Greetings All!
By some uncanny freaky coincidence, I spent a long frustrating afternoon at the warehouse trying to diagnose the ignition problem on my Belgian Alvis Spartan.
Years ago it just quit one day and I'm only now giving it some serious attention. I swapped in a used replacement coil a few years ago but no luck.
Today this is how far I got:
I bought and tested a commercial 24v coil.
I removed the stock coil from the Spartan
with ignition on, I confirmed 24v on the yellow (+) coil wire and continuity to ground on the blue (-) wire.
I attempted to check the distributor function by putting my meter (on resistance) between a ground and the blue wire. When I cranked I did get some fluctuation of the resistance, as if the connection to ground was being interrupted by the distributor. The fluctuation was more erratic than I expected, but I'm not sure how fast the digital meter is.
I hooked up the coil and gave it a try thru the distributor. Not a sign of starting, not even with ether.
I put an external wire and spark plug on the HV and cranked again. No sign of spark.
It looks like I'll be pulling the cover next. I'm not sure what I should be doing systematically, though. I haven't tried or checked any of what's mentioned in the thread above.
Anyway, I guess I could use some guidance as well. I'm hoping to get her running in the next week or two. There is a great Mil show coming up with a 10+ mile escorted convoy and I got the green light to run the Spartan unregistered on the road. It's a rare opportunity around here so I'd hate to miss it.
Thanks everyone!
Christos