Crossflow Electronic Ignition Question

[Dieter7S4]

Hope someone can assist me here - firstly I must confess to being not the best mechanically!

My crossflow died on me in France on the way back from Le Mans - long story short, the Lucas ignition amp (AB14) was soaked with boiling water from a burst hose. I've changed out the amp for a new unit, but still no spark at the plugs. I have a spark from the king lead, however. The distributor cap looks OK as does the rotor arm, however, the trigger (if thats the right term) seems to have a small burn mark in it. Does any one know the designation for this (Make, part number etc) as there is no indication on the unit itself. It fits inside the dissy and has two leads coming from it.

Many thanks in advance

Cheers

Mike

[BDA]

Mike,
Your Lucas amp part number means nothing to me but if your lucas ignition is the standard unit that caterham used (unit about 5" square, finned on one side) then spares are not available any more and it is at best unreliable. There are loads of not very expensive after market ignition systems on the market that are easy to fit, probably the best way to go.

Cheers
Chris

[Colin Mill]

Mike - If you have a good healthy spark at the king lead then the sensor and amp are probably fine and you most likely have the rotor arm or cap tracking to ground somewhere. This often isn't as obvious as it sounds.

A new arm and cap won't cost much anyway.

Edited by Colin Mill on Monday 20th September 13:41

[Dieter7S4]

Thanks for the replies!

Colin, I'm rapidly coming to that conclusion also, the cap looks good, so am trying to source a rotor arm which is proving a bit more difficult than I imagined!!!

Mike

[Colin Mill]

Mike

Are you still having problems getting a rotor arm? If you can't get one I believe my local motor factor has two types of arm for Lucas distributors (25D and 45D I think they said) so I could get one if all else fails.

[Richardsix]

Had exactly the same prob with my crossflow two weeks ago, new distributer cap and rotar arm sorted it, old ones looked fine, but guess one if not both were not.

[BDA]

Mike,
If it is the Lucas type of ignition I describe above, then the rotor arm will have a metal shroud on the underside with four cut outs. If so these have not been available new for many years, good luck.

Cheers
Chris

[Dieter7S4]

Thanks for all the info and offers of help -much appreciated. Looks like I should resolve it at the weekend, mate of mine (Eugene from BC) is popping round for a beer, he has a spare 45 D rotor arm and cap.

Cheers

Mike