Hey, can anyone help me with my Lumenition setup, I've installed it and its working well with the expected performance increase, smoother driving and less cranking and I’m very happy with it but the rev counter isn’t working. I connected the red wire to the fuse box, black wire to the chassis and violet directly to the coils negative. I don’t know what the idle speed is with no rev counter so I can’t set the timing with my strobe light accurately, have I gone wrong with the violet wire? Anyone had the same problem? My car is a 1970 “three thousand five’ if that helps.
No rev counter after lumenition installed
- Thread starter bert4656
- Start date
Demetris
Well-Known Member
You probably have an early rev counter where the line between the coil and the distributor passes through the rev counter to allow it to sense rpm.
Have a look in the relative wiring diagram for your car, or search the forum as this issue has come up and discussed in the past.
Have a look in the relative wiring diagram for your car, or search the forum as this issue has come up and discussed in the past.
Hi Bert,
My Rover is a 1974 model, with the tacho working just fine afterwards. I am a little pressed this morning, but I'll have a look through my notes a little later and let you know if I find something that will help.
Glad to hear that your Rover is running better after installing it. :wink:
Ron.
My Rover is a 1974 model, with the tacho working just fine afterwards. I am a little pressed this morning, but I'll have a look through my notes a little later and let you know if I find something that will help.
Glad to hear that your Rover is running better after installing it. :wink:
Ron.
Hey Ron, my car has alot more pick up and im pretty stoked with that, the gear change seems smoother as well, its like a breath of life has just been added to it, now with a edelbrock setup, camshaft and magnecore wires it will be the fastest rover in town 8)
one thread is saying i may have to accept that my older style rev counter wont work with lumenition and that i could buy a later MGB rev counter, I could accept that i guess, at least my cars driving good
one thread is saying i may have to accept that my older style rev counter wont work with lumenition and that i could buy a later MGB rev counter, I could accept that i guess, at least my cars driving good
I did this a while ago with my TC. IIRC the tacho is triggered by the negative wire from the coil. You need to make sure that is kept in the circuit so instead of connecting the Lumenition's wire to the coil negative terminal, connect it at the distributer end.
Now that I think about it, that may not be the case on the V8 though... :?
Now that I think about it, that may not be the case on the V8 though... :?
I cant see anywhere to connect it to the distributor end, must be a different setup. One thing ide like to point out is Lumenitions instructions, quote: "Connect violet wire to the wire from which the contact breaker assembly was removed, This goes to the negative terminal of the coil, sometimes via the tachometer” now at the end of the instructions it says quote: Under no circumstances should the Violet wire be connected to a full positive feed” well that wire from the contact breaker assembly is a live feed on my car, so i could of damaged my unit! dangerous instructions if your like me and i did start to read 1 section at a time.
Hi Bert,
I've had a look at the wiring diagram for the three thousand five, and unless I am going blind I can't even see a tachometer on there. Lumenition does say that impulse tachometers often don't function once installed and the only alternatives are to either replace the existing tacho with a later voltage type or have the existing tacho converted to a voltage type.
The wire that was initially connected to the your distributor (white and black) came off the -ve terminal on the ignition coil. That can be disconnected from the coil and replaced by the violet wire from the power module.
As a side issue, where have you placed the power module Bert?
Ron.
I've had a look at the wiring diagram for the three thousand five, and unless I am going blind I can't even see a tachometer on there. Lumenition does say that impulse tachometers often don't function once installed and the only alternatives are to either replace the existing tacho with a later voltage type or have the existing tacho converted to a voltage type.
The wire that was initially connected to the your distributor (white and black) came off the -ve terminal on the ignition coil. That can be disconnected from the coil and replaced by the violet wire from the power module.
As a side issue, where have you placed the power module Bert?
Ron.
You're not gpoing blind, Ron. It isn't in there! I'm fairly sure the only wiring diagram for this set up (like an early TC with the rev counter pod alongside the strip speedo) is in the owners instruction manual. This is because the rev counter was always an optional extra on the Three Thousand Five.
I'll have a look in mine later and report back.
Chris
I'll have a look in mine later and report back.
Chris
Hey, I couldn't find the tachometer in my Haynes manual diagram ether, I put the power module lower front left (I think I got that from you in another thread) near the gap between the body and the radiator, behind the headlight, horizontally. hopefully its not to close to the radiator, it should get some air flowing onto it. I will tune the ignition timing thru learning how to detect pinging. Thanks everyone for your time, greatly appreciated.
chrisyork wrote,...
That is good to know Chris
Look forward to seeing what you discover.
Hi Bert,
My Lumenition being over 20 years old actually has a brown wire, the colour changing to violet some years later. In either case, the connection is the same. MIne runs from the power module to the -ve terminal on the coil. Anywhere at the front and down low for the power module is fine, in an air stream even better. The module is not bothered by water, indeed they function perfectly even when submerged.
If you don't have a timing light or a dwell tachometer, setting the timing will take a bit longer, but if you can lay your hands even on the latter then that will make it much easier. When you advance the timing, the engine revs will slowly increase until a point is reached where they will plateau, with further ignition advancement seeing no change. The ideal spot is where the revs initially plateau, you'll need to play around a bit, advancing and retarding until you find the spot. Feel for the best idle smoothness and the lightest sounding exhaust note, they're all very close to that ideal spot. When you road test if there is pinging you'll need to retard the ignition just a smidge at a time, test again and again until you are happy with the result. It is all a compromise, especially so with the 10.5 : 1 engine, so you'll likely have to run with less initial timing than what would be ideal.
Ron.
That is good to know Chris
Look forward to seeing what you discover.Hi Bert,
My Lumenition being over 20 years old actually has a brown wire, the colour changing to violet some years later. In either case, the connection is the same. MIne runs from the power module to the -ve terminal on the coil. Anywhere at the front and down low for the power module is fine, in an air stream even better. The module is not bothered by water, indeed they function perfectly even when submerged.
If you don't have a timing light or a dwell tachometer, setting the timing will take a bit longer, but if you can lay your hands even on the latter then that will make it much easier. When you advance the timing, the engine revs will slowly increase until a point is reached where they will plateau, with further ignition advancement seeing no change. The ideal spot is where the revs initially plateau, you'll need to play around a bit, advancing and retarding until you find the spot. Feel for the best idle smoothness and the lightest sounding exhaust note, they're all very close to that ideal spot. When you road test if there is pinging you'll need to retard the ignition just a smidge at a time, test again and again until you are happy with the result. It is all a compromise, especially so with the 10.5 : 1 engine, so you'll likely have to run with less initial timing than what would be ideal.
Ron.