135 chrysler with Prestolite CDI...Will bad ignition box kill stator?

Glastron_V210

Petty Officer 1st Class
Joined
Jan 28, 2009
Messages
324
Hi all. I've lost the bottom two cylinders on my engine. Well almost. Every once in a blue moon the 3rd plug fires, but poorly.

The stator coil feeding the CDI box is toast...Infintie ohms and very sparatic voltage output, so the symptoms match the plugs.

Just wondering if I should consider getting a CDI box as well, considering the #4 plug never fired, even when the #3 did?

Opinions?


The trouble is that up here in Canada, it takes FOREVER to get parts, wasting the best part of the summer so far. I'd rather spend a few more bucks and get it done!






Chay
 

Frank Acampora

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Jan 19, 2007
Messages
12,004
The stator has two different windings: One to charge the capacitors in the CD boxes and one to charge the battery. If the CD charge coil shows infinite ohms then there is a break in the wiring. Both cylinders powered by that box will get no spark.

You said that previously you were getting intermittent spark on #4 cylinder. This can be due to a bad trigger or a bad CD box. Test the resistance of the trigger wires. It should be relatively low like (I think) 80 ohms while the charge windings of the stator would be about 700 since they produce about 250 volts.

Test the trigger wires. if they test out OK, then yes, buy another CD box.
 

Glastron_V210

Petty Officer 1st Class
Joined
Jan 28, 2009
Messages
324
The way I look at it the stator actually has 3 windings, one for each CDI box, and the third for the 'altenator' output. The altenator has the low voltage high amperage coarse wire on 10 heads, and the CDI units each are fed by 5 heads wrapped with fine wire, multi wraps to make the high voltage.


Agreed that the stator winding is open. The triggers are good. The resistance of all 4 are in spec and almost exactly the same. I tested their output with a DVA last year and they were good then as well. The other stator coil is good too. It makes a solid 220V on the DVA. It was 746 ohms.

My suspicion is that the stator section for the lower 2 cylinders was sending power to the CDI box enough for a weak spark, once in a while, to one spark plug. I think it was coincidence that it was the same plug firing each time, however, I decided to buy a 'power pack' CDI unit as well. If I don't use it I have a spare, which is not a bad thing. Already have a spare coil, so I'm building a bit of an inventory.

Chay
 

Glastron_V210

Petty Officer 1st Class
Joined
Jan 28, 2009
Messages
324
Well, it turns out it was both the stator and the 3/4 CDI power pack. i got #4 back with the stator, and added #3 with a new power pack. Runs well now.

The new stator (CDI 176-5095) has a single hogh voltage coil which is shared between the two power packs, rather than one coil for each. The brochure says it has a larger guage wire than the original. Hope it lasts a while.

The Power pack (CDI 116-5301) is a direct replacement unit for the black Prestolies.

The only issue was I forgot to hook up the whites after troubleshooting...key off and...engine keeps running ha ha ha. I had fun shorting those suckers out to kill it!

Chay
 
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