Lucas Rita Ignition, Dead or Not!

Hey fellow Nortoner's,

I have a Lucas Rita Electronic Ignition that does not produce spark at the spark plugs anymore!

I have been riding my bike with this ignition for over 2 years, and all of a sudden the bike started to missfire at different occasions. I thought that it may have been shit in the carby or crapp from the bottom of my fuel tank... making way to the carbies!

When I ground the SPARK plugs and crank the engine over no spark!
It does produce a spark...when I turn the ignition key through its sequence... eg to ingition and then to ignition with lights!

The Battery is fully charge!

The amplifier is LUCAS Rita AB11,

The pickups show 465 Ohms, when I connect to the black/white and the black/yellow.

I am not sure what make the coil is... It looks like a Lucas. It is a dual can coil. with only 2 terminals one + AND one - , but 2 plug leads.


Can someone please help me with the procedure of going about testing this stuff? and what the tolerance is or value to check where the fault is?

I cant aford to buy another Ignition like a new Boyer right now!...... so if there is a chance of testing and fixing this Lucas Rita I would be happy to try my hardest to fix this and get some more riding pleasure out of my bike, before the rain sets in down here in the land of "OZ".

Many thanks, in advance...


Brewer

Someone on the site I'm sure will help, try and contact DynoDave. If all fails I've got a very old but working Boyer you're welcome to.

Cash

Hi Cash,
Thanks very much. I appreciate your generosity.
Can you please send me your contact details in case I cant get this Lucas Rita System sorted.

At the moment I have tested the coil with a multimeter, to the positive and negative terminals. the result is 4.4 ohms & no evidence of earthing to the coil casing!

I have also rechecked the Pickups testing to both eyelet terminals.... which is showing 288 ohms.

I am still not sure how to test the AB11 Amplifier box.

Cash, I will try and contact DynoDave on info about testing the amp box... unless someone else knows how to test it?

Hi L.A.B,

Thanks, I did already have the download General Info On Lucas Rita Ignitions, from Eurospares.
It does help.... it does not tell you some info on how to test the amp box also, but I was wondering if there was more info on that subject out there somewhere?

Brewer

Although I have never tried, everyone tells me that due to the long dwell time, a dual output coil will not last. Since this analysis has come from more than one person whose capabilities I respect, I would suggest starting there.

Get a pair of Lucas (17M6) 6 volt coils (or equivalent) and wire them in series. Even if you are seeing a spark, it may not be strong enough to sustain combustion.

I had a RITA blow for no reason on a 750 Bonnie. Lucky it was in the driveway at the time.

Get yourself a Pazon Sure Fire direct from NZ. Cheeeeep. Excellent kit, way better than the Boyer. Got mine a couple of months ago, $140 including postage, arrived in 3 days. Aussie $ is good.

Mick

Ron L said:

Although I have never tried, everyone tells me that due to the long dwell time, a dual output coil will not last. Since this analysis has come from more than one person whose capabilities I respect, I would suggest starting there.

Get a pair of Lucas (17M6) 6 volt coils (or equivalent) and wire them in series. Even if you are seeing a spark, it may not be strong enough to sustain combustion.

Click to expand...

I will have to agree with this as I have had several coil failures. both with 3.0 and 4.6 ohm HD type coils. some will last longer than others but they WILL fail with a rita. I went to a tri spark for this reason among other's

Hi Brewer,
This is a bit late but hope you are still around.
I have a test rig for Lucas Ritas. It has not been used for about 25 years but last week my mate presented me with a dead Boyer MkIII from a T140E. I cobbled a Boyer pick up and rotor onto the rig and repaired the unit. If you are still stuck you are welcome to send the 'dead' unit and it can be declared alive or dead. The repairs are easy if you have the components, and I can advise if you wish. The hardest part is digging the PCB carefully out of the potting compound (without damaging any of the components as well!)
I am in Denmark 6333 so not too far from you.
Regards, Noggin 850 Commando, 974 T160