket on the engine have a set of mounts on it or even the ole ceramic insulated resistor still in place? It mounted right on the side with 2 screws.

Dave, interesting. I'm attaching a pic, looks like a ballast resistor bracket on front?

[HalcyonS]

Originally Posted by hanleyclifford

OPSS is jargon on this Forum for "oil pressure safety switch".

ahhh yess, what was I thinking?

[hanleyclifford]

Originally Posted by ndutton

How long are your cables?

It's a 6 foot run battery to starter via the switches and main buss bar.

[ndutton]

Depending on your actual battery state of charge and discounting other possible loss sources like termination quality, by calculation you should be seeing 11.7 ~ 12.7 volts during cranking or roughly a 2% drop. Sounds to me like your observations reflect pretty much what we're saying.

On my Westsail with a Perkins 4 cylinder diesel my battery cables were around the same length but the gauge was 4/0. Voltage drop was virtually non-existent.

[HalcyonS]

Originally Posted by hanleyclifford

OK, BTDT. Just make sure that you set your points by means of a dwell meter without regard to point gap specification; then check the actual point gap that yields your required dwell and post that number for us. This will provide useful information about the condition of your distributor cam.

when I get a dwell meter I will