Stuffed coil

[GLENN 70]

It is funny how things can happen ,was at a friends house yesterday in my mach 1 ,car would not start the coil was dead just like that ,he had one so fitted it started 1 st time put mine back one no go ,got me .

[mojocoops]

Shouldn't be condensor as it is only one month old.  Checked last night and don't get any voltage across coil when ignition on or when cranking.  I do get voltage between +ve wire from dash cluster and ground.

If I get a GT40 or SU12 it should be ok, I plan on going Pertronix sometime soon anyway.

[mojocoops]

p.s. I replaced it (back in June) with a Bosch GT40R and its working a treat

[StephenSLR]

Do you by any chance ever leave your ignition in the ON position without the engine running? If so, this can get it real hot (& potentially burn out) because the voltage is constant unlike when the points are opening & closing.

Last week I went to change the time on my radio, I accidentally left the key in ignition, switched to ON.

The next day the car wouldn't crank over, I did a bit of googling and found others said what you have and I was worried I burnt out my coil but some others disagree saying since the engine isn't running there isn't any load on the coil.  The coil will burn out if the engine is running and you keep trying to crank it over via the ignition - you hear that screeching sound.

I got a jump start from a neighbour and drove 90 minutes or so without a problem, kicked over first time when I stopped. It was only a flat battery, the coil as far as I know is okay.

I'm still wondering why the battery drained, there are no dash lights that light up when the ignition is in the ON position so what else caused it to drain?

s

[Macka]

Your coil has two seperate coils in it.  One is charged by the battery the the ground is cut (dropping the electromagnetic field) which creates electro-magnetic induction which converts a flash of 12 volts to 20000 volts (or more) that high voltage is moved down to the distributer and moved to each spark plug gap which ignites your compressed fuel/air.   Power running to a coil will still use power and I have seen them in the past heat up and burn out because the energy in it is not being released.

[StephenSLR]

Power running to a coil will still use power and I have seen them in the past heat up and burn out because the energy in it is not being released.

Is it different with electronic ignition? 

s

[Macka]

Here's a run down on how it all works and wiring diagrams including electronic systems.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ignition_system