325 turbo starting problem

[midnight]

im trying to start it but im getting a poor spark, ( orange spark, not a sharp blue spark) and im suspecting this is why it is not starting, any ideas of reasons for poor spark?

[Brianmoooore]

Disributor cap/rotor arm is most likely source of problem.

[midnight]

im using a mondeo v6 24v coil pack(edis6).........

[E30Mark]

What ECU you running?

have you got a 24v supply??

[midnight]

im using meagasquirt extra version 3, and i have got a 12 v supply to the coil pack

[Speedtouch]

Could be the damp weather. My mum's Rover 416SLi wouldn't start this week. The spark at the plugs was a nice fat one - but orange. The AA guy finally got it running by drying out the push on spark plug lead caps - he reckoned it was a common problem on Rover 100s.

[midnight]

hmm, ive been trying for ages, im trying to find out if i might need to put in ignition amplifiers....

[Turbo-Brown]

Thought the EDIS did it's own ignition amplifying and was just told what to do by the MS?

[E30Mark]

I assume this coil pack transforms the 12V to 24V internally then...

Have you tried measuring the voltage to the coil pack whilst cranking the engine? my guess anything lower than 10V spells trouble.

Has it run with this coil pack? or is this a new addition?

[kam-325i]

Dose he mean "Mondeo V6 24 Valve", and not 24 Volts ????

[E30Mark]

Dose he mean "Mondeo V6 24 Valve", and not 24 Volts ????

At least there is one bright spark amongst us!

[Brianmoooore]

Saw this one earlier, Mark, but thought "I've already had a go at him today about the green/black starter wire; I'll let someone else pick this one up, or he'll think I'm picking on him". Take it you've started the New Year celebrations a bit early?

[Turbo-Brown]

If it's anything like mine, the coil only gets battery voltage so it'll drop quite a bit on cranking as they're not ballasted

Have you checked your earths to the EDIS and coil pack?

The basic operation of the coils is so simple that (as a complete guess) a poor connection could cause the weak spark? There's drunken logic for ya

[Ant]

what dwell settings are you using dude ?

[midnight]

ive checked all earths and connections, voltage the lot!
i done a bit of researchand found out that the coil im using requires quite a high dwell time, between 4-5 ms i know this is going to cause me problems in high revs getting a decent spark, but i just need it running guys, i can worry about sorting out a new coil pack at a later dat. i set the cranking dwell at 4.8 andf the running dwell at 4.2. i havent really had much luck with that either but setting at that

[kam-325i]

could it be a duff coil pack ?

[midnight]

i dunno tho cus the thing is the coil is producing the spark tho, thats the thing. its so annoying cus it should start, i cant understand it, thats why its driving me mad.!!!!!

[kam-325i]

Coil pack is producing spark, but weak......
Dwell is ok for cranking......
Coil pack getting signal ok...

Never over look the most simplist thing......

Im not to bright with coil packs......How do they work.....same as a ordianry coil with priamary/secondary windings ?

i can only think of poor coil pack or poor voltage at cranking........How about bad HT leads ?

[Turbo-Brown]

Yeah coil packs work in exactly the same way as single coils, there's just more of them (actually I think there might be a difference in that one post will be anode and the other cathode) but the basic principal's the same.

Are you using an EDIS module Midnight or just the coil pack from an EDIS equipped car?

No idea what the EDIS modules do but as I understand it, they can switch to a limp home mode if the signal from the ECU fails so they must be reasonably complex bits of kit. Perhaps they just need a trigger signal and can take care of their own dwell settings or something?

[midnight]

im not using the edis module, but i do need the trigger wheel settings if you can help me out using the 60-2 bmw wheel

[Turbo-Brown]

It's 90degrees BTDC on the M20 for some reason.

Usually the Bosch 60-2 is at 120 degrees but BMW decided to change it for some reason

[Gunni]

FYI on later bmw´s it´s about 70 on 4cyls,
My M42 is 115.

[midnight]

guys this wagon is still not having it, i got all the trigger angles sent to me and all the wheel decoder settings aswell, and i took the trigger wheel off to check the figures and they all seem right, and im getting a good spark, compression is fine and im getting fuel delivery aswell, but one thing i cant get my head around is that when it turning over trying to start and it will splutter and try to go for it, it seems to splutter back through the air filter in stead of the exhaust, bearing in mid all the timing is all fine and valve clearences are all fine aswell.
any help is much appreciated, because im at the point i cant even think anymore, this car has caused me too much strees, i just dont know whats going on with it?...........................

[Andy335Touring]

If you can't sort it your self then see if Ant will fix it for you ?

He's a top bloke, done plenty of M/S and Turbo installs.

Mind, i don't know how far away Ant is from you though ?

[midnight]

actually i might sent him a pm

[Andy335Touring]

[midnight]

ive sent a pm to ant but he aint replying and i need to get it started asap

[Ant]

PM replied to, sorry dude, I do get busy

[midnight]

sorry about the rush mate ive sent u back the pm, ive been busy with work 2 unfortunately