Triumphrat

gregp

It is the "brain" of your ignition system. Often refered to as the "Black Box" or ECU (Electronic Control Unit). It is pre-programmed to tell the coils when to spark and they often have many inputs such as thottle position sensors, rpm, air intake temp, exhaust temp, crank position sensors, and more. Ours are more simple, but they are generally "sealed" with epoxy and un-repairable.

gregp

Here is one from a '96 Trident. I do not know if it is suitable, though. You may want to check part numbers at Bikebandit to see if they list it by the same part number.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Trium...3960QQtcZphoto

MickMaguire

Not if he has one of the late "Bonnie" style ones without a pigtail - those are not interchangeable with the earlier ones. I think they brought them in on the Legend in either 99 or 2000 IIRC

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Mick...

jmorris

Yeah, I've got one of the flat rectangular variety with the rounded edges.

I've moved the coils around and #3 (the one that won't fire) works fine in any other position and neither of the others work when I plug the #3 wires up to them.

Does anyone know if there's a way to tell if the igniter is bad by checking resistance across the terminals in the pigtail? If I do end up sending the old one of to be rebuilt it won't be till next week, so I'm certainly game to try a few other things first...

And thanks for the offer BadMouth, but unfortunately I'm in south Georgia and gas being $3.50 a gallon and all...

jimmyj900

Well, that's pretty conclusive...

The igniter has three large transistors in it and if one of those goes bad it will give the symptoms you describe. (There's an x-ray of an igniter in my photo album if you're curious.)

Might be worth a try. If you get an ohms reading on the ouputs they should all be about the same -- probably within 5-10%. If one is way different from the other two then you've got a definate problem. Also, be sure to try the ohms measurement with both polarities. If one of the transistors is damaged you might see a resistance on one and not the others.

Jim

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MickMaguire

have you checked the #3 wires back to the ignitor(to check for an open or high resistance?) I'm guessing you probably have but have to ask just in case.

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gregp

I'd be curious to know if the igniter can, in fact, be repaired. I have not looked closely at mine, but most that I have seen are sealed in an epoxy type filler. Are ours different?

MickMaguire

IIRC very very early ones werent - later ones were - I guess it may be possible to chemically remove it somehow

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Mick...

31scout

jmorris,
What have you decided to do with your igniter?
I have an '03 T-bird with starting problems. I've checked many things, coils, AC pick-up, etc. I checked my spark and it's pretty weak on all 3 cyls. I'm thinking it's the igniter and I'm shocked to find out a new one is $700.
Have you decided to have it rebuilt?
Thanks for any info.

jimmyj900

Igniters don't go weak, coils go weak.

The igniter has three output switching transistors in it and they'll always fail completely -- regardless of whether the transistors themselves or their drive circuits fail.

The igniter is internally voltage regulated so if the voltage to the igniter drops, it shuts down.

I suspect you're one of the very rare people with all three coils failed.

Jim

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