The Triumph Dolomite Club - Discussion Forum

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 Post subject: Spark diagnostic tools.
PostPosted: Sun Jun 18, 2017 5:22 pm 
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I was at a car-club event yesterday and in the rather good flea-market I found these spark-plug diagnostic tools.
The idea is that you put them in series with the spark-plug leads and each spark is then visible as a bright red flash. No flash = no spark.
I've not seen this done before so its an excellent idea.
I've tried one out and even in sunshine it worked well.
They seem to be made by Sparkrite who do other useful bits of kit.
Four of them for £7 is good value.
Tony.


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PostPosted: Sun Jun 18, 2017 5:28 pm 
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Who are you going to get to hang under the bonnet while you check for misfire under load Tony :D

Tony

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PostPosted: Sun Jun 18, 2017 6:46 pm 
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i have a set of those,but dont think there be any good on the sprint unless you can join two or three together :D :D :D

Dave


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PostPosted: Mon Jun 19, 2017 10:07 am 
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There was a product called 'Colourtune' years ago, where the colour of the flash diagnosed the condition, but again, fine on an 1850, useless on a Sprint.

The downside is it doesn't test the plug; a few years ago I had a car that had been laid up for 12 years that just wouldn't start. I cleaned and gapped the plugs, had tested for a healthy spark at the end of the lead, done all the other checks, but completely overlooked the fact that all four plugs were completely dead!


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PostPosted: Mon Jun 19, 2017 7:50 pm 
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I have found that the spark diagnostic tool and a colour tune or two, one for each pair of cylinders works well on a 1500.


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PostPosted: Mon Jun 19, 2017 8:37 pm 
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Tony, those things are great, I also have a set of 4. Helped to diagnose a faulty electronic ignition on my 1850, all 4 behaved as expected on start-up but as the engine (and everything else) got very hot the 4 indicators started doing random things. It was the fried electronic ignition causing the random events.
So get some. Use them. Record them. You now have a datum point. :D I got mine from Machine Mart ages ago.


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PostPosted: Wed Jul 05, 2017 6:51 am 
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I got a set of 4 among the parts haul I got from Steve W. so I decided to keep them for myself. Very useful for diagnosing ignition problems.

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Meetings take place on the first Wednesday of the month at 8.00pm at The Old Brickworks, Wakefield Road, Drighlington, Bradford, BD11 1EA

1972 Dolomite 1850 auto (NYE 751L - Now for sale)
2003 Volvo XC90 D5 SE (PX53 OVZ - The daily driver)
2009 Mercedes-Benz W204 C200 CDI Sport (BJ58 NCV - The 2nd car)
1991 Toyota Celica GT (J481 ONB - another project car)
Former stable of SAY 414M (1974 Toledo), GRH 244D (1966 1300fwd), CDB 324L (1973 1500fwd), GGN 573J (1971 1500fwd), DCP 625S (1977 Dolomite 1300) & LCG 367N (1975 Dolomite Sprint) plus 5 Acclaims and that's just the Triumphs!

Check my blog at http://triumphtoledo.blogspot.com
My YouTube Channel with a bit of Dolomite content.

"There is only one way to avoid criticsm: Do nothing, say nothing and BE nothing." Aristotle


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PostPosted: Thu Jul 06, 2017 7:59 pm 
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They have been around for years and even Halfords still sell them although they are not cheap to buy new.
As for Colortune they can be used on the Sprint using the extension probe.

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