I have placed a Velleman kit k2543 in my Renault Estafette 1300 cc bus, just before a trip through France. About 2500 Km’s the car did very well but on our way back home, with speeds between 80 - 100 Km/h the car became unstable whenever there was a wind or little hill, at the end i had to stop. After some time i could start the car and drive another 50 Km’s or so.
During this all the Velleman kit k2543 became very hot. That hot that the cooling ribbon was too hot to touch. I checked and double checked the connections but could not find any malfunction. I also checked the contact points, which were in good shape. But one thing draw my attention. The distributor ‘‘points’’ were very corroded every time i stopped the car. I cleaned them, drove again, and when the problem appeared again, the distributor ‘‘points’’ were corroded gain.
What could be the problem here? The Kit is placed inside the car on a dry place, without case so that all heat can go out quickly.
hi jukka - thx for your reply. In the meantime i replaced the velleman kit and restored the original distributor. The same problem was still there. Checked the valves and guess what? They needed to get a new position. After that the car drove as it should be, also with the velleman kit. The kit, however, is still very hot. I bought another one to have one in spare when this one breaks down.
The problem you described and k2543 kit heating still suggests that some kind of electrical problem exists. I have the kit installed in my Nissan and the heatsink hardly heats at all. Perhaps you should check the ignition coil resistance to make sure that there is not a short circuit, even partial short might be the root cause to your problem. You should check both primary winding and high voltage winding. But I think the easiest way to test ignition coil would be replacing it with another that works for sure and see what happens. That distributor rotor points wear could indicate a problem with the high voltage winding of the ignition coil. Maybe you should check also the spark plug wires with ohm-meter and check also that spark plugs are ok.
that’s my thoughts and 2 cents…I hope you figure it out.
Hey jukka, i guess i will try to change the bobine (ignition coil). its already old and its obvious a trouble maker, so to ** with it!
After that i can check the heatsink of the kit.
It is funny that you tell yours in your Nissan doesn’t heat at all! I had a heated kit all the time, last year. Drove through France and Spain without any driving problems though.
Well, see what happens and thanks for the input!
If replacing ignition coil and checking spark plug wires won’t solve the problem then you can replace the distributor rotor and distributor cap. It is possible that there is excessive wear and causes the rotor wear even more.
Contact points capacitor prevents them from wearing excessively when ignition coil primary winding current is being grounded through them in rapid sequence. It is true that if capacitor is defective, contact points wear quickly because of arcing. But this capacitor won’t have an effect to the high voltage side of the ignition system, i.e the distributor rotor and the cap contacts leading to ignition wires and spark plugs.
Contact points capacitor prevents them from wearing excessively when ignition coil primary winding current is being grounded through them in rapid sequence. It is true that if capacitor is defective, contact points wear quickly because of arcing. But this capacitor won’t have an effect to the high voltage side of the ignition system, i.e the distributor rotor and the cap contacts leading to ignition wires and spark plugs.[/quote]
I never said, or implied, that it would affect the secondary, it could however affect the K2543 and cause it to overheat–I say could because I have not examined the K2543 circuitry, assuming it is the same as many CDI systems that have been around for years–I will look at it.
Preventing the points from arcing is one function of the capacitor, however that it does so is almost a side-effect of it’s main function (which exemplifies Kettering’s genius) which is to prevent the wasting of energy were the points allowed to arc. When the points open primary current continues to flow until the capacitor is charged, by the time it is charged the points will have opened far enough that they present a far less attractive path for the coil’s energy. This prevents the coil’s energy from being wasted arcing across the points.
The value of the capacitor is an important consideration as it in conjunction with the coil forms a resonant circuit–if the value is too large current will flow for too long and the spark will be weak, if it is too small the points will not be sufficiently open when the capacitor charges, the points will arc, and the spark will be weak.
Yes you have a point. That capacitor is a vital system component. But since it is not to be used with the K2543 kit I’m just wondering what could make the kit to heat excessively. If capacitor is left connected, the it may likely be the problem source but i don’t think it is the cause…
Kit is not expensive, maybe one can buy a new one and see what happens.
And jeroen, if you find the real cause of the problems please inform us too!
and of course the condenser is not connected to the distributor when the kit is applied! so, that’s not the heat-issue.
personally, and i will test that next week, i think its a combination of bad spark-plugs and bobine.
[quote=“Jukka_S”]Yes you have a point. That capacitor is a vital system component. But since it is not to be used with the K2543 kit I’m just wondering what could make the kit to heat excessively. If capacitor is left connected, the it may likely be the problem source but i don’t think it is the cause…
Kit is not expensive, maybe one can buy a new one and see what happens.
And jeroen, if you find the real cause of the problems please inform us too![/quote]
I just now looked at the manual and schematic, you are obviously correct as the capacitor in the distributor is disconnected from the circuit. I would monitor the waveform across the three 150Ω resistors in parallel, this will determine if there is excessive current being switched by the output transistor.