Hi all, I've encountered a problem with my 1989 V8 3.5 petrol engined Landy. It's like totally dead. No signs of life even though it's spinning like a top on the starter. It *will* run fine on Easy Start, though, so the ignition system's fine...

Yes, when an engine frustratingly tries to fire-up at the end of a cranking it's a pretty clear pointer to a battery issue. That's not the problem here, though as the motor spins like a top and continues to do so over many minutes of intermittent...

Phill, I believe it's the original distributor and amp from the look of it. Obviously it's had at least one new cap and leads in the last 36 years. This is the model with the amp on the side of the dizzy. I just put a new coil on it. Supposedly...

Failing electronics? Yes, certainly a strong possibility. But failing or already failed? I could rescue this - at least for now - by adding a single, simply MOSFET stage to the amplifier's output. If I choose a FET with enough gate capacitance...

Er, yes. Yes, I have. It pulled apart really easily. Typical of me not to think of that. Anyway, inside, it's just a connector and it doesn't join 3 wires together after all. It really only connects one to one. So hardly a "component" at all...

Thanks, all. I'll see if I can get them separated tomorrow......

Hmmm. I hadn't considered that, Kermit. So I could just solder those 3 wires together and have done with this weird and confusing 'fuse-holder type thing' arrangement.

It might well pull-apart and I'll give that a go tomorrow when I next have access to it. However, it still doesn't explain why it - if it is simply a connector as seems to be the case given the web link I found - there are two wires going in and...

I just took another look and noticed RIST'S embossed on the side of the 'fuseholder-looking thing' so Googled it and it turns out it's these...

Beats me too. Other wires: there are the two that come from the ignition amplifier that go to the coil (-) and (+) terminals. Those two are inside the corrugated sleeve which runs alongside the 'fuse-holder' (or whatever it is) in the photo. Plus...

The "other two"? I'm not sure why a fuse would have two wires in; one wire out to be honest. In any event, it doesn't come apart so far as I can tell. As for the condenser theory, I think you'll find they actually used an inductor for screening...

Hi all, I'm having problems with the ignition system on my '89 V8 3.5 litre County 110. In order to work out what's going wrong, there are two components I need to identify but I have no idea what they are or what their purposes are. Just...

Plus the hydraulic tappets on the V8 can lock if the engine's not run for extended periods.

Fan belt on my recent acquisition (1989 V8 110) was squealing like a stuck pig so I got a replacement from our local motor factors this afternoon. They asked me if the belt I wanted was the 10mm or the 13mm one. I measured the existing one and it...

Hi guys, The ignition system on my 1989 V8 3.5 looks original - apart from a new dizzy cap someone put on quite recently. But the amplifier and coil both appear to be 36 years old. I'm getting a very weak spark and am tempted to fit a new...

Thanks. This engine is a sweet little lump if it's set up correctly, so that's worth doing. I don't suppose there's any easy way of measuring camshaft wear, though. Probably have to whip one out in order to to mic it up?

Thank you, Hef; I'll check it out. I need to order some spares for it and want to make sure I get the right parts. Like the two belts off the crankshaft. They are squealing like pigs and so loud you would not believe it. People 300 yds up the...

Yes, but another self-inflicted wound I'm afraid. I got to learn to keep my fingers out there like it said on the warning sign! Now whereabouts, I wonder, is the engine number on this little V8 lump?

Glad you got it sorted in the end.:):):)

Okay, many thanks for the tips, guys; duly noted. Well after about 6 hours of troubleshooting today, I finally found out what the problem was. Immediately prior to the problem becoming apparent, I'd done some checks on the engine and carbs...

£200 for a new amplifier? Outrageous! No CPU in this one, so I'm guessing the heavily-potted and sealed contents comprise: JFET front-end high impedance OP-AMP, schmitt trigger and a single power MOSFET. Total component cost of about £1.50. Jeez...

Good suggestions, Rangieman. I've had conflicting reports on the location of this amplifier (some elsewhere have told me my year (1989) should have the amp separately mounted near the coil, well away from the heat of the engine). I will find out...

Forget the naysayers here my V8 compadre. Although your ignition amplifier is mounted to the distributor, it still needs a good earth, through its base contact with the distributor. Early amp units had one, (3 wire), and then they changed to two...

Thank you so much for your contributions....

What? So it's just some fancy name for an ignition amplifier? Takes the weak signal from the reluctor sensor in the dizzy and boosts it up to 12V pulses for the HT coil's input terminals? I was given to understand that the ignition amplifier (if...

Modulator? Never heard of that! Bloody modern technology. Okay, thanks, I'll look into it. Any idea what its function is?

Modulator on the side of the distributor can fail miserably. I had this happen once going to work. Only until an auto electrician found the problem I too was left with scratch bonce.🥴

Hi all, The V8 I bought recently was becoming more reluctant to start and this morning I couldn't get it running at all. I pulled off the petrol pipe and spun 'er over and fuel positively gushed out. So I grabbed the HT coil output lead...

Ah, well. I'm of an age where we didn't wear seatbelts. I'm also into classic cars where if your pride and joy is over a certain age, it need not have seat belts fitted. So I'm still riding around (perfectly legally) with no seat belt. Think...

"come through the skin"? So there's basically nothing I can do to arrest this, then? I really want to keep those skins above all else, but you're saying it's coming through from underneath?