• The Roadster Factory Recovery Fund - Friends, as you may have heard, The Roadster Factory, a respected British Car Parts business in PA, suffered a total loss in a fire on Christmas Day. Read about it, discuss or ask questions >> HERE. The Triumph Register of America is sponsoring a fund raiser to help TRF get back on their feet. If you can help, vist >> their GoFundMe page.
  • Hey there Guest!
    If you enjoy BCF and find our forum a useful resource, if you appreciate not having ads pop up all over the place and you want to ensure we can stay online - Please consider supporting with an "optional" low-cost annual subscription.
    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Subscribers don't see this UGLY banner)
Tips
Tips

TR2/3/3A Timing ?

tinman58

Jedi Knight
Silver
Country flag
Offline
I have a TR3 with a little modifications. 89mm pistons, cam, roller rockers, headers and a super charger. I have had a problem keeping the timing set. It was running nice a little pinging so I advanced the timing just a couple clicks.... Car ran like crap missing popping sputtering.. re set back a couple clicks still ran like crap. Replaced the distributer with a brand new one. Started right up idle nice. Took it on the road CRAP... Put on the timing light and got sporadic spark from all cylinders.. Changed coil idea nice then crap??????? Any ideas??
 

Got_All_4

Luke Skywalker
Country flag
Offline
Mine did that too. Changed the points and condenser, checked vacuum, re-balanced the carbs a 100 times, changed the coil, regap the plugs, changed the plugs then replaced the points with Petronics. That lasted the longest. On the way to the TRFs Summer party weeks later it started again. Even stalls out or just quits. Luckily it happened the 3rd time at dark and had someone else try to start it while I was under the bonnet and noticed a little sparking at A1 connection on the voltage regulator. Very loose so I pinched the female terminal slid it back on and never had a problem after that.
 
OP
tinman58

tinman58

Jedi Knight
Silver
Country flag
Offline
Just went out and checked the wires. They are tight, but pulled cover off and found one of the diodes fried. (New style electronic regulator). Gonna order a new one tonight.
Thank You Marv
 

Graham H

Jedi Warrior
Country flag
Offline
With all that other fruit and you are still running a generator? I would go to an alternator.

Graham
 
OP
tinman58

tinman58

Jedi Knight
Silver
Country flag
Offline
It does have a alternator came with the super charger.
 

CJD

Yoda
Country flag
Offline
I am curious...if you had a little pinging, why would you advance the distributor? Pinging is the sign that you have to much advance.

When you say sporadic spark, do you mean inconsistent spark, or inconsistent timing of the spark?
 
OP
tinman58

tinman58

Jedi Knight
Silver
Country flag
Offline
I tried everything... advance -retard advance retard etc.... There would be spark then no spark. cylinders 2 and 3 would not spark at all. Then I would touch something and boom all is good. Then for no reason boom back to crap..
 

CJD

Yoda
Country flag
Offline
Based on your last post...I would give the wire from the coil to the points a good look over. It sounds like a short in that wire...or a bad set of points that are grounding. Next guess would be condenser...followed by the coil.
 

Graham H

Jedi Warrior
Country flag
Offline
I had a simular problem and i think it turned out to be suspect points and the screw that sets the points was too long and locking onto the mounting plate any way i changed out the points and condensor and it all came good

Graham
 
OP
tinman58

tinman58

Jedi Knight
Silver
Country flag
Offline
All brand new dizzy with Petronix. Swapped out two coils, checked all wiring at the dizzy. To make things more fun the fuel pump went bad on our TR 250. Gonna call BPNW and order new parts this morning. The weather is getting nice.
 

CJD

Yoda
Country flag
Offline
Do a search for "petronix" here on the forum. It's a great system...in theory. In reality it seems to cause more problems than a stock set of points.
 

malbaby

Jedi Warrior
Country flag
Offline
Sounds like it could be a distributor problem.
What make of distributor did you fit.
I found that Pertronix parts can be problematical...relatively inexpensive, but not the best quality.
Have you contemplated a different electronic ignition system.
 

sp53

Yoda
Country flag
Offline
I chased a miss I had and changed all kinds of stuff like you did, and it turned out to be the plug wires. I used some of those plastic Lucas connectors that screw onto the end of the wirer at the plug. Evidently they can go bad by creating resistance.
 
OP
tinman58

tinman58

Jedi Knight
Silver
Country flag
Offline
I just got the package with the new regulator from BPNW. This had to be the problem.... I installed the new one cleaned the wires and all is good. The TR started right up, set the timing raved it up sounds great. Got my wallet and off for a ride to to grocery store. I did not even get up the drive way, running like crap! Got it back in the garage and put the timing light back on, same problem #1 sporadic and #3 the same. Turned the engine off and went to the grocery store in the TR250. New dizzy new petronix new coil new spark plug wires and new regulator. ????
 

