{BATTING EYELASHES} What is a electronic igniter and where is it located? took my 83z to Z world in the south bay and they really gave my car the once over, they say i need this elec. igniter, what exactly does it do, and do they go haywire often? ooohpleeez help? thanx

the ignitor is the devise that, sends the voltage that causes the spark to jump through the distributor cap, to the rotor, out the plug wires to the spark plugs, ignites the fuel, causing a controlled explosion, that causes the piston to push downward, moving the crank, which spins the flywheel, which with the clutch engaged, turns the main shaft on the transmission, and if the trans is in gear, spins the driveshaft, engages the differential gears, twists the half shafts, turns the rear wheels, and moves your ZX down the road.

an ignitor is a devise that lights a fire.

the ZX ignitor runs about 125 dollars, new.

when it starts to go bad, not enough juice to make a solid spark, the fuel doesn't fully ignite, engine doesn't produce the horsepower and torque that it should. engine feels sluggish, sputters, may run hotter than normal, black smoke out the exhaust pipe.

when ignitor goes dead, engine won't start ... remember, ignitor makes spark, dead ignitor, means no spark ... engine won't run.

test for bad ignitor would involve testing the voltage and amperage output, over various rpm ranges of the engine, and temperature ranges. sometimes, one might "educated guess " that the ignitor is bad, by looking at the spark on the end of the spark plug wire.

the spark should be a hot white/blue lightening bolt ( in miniature ). mechanic may have seen a yellowish, weak trickle of a spark. the most common defective item that causes this, is the ignitor.

i've forgotten exactly where it is, but ... i think the ZX ignitor is mounted on the side of the distributor. a small black box. been a while since i sold my 79 ZX.

i have pertronix in my 72 z, it has an ignitor, same principle.

hope this helps.

In Other Words I Don't Know .

wise guy ...

of course i know what it is ... it's that black thing a ma jiggy right there ... it make em fire ...

and, if i stick my finger in there, it makes me say nasty words and run around shaking my hand.

;-0

Thank you very much Wayne, the machanic did say it was on the distrib. so at least i know u know a lil something about what your talking about and thanks so much for the run down on what it is, and what it does, Was in the garage all full of guys and didn't wanna stick around for the dumb blonde jokes so had to come on line to my good ol'pals at classic Z, i knew someone would give me a clue. Once again THANKS

Are we talking about the Electronic Ignition Control Module? How do you know it's bad? How is the car acting? Be careful because the 82-83 module is different from the other years.

Yes sir Mr. Datsunologist Sir, Thats what we are talking about, And as far as how do i know it is bad..... personally i don't. And at this point i just want my beautiful car back , cruising down p.c.h. with the t-tops off and not choking to death in the process. The mechanic at Z-World where i have my car, just sort of said it had a problem so i told him to add to the bill and fix the Freaking thing. also replaced the air flow meter, and some vac. hoses and throttle position sensor, really , let me be the first to admit that anything electrical......well lets not go there? ha! As far as how it was running well, not very well, it idled okay i guess didn't sound like it was missing or anything, but it had some black smoke from exhaust and there was no giving it the gas or punching it cause the ol'gal would just plain choke out and sputter and the fumes were about to make me go loopy if i was driving on city streets, and well since it had no get up and go the hwy. was out of the question, Sorry so long but u asked?

Now any thoughts > ooohpleeez

The symptoms you describe would point me in a similar direction. AFM, bad vac hoses, TPS, air regulator, fuel pressure regulator, ignition control module, etc. Anything that would affect the fuel mixture or weaken the spark. Sounds like they know what they're doing. I just hate to replace a bunch of expensive parts.

Nancy, being from the wrench-and-ball-pean school of mechanics, the only way I know to test them is have another one to swap out! Speaking of that, the pick-a-part down in Carson has quite a few nissans with the same module. Take a shorty phillups screwdriver and your ready to harvest a "Test" module.

Victor, my u know me so well, i spend alot of time down at the pick-a-part on blinn also the ecology on lomita blvd. They know me on a first name basis. Really, i love going in there. Kills a couple of hours on sundays. and i get to go in and take things apart to see how they work, I LOVE IT! THANKS AGAIN FOR ALL YOUR HELP EVERYONE. As i said the car is at Z-world and they are all great guys, but they really do give me a hard time down there. Just wish they would stick to one mechanic working on my car. Seems like everytime i take the car in some other mechanic is working on it and has found another problem. I just want it to purrrrrrr, and its been in the shop now for 2 weeks. i told them to do what ever it takes. soooooooo, i've given them a $100.00 a day for past 2 weeks. i know that should cover the bill. and can't wait for the purrrrrr!!!!!!

Guess what? it was the darn fuel pump!!!! I finally went on the internet and found a site that told me how to check the fuel pressure and did all that and found out that there was only 10 lbs. of pressure. GOOD LORD!!! No wonder the poor lil thing didn't wanna go anywhere? ha.

Once again thanx everyone for all your input that guided me in the right direction.

Could also be the fuel pressure regulator. At what point in the system did you check the fuel pressure?