Indigo Electronic Ignition
 

I put the kit in several years ago and it’s worked flawlessly. However today while on the hard and working on the fuel pump (another thread) I went to start it and no spark. We had pulled the coil wire to make sure it wouldn’t start while checking the fuel pump drive shaft.
Checked all the connections and found spark to the distributor but nothing at the plugs. After poking around and a little tap on the EI module, it came back to life.
Anyone have this happen? It’s working fine but a little nervous it will do it again at a less convenient time.
Thanks in advance.

Lubr,

If you were getting spark “to the distributor” then the EI module was working at that point.

You had an issue getting the spark through the rotor to the plugs. I suspect that removing and replacing the cap was what fixed things, not the “tap” on the EI module.

Perhaps the cap was not seated correctly or a dodgy rotor? Or a poor connection between the coil wire and the dizzy cap.

Peter

Peter-good questions. We had good spark at the end of the coil wire where it goes into the distributor and then pulled the cap and rotor.
Your idea probably is a good one since the only thing we had done with the ignition to that point was pull the distributor wire off of the coil while working on the fuel pump but it's possible in the process we bumped the dist.
Very strange since it was running beautifully just prior but as you know space and the ability to see things square on are limited under the cockpit!

Tom with Indigo asked me to call so I will do that later (he's on Pacific time I think and I'm on Central) and chat with him. I was impressed that he monitors the forum and contacted me within an hour of the post.

I'll reply soon and I do appreciate your input.

How old is the distributor cap? The contacts inside the towers where the wires plug in can get corroded. The little booties look impressive but don't help that much. Add high voltage electricity and corrosion can easily happen. You can dress the contacts with a piece of sandpaper wrapped around common yellow wood pencil. Needless to say when the cap gets this far gone the best thing to do is replace it.
Also check the contacts on the ends of the spark plug wires. They can easily get corroded passing high voltage electricity.

ex TRUE GRIT

Tom is actually on East coast time, so he's up already. :)

All done I hope
 

Well I just talked to Tom at Indigo and had a great conversation. He assured me that he's never had one fail except by lightning and that if I'm getting fire at the distributor the module is working correctly and from there on it's strictly a function of the distributor (as Pete indicated as well).
With that info I am assuming that when we pulled the coil wire we somehow moved the dist cap that may have been loose (although it's run for 7 years so???). The coil wire was the only thing we touched prior to it happening so I"m going with that. Distributor and rotor all look good and we were getting zero fire at all, nothing to indicate misfire due to a crack or tracking inside.

All said I'm 100% sure there's nothing wrong with the EI and continue to assert it's a great product that works flawlessly and has great support!

Hoping to launch tomorrow. Happy sailing and many thanks.

Lubrdink, the EI still needs the cap, rotor, wires and plugs to be good to operate properly.
I have used these "photo optic" style triggers for many years with no problems. In trouble shooting for others all I have found was a bad connection somewhere AND the other is the photo cell getting knocked out of alignment with the "shutter". Be sure that the photo cell is well over the shutter and not wobbling or touching.

Dave Neptune :cool:

Dave I checked it all over and it looks good. Running like a sweet machine and all appears good. Thanks for the advice.

JUST FOR PEACE OF MIND....
 

Try pushing the wiring around with a stick while the engine is running just to be sure there is no weird intermittent connection - defective end conductor, wire that is almost broken - whatever.
Been down this road before.

ex TRUE GRIT

i have an indigo electronic ignition i purchased in 2011 but never installed..

so...does anyone have a wiring diagram or manual for same?

also -- i have the main module with wires attached..but what else do i need to install it on my late model a4 with delco ignition?

thank you all in advance

keith

Do you have the shutter and photo cell? The photo cell is installed where the points were and the shutter installs "under the rotor" on the distributor shaft.

Dave Neptune :cool:

i'll go look..

thanks for the fast response

The black wire to "block" ground, red wire to coil + side and yellow to - coil side FYI.

Dave Neptune :cool:

I remember seeing a YouTube on the conversion a couple years back - strait forward and took about 20 minutes.. worth checking ouit.

i don't think i have a shutter, unless it is incorporated with the other parts

i took pix of what i have but i can't get them for now from my phone over to my email to send to you, but i'll try to do that tomorrow..

i did get a private message from tom stevens at indigo also.

Tom is the guy for what you "need". :rolleyes:

Dave Neptune :cool:

yes -- he already got back to me..sent the installation intructions, pricing for a shutter, etc., etc..

i can't tell you how gracious he has been and how much i appreciate his -- and your -- help..

right now i did the normal tuneup -- changed points and condenser, etc., and a4 is running fine..however, i'm 76 and really don't want to have to get on my knees again..so with all the help, i'm gonna go indigo asap...esp. since tom and you have been so helpful..:D

will keep you posted..

keith

I like the optical shutter system, you can swap back to points if it dies fairly easily. If you can scrounge an extra distributor plate you can do the swap in about 2 minutes :cool:
I might be one of the lightning cases, my boat did get hit and the module did die, but not right that day. I swapped over to points, went on my way, and Tom sent a new module and all was well.
My EI on my outboard died and it was just a dead hunk of metal, there was no field repair for that one!

i bought the old one from you back in 2011, didn't I?

i'm considering installing it now, but i noticed what you sent me had an extra thingy...was that a resistor? looks like it had been fried....my a-4 is running fine now, so i'm wondering if i should install this or leave well enough alone...

Personally there is no way I would not "upgrade" my ignition system especially if I had one in hand :rolleyes:!

Dave Neptune :cool:

Yes - not the lightning one, the one I got next.
I don't recall a resistor, but you may want to get a new one if it is in bad shape and you might not need one depending on what coil you have.