Sarastro

Obi Wan
Silver
Country flag
Offline
I think the main problem here is that you are just replacing parts instead of troubleshooting the problem logically. You already know WHERE the problem is (#1 and #3 plugs); you just need to figure out WHAT it is. You say you have new wires, so, you are ruling them out, but it wouldn't be the first set of defective wiring sent to a customer. You need to look for arcing around the distributor, high-voltage wiring, and plugs (easiest in the dark), try new wires for those cylinders, take a close look at the contacts, pull the plugs and make sure they are not fouled, and try new ones anyway. Messing around with timing or unrelated things like the voltage regulator is not likely to help; they just don't affect what you are seeing. Similarly, if the coil were bad, it would affect all the plugs, not just #1 and #3. So that is not likely to be the problem.

The fact that it runs OK and suddenly starts to misbehave implies that there is a bad connection, or something similar, which gets broken and reconnected accidentally as you work on something else. Look CAREFULLY at the connectors at both the cap, and make sure they are getting ALL the way down into the hole and making good metal-to-metal contact. Do the same at the plugs; make sure there is tight metal contact. Pull the #1 and #3 wires and make sure you are getting a strong spark to a ground point; if so, the wire may be OK and the plug bad.

Once, when I had a similar problem, it turned out that the DPO had used the wrong connector for the center of distributor cap, and the wire was just barely contacting the metal connection in the cap. That's the kind of thing you are looking for
 
OP
tinman58

tinman58

Jedi Knight
Silver
Country flag
Offline
after a few hours under the dash checking wires and fixing a few funky connections with no better results. I removed the brand new dizzy and installed the old old dizzy, (not the one that started this mess) The one that was with the car when I got it. The TR started right up and runs very nice. So I am assuming that the petronix on both of the new dizzy's are bad. Is there a way to check this?
 

malbaby

Jedi Warrior
Country flag
Offline
Replace with quality electronic ignition...not Pertronix.
As a matter of interest, was the distributor cap supplied by Pertronix?
 
OP
tinman58

tinman58

Jedi Knight
Silver
Country flag
Offline
I don't know if BPNW installs the petronius or if it all comes from the supplier that way. I am going to call BPNW tomorrow and either get a replacement or just get points and a condenser.
 
Similar threads
Thread starter Title Forum Replies Date
K TR2/3/3A How to tell if the timing chain has slipped...... Triumph 12
Got_All_4 TR5/TR250 Timing chain tensioner completely shot Triumph 11
mt10flyer TR2/3/3A Timing Chain Tensioner - again Triumph 13
M 1275 Timing Cover Vent Spridgets 2
waltesefalcon Miata Water Pump and Timing Belt Other Cars 3
Y TR2/3/3A I cannot get my TR3 in correct timing. Triumph 7
K TR2/3/3A Timing chain rattle on start up? Triumph 2
D Cam Timing question. Spridgets 11
KVH General Tech Valve Timing--No Marks Triumph 20
drooartz MGB Question on timing and vacuum MG 11
E Ignition Timing Austin Healey 14
K TR2/3/3A Ignition timing questions while I'm waiting for Spring Triumph 27
56HealeyDan 100-4 Timing and Vacuum Austin Healey 5
K TR2/3/3A Timing marks on pulley? Triumph 10
LAW75 Timing Chain Cover Gasket Austin Healey 12
Lin Ignition timing question Spridgets 2
Kolecki TR2/3/3A engine assembly cam timing issue Triumph 8
Lin Checking static timing for a 1275 with Crane XR700 ignition Spridgets 0
A Timing cover access Spridgets 6
BN6_2197 BN6 Static Timing Austin Healey 2
vette Timing Marks! Austin Healey 12
J Crankshaft dog nut and timing chain cover removal advice Austin Healey 30
J TR6 73 TR6 Static Timing Questions Triumph 6
P TR6 1970 TR6 Timing Question Triumph 2
TRclassic3 TR2/3/3A Timing and temperature Triumph 13
B TR4/4A New valve gears/timing Triumph 21
K TR2/3/3A Ignition Timing? Triumph 11
K TR2/3/3A The timing mark on the crank pulley.... Triumph 5
M 100-4 Timing Pointer Austin Healey 5
D TR2/3/3A Timing chain tensioner. Triumph 3
KVH TR4/4A No Marks on Timing Gear Triumph 30
Got_All_4 TR6 Newly purchased poor quality timing gear Triumph 5
vette MGB 74 1/2 Timing Specs. MG 16
B Timing Light question Austin Healey 0
F TR6 Timing adjustment Triumph 13
doc50 Metro 1500 Has Slack Timing Chain? Other British Cars 20
Got_All_4 TR6 Timing chain Triumph 10
Got_All_4 TR6 Double row timing chain in a 69? Triumph 2
D BT7 Timing Advance Austin Healey 17
D BT7 ignition timing Austin Healey 5
R TR2/3/3A Timing Triumph 3
F TR2/3/3A Ignition Timing - Again Triumph 11
T Even but low compression on 3.8 - timing slightly off? Jaguar 7
B Engine timing Spridgets 8
Michael Oritt Replacing timing chain tensioner and more Austin Healey 24
DornTRoriginal TR2/3/3A Checking if Timing Chain is Installed Correctly Triumph 6
F TR2/3/3A Timing with Electronic Ignition Triumph 14
D BT7 Timing chain install Austin Healey 2
M Timing Chain on 948 Rebuild Spridgets 1
T can't find timing marks on 1275 crankshaft pulley/damper Spridgets 8

Similar threads

Top