Hi Guys & Gals,

I have had my Xj6 Siii for over 8 years gone through the rebuild process and have been reasonably happy with the car from a performance perspective. i had noticed a thread on ignition systems in this forum and i went and purchased a Petronix Coil and Distributor with the help of a fellow member. just got it installed today.

All i can say is wow, the upgrade to the to the ingitor system is worth every penny i can feel the difference in the upper rpm range, but not only that the lumpy idle that i have come to accept over the years has now GONE. it feels like a different car.. i know forums are usually the place to pose questions but i just wanted to post some feedback in the matter

Happy driving

 

Yep.Agreed. Pertronic stuff is great. The Ignitor from them is a great upgrade.Just did my Nissan Patrol. Should have done it years ago,bonus apart from what you found is better fuel economy.
Neil

 

Yes the pertronix distributor on the sIII xj6 is just downright awesome, out of all the work I've done to mine, the dist. upgrade makes me happiest.
Amazon is probably the best place to order one, a pertronix coil too, you can pick up both for just barely over $200.
Its a better system than the original lucas (cheaper too) and man does it make a difference; not only in power, but my fuel economy is better now too =)

 

Nice to hear the good feedback. Do you happen to have any part numbers we can reference?

Thanks

Eric

 

yes indeed, the pertronix distributor that is series III compatible is: d177600
the ignition coil is just the 40000 1.5ohm coil =)

 

btw, the distributor should be around $168 and the coil $30, you shouldn't have to pay more than that =)

 

Thank you. After looking around some more, I found another part number for British 6 cyl engines: Pertronix D171618 with Ignitor II. Any one with thoughts or experience with this one or how it compares to the D177600?

Thanks again,

Eric

 

Thanks for stepping in there Stella with the part numbers "to all members Stella was they guy who put me onto this stuff"

the part that i purchased for my SIII 1984 was the D177600 with coil and i cant say this enough but it feels like the car is happier.. if thatch even possible
also replace you leads at the same time even if they do look fine or get a multimeter out and check the resistance i had a few that were suspect.

 

me too ! Parts ordered. Will post back results soon

 

awesome =) I'm excited for you sarc!

let me know if you need any help.

 

@stellar

I'm going to install the dizzy and coil this weekend, yay !

I am reading the installation instructions and I see there are options for the maximum advance.

How did you set yours up?

Looks like there are copper, silver and bronze springs to choose from, and also "none", blue and red maximum mechanical advance stops to fit..........

 

Any of you guys have the links on Amazon to the ones you ordered?

The lumpy idle is beginning to annoy me more and more each day.

 

@Oliver



@Stellar

Ignore my last post.... I was overseas and trying to work out from memory which dizzy I had bought. The one above doesn't appear to have or need any adjustments.........

 

Sarc, you're a star thank you.

What is this by the way? Ignitor Ignition Lucas Jaguar XJ6 6 Cyl 45DM6 Dist | eBay

 

that is just the sensor inside the distributor (They call it an ignitor)

Based on the price, I think I'd rather just swap out the whole distributor, saves you fiddling around with stuff

 

So...... I fitted the petronix distributor and coil, changed the plug leads and plugs.

Now the car starts, revs up, then almost dies, then revs up again over and over.

The car was cold when I started this, so this can be considered a cold start.

The car was running great last night, especially after I removed my 3 way distributor valve and connected the distributor advance direct to ported vacuum.

I have the distributor clamp slack so I can set the timing, and with the vac line off I am at 17ish and 28ish with the vac line on. I did not rotate the engine to TDC before I changed the distributor, I just very carefully noted (photographed) the position of the rotor and made sure the new one was in the same place the old one was. The fact that the timing is checked as being ok leads me to think that the timing is ok and I haven't done something stupid in the distributor swap (although anything is possible)

I swapped over the coil back to the original, but no change.

I added back in the 3 way distributor valve, but no change.

I pulled one plug out and it looks ok, well, at least it's not covered in fuel.

I've checked and double checked the plug wire sequence and I think it's correct. When it's revved a bit it sounds fine, it's just doing this crazy oscillating at idle.

It's over 100deg in the garage so I've came inside to ponder a bit. My first thought is that I've dislodged one of the wires or sensors along the top of the water rail..... but I don't really understand what kind of failure mechanism I have........

Any thoughts or inputs welcomed........

 

Just for giggles make sure the ducting and elbow between the air flow meter and the throttle body is secure and not leaking.

Same for the two big hoses to the AAV.

I'm having a hard time connecting this behavior to anything ignition/distrbutor related, execpt possibly too much advance that is bringing up the idle speed very high.

I can't remember if the 4.2 ECU has a fuel cut off like the V12. If it does, it might be causing the oscillation.

On V12s, and 4.2s if they have the fuel cut-off capability, the ECU cuts fuel at about 1500 rpm if the throttles are closed.....so if anything brings up engine speed (advanced timing, AAV problem, etc) with throttle closed the fuel will be cut off and the engine speed will naturally drop to near nothing. Then the ECU turns the fuel "On" again. The rpm increases, the ECU cuts fuel again, repeat, repeat.....

Cheers
DD

 

@Doug

That makes sense, meaning it definitely is some kind of cycling up and down.

I swapped the dizzy, coil and plug leads back to original, and it still does the same thing, which is kind of good, meaning as you said, it seems unlikely the new ones were causing the issue, but for sure, I've touched something or knocked something when I've been in there and thats whats giving the problem.

To give a little more description, once the throttle is opened it seems to run better, but still not perfect.

Here is a video showing whats happening.


In the beginning of the video the car is just "idling", meaning oscillating from quite high rpms to almost stalling, then repeating. Then I hold the throttle open a little and it seems to smooth out again. Then I let go of the throttle and start fiddling with wires around the afm and the aux air valve, but the oscillations go on and on. Then I got fed up, turned it off and headed for the drinks cabinet

More tomorrow.....

 

Considering the sequence of events I'd almost bet on it, yes. And that's not meant as a criticism by any means. We've all been there

Cheers
DD

 

So...... I don't mind screwing up and wasting my time as long as I learned something from the experience........ this is a peach :

Jaguar XJ6 Surprising Fact No. 147 --> The bolts that secure the ignition amplifier to the front of the intake manifold are actually part of the integrity of the structure, and if you leave them out you have a massive un-metered vacuum leak. This massive leak causes the car to idle far too high (at least over 1500rpm) and as Doug hypothesized, this extremely high idle makes the ECU panic and it shuts the fuel off....... the engine then starts to die...... the idle drops, and the fuel comes on again..... then the idle shoots up again...... repeat...... repeat

Although in my previous post I stated I had gone back to the original dizzy system, I only connected the amplifier back up, I did not actually bolt it back onto the manifold. That explains why the problem was still there. This was lucky..... if I had bolted it back up (which would have solved the problem) I would have wrongly assumed the Petronix parts were to blame.

So....... for the folks that are going to do the Pertronix conversion.... LEAVE THE REDUNDANT AMPLIFIER WHERE IT IS. I just tie wrapped the wires out of the way.

As others have posted, the car feels a lot better with the Pertonix system, so all's well that ends well.

@Stellar or Elbartus

For my sanity, as you did the conversion and had no issues, please confirm either your amplifier is still there, or the holes have been blocked up somehow