The Ford Barn

36tbird · 05-13-2013, 06:47 AM

I acquired this 59A with a Mallory Magnetic Breakerless Distributor. I have put it on an engine that is mounted in my newly built test stand. I tried my new contraption yesterday and did not see any spark. That prompted me to search for a test procedure to see if the ignition module is shot. I found one set of instructions where you hook up a low voltage light across the negative pole of the coil and ground then use a screw driver to tap the magnetic pickup. If all is well, the light should flicker. I could not get a flicker.

Another test for the set up that has a remote pickup is to test the resistance across the magnetic coil to see if you get between 50 and 200 ohms. I put my trusty multi-meter leads on the soldered connections for the pickup and got about 185 ohms.

So, I'm down to thinking the magnetic pickup seems OK, but the little module that interprets and sends the trigger message to the coil must be toast. Anyone know of a test or measurement for these things that I can run on the red, green and brown wires that come out of the module? Thanks in advance.

05-13-2013, 06:47 AM	#1
36tbird Senior Member Join Date: May 2010 Location: nw SanAntonio, TX Posts: 940	Mallory Magnetic Breakerless Dizzy I acquired this 59A with a Mallory Magnetic Breakerless Distributor. I have put it on an engine that is mounted in my newly built test stand. I tried my new contraption yesterday and did not see any spark. That prompted me to search for a test procedure to see if the ignition module is shot. I found one set of instructions where you hook up a low voltage light across the negative pole of the coil and ground then use a screw driver to tap the magnetic pickup. If all is well, the light should flicker. I could not get a flicker. Another test for the set up that has a remote pickup is to test the resistance across the magnetic coil to see if you get between 50 and 200 ohms. I put my trusty multi-meter leads on the soldered connections for the pickup and got about 185 ohms. So, I'm down to thinking the magnetic pickup seems OK, but the little module that interprets and sends the trigger message to the coil must be toast. Anyone know of a test or measurement for these things that I can run on the red, green and brown wires that come out of the module? Thanks in advance.