distributor problems

I have no spark checked the coil and no power coming out it seems like the coil and module are built in to the distributor is there anyway of testing to see if its the module as nissan want my left arm most a leg and and a big chunk of my wallet for a replacement and they don't sell the module and coil separate you have to buy the dissy complete. Any suggestions much appreciated.

May I should explain how it started it first stalled after 15 min driving then restarted 5min later it then drove 70km was stopped and restarted went only 5km and stalled it took 1 hour before it would restart and then stalled again shortly after and was towed home ,it started fine for me and i let it run for 10min in the garage at the same time the thermo fan cut in the engine died and has not restarted this was 2 days ago and wont start at all now any ideas their is no spark at coil fusses all checked. ???????

Hi Trav,

Sorry to hear you are having problems. Yes this problem has been mentioned before on these forums and unfortunately there's not much you can do except replace the distributor...

But don't get your replacement from Nissan....too expensive

1. Second-hand units are often available from wreckers ;
http://www.partslocator.com.au/

2. Brand new ones can be obtained from the UK via ebay cheaper than Nissan would have quoted you.
http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1//1?icep_ff3=2&toolid=10001&campid=5337873294&icep_item=120056867650

Good luck.

When my dizzy failed my local Nissan UK main dealer wanted £450 to put it right. I managed to get a replacement dizzy from a breakers yard near me for £50 and it was literally a 10 minute job to swap...

Hopefully you'll be able to find one from a breakers yard near you

If you cannot get a replacement then it is quite simple to convert the K11 to run an external coil driver.

This image:
http://www.fusion-motorsport.co.uk/images/k11dist/IMG_0965-1.jpg

Shows the inside of the pickup in the distributor.

Blue area is the optical pickup. Red area is the ignition coil driver. The pink area within is the actual ignition driver transistor.

Anyway all you need to do is extend the spade terminal coil wire from the coil (the spade terminal is visible on the right). This needs to be taken outside the distributor. You also need a good earth from within the distributor. This you can take from one of the screw terminals that holds the ignition module in the distributor. These are then both taken outside. So you have the coil wire and an earth. You can see two pins going to the ignition side of the module shown in the image. With the cars ignition on, one of these will be showing 12v, the other will be 0v. The 0v one is the wire that goes to your ECU from the ignition output, this needs to be cut.

So what your left with now is a ground, the ignition trigger and the coil wire. Then its a case of getting an ignition driver such as one used on any Nissan with external coil, and wiring it in to these 3 wires. I'm not going to give it all away you can work out the rest. But this is to show that you don't need to keep to the driver that is built within the distributor.

Ed

does anyone know if the k11 dizzy is the same as the sr20?

has anyone tried fitting an sr20 dizzy before?

thanks guys i think i have found a dizzy $175 and have picked up a haynes manual.THANKS ED for the external coil drive ulternative I might give it a go on the old one for back up the micra has done 230000 k's so it having a bit of work done lately CV radaitor coil bushes and hoping it will stay well after this for a while At leats i have fault codes know .
By the way would a smear of silcone around the dizzy help on wet day starting if we ever get one or does the water get in through the breather. cheers and thanks again for the advise.

Ok have done fault code check and it tells me its fault 21 ignition signal circit fault. Does this sound like a dizzy fault or the ECU.

What that means is that the ecu is not seeing a response from the ignition amplifier when it tries to trigger it. If the car does not run then its probably the ignition amplifier.

Wont work.

thanks tom, i found some pictures of the dizzys and their both different

do you know if they operate in the same way though?

theres a microtech i want to buy but its currently setup for an sr20, i can use it only "if" the micras dizzy operates in the same way.

Depends on the type of SR20. There's 3 different types of ingition systems the SR20's had. RWD had coil pack (no dizzy), early FWD had external coil dizzy and later models had inegrated coil like the k11.

Ed what year model nissan would be a good place to start looking for an external coil driver and does it have to be a 4 or will any do .Have replaced dizzy and the mic is going so im tryin the external idea on the old one .Cant understand why nissan have no replacments for somthing that comes apart so easily since it says made in the UK surly someone makes them.

So far on K11 I've seen two totally different dizzy's.

1) Mitsubishi (Black & silver sticker, has code numbers & nissan symbol, Mitsubishi is written in very small writing at the bottom). This dizzy looks similar to the SR integral mitsi dizzys.

2) Slightly larger dizzy with no obvious branding aside from a nissan symbol case into the aluminium & some other numbers including D4T90-1

The above are all from Japan spec cars. Do the UK/Oz K11's have another dizzy or one of the above? Any thoughts as to which has more failure problems?


The CG dizzy drive is different to all others I have checked:

SR P10/U13 separate coil, integral - aluminium body plastic upper, P11/U14 integral - aluminium base plastic body & upper
CA
KA
GA15DE
GA16DE (1st gen variable cam time)

There are more than 3 versions on SR20's. It's the closest match to the CG drive arrangement, same diameter where it goes into the head but the drive doesn't stick into the head as far & has a different engagement dog.

Dizzy #2 above is from a 1994 K11. It's a Hitachi, Hitachi is cast into the top of the cap.

3) I've now seen a 3rd dizzy, it's also a hitachi but with a different shaped aluminium body casting. This was from a 1997 K11 CG10DE. It now resides in a 1992 K11 CG13DE.

I'll check the UK dizzy list on the euro FAST i have at home later.

I think the UK k11 have 2 different types of dizzy though. One is a Lucas job (original series k11) which suffers heat related cam angle sensor failure. Pretty sure the next one is a slightly different design and *shouldn't* suffer the same sensor failure.

Then you've got the aftermarket dizzys too. I have one of these on my car. No idea what brand it is - its not standard nissan (original lucas dizzy died).