Ignition coil

Synchro909 said:
Well, the new coil didn't solve a thing. The car still sounds like WWIII while running on one or two cylinders. Next, I'm going to remove the FS distributor and go back to points and see what happens.
This episode had proved one thing - I have a very good muffler. After all that backfiring, it is still in one piece.:D
Anybody got any ideas now other than what I have said I will do?
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Hmmm, its nice to know the whole problem from the start. But, if you have a points distributor to stick in its a good place to start. Just make sure you are not feeding 12v to the points. A resistor is needed, whether internal or external.
 
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H. L. Chauvin said:
After having several out of USA coils failing, as highly recommended on this Forum by a gentleman named Mr. Purdy Swoft, I went to Petronix ..... glad I did.
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Hmmmm, Now that's strange. Purdy is the person who recommended the 40611 Pertronix to me...
 
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Due to family commitments, I won't get much time to spend on the problem today. I should get the dizzy changed over. If that doesn't sort things out, I'll take it as a personal assault by the car on me. I will win this battle, not the car!
 
When Mr. Purdy Swoft used to recommended something for our Model As ........ like a Petronix coil ....... those few who heeded his advice witnessed his superior Model A knowledge ................ and henceforth forgot about farting around with our present day crappy overseas coils that can keep tow trucks in business.

His recommended 6V Petronix coil I presently have on my 1930 Town sedan could probably burn the hair off of a polar bear's butt under 10 feet of ice water.
 
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Gee I wonder if my oil filled upside down coil over heated this past spring --no spark.. Car cool off and was fine... may have to try a 40111 6V on my + ground 31'
 
Problem solved. You won't believe it.
I'll have to go back to our last decent trip when we did 9,000 miles towing a camper. The engine was working hard so cylinder pressures were up and it took more volts to fire the plugs. I think that caused the Model A cross fire between Nos 3 and 4. When we get home, I replaced the cap and for good measure, the rotor button. All went well till a day or two ago when I was stopped at a traffic light. When I took off, the car missed and stopped. There was no sign of life after that other than it soon developed the backfiring. Today, when I was about to take out the FS distributor, I decided to put the motor at TDC ready to time the new one. I noticed that the rotor was pointing half way between 1 and 3. The timing had moved?!?! WTF! When I had tested the spark, it was very weak (no surprise there), just like when I had to replace the previous coil. That's what started me down the "bad coil" road. So today, I put back the rotor button that we had used on the big trip back and it is as sweet as ever.
Seems that when I replaced the cap AND rotor, I removed one problem (cap) and introduced another (rotor). he bad rotor had virtually no little lug inside to locate on the shaft so it moved (it was a tight fit on the shaft but not tight enough that it didn't slip.
It all boiled down to a poor quality part. I have no idea where I bought it otherwise they would know all about it!
This has confirmed to me the wisdom often expressed here on the barn to check the simple things first.
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by H. L. Chauvin View Post

After having several out of USA coils failing, as highly recommended on this Forum by a gentleman named Mr. Purdy Swoft, I went to Petronix ..... glad I did.

Hmmmm, Now that's strange. Purdy is the person who recommended the 40611 Pertronix to me...
__________________
Y-Blockhead

Sorry H. L. I misread your comment. I thought you meant "After having several out of USA coils failing, as highly recommended on this Forum by a gentleman named Mr. Purdy Swoft" blaming Purdy for recommending several out of USA coils that failed."

It's all in the punctuation and sentence structure... :rolleyes::rolleyes:
 
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Synchro909 said:
Due to family commitments, I won't get much time to spend on the problem today. I should get the dizzy changed over. If that doesn't sort things out, I'll take it as a personal assault by the car on me. I will win this battle, not the car!
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Glad you got it figured out! Otherwise I was going to warn you Model A's (and cars in general) feed on blood sweat tears and money.....
 
katy said:
How can an oil filled coil be be identified in comparison to an non oil filled coil?
Just shake it and listen to it? Or?
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X2 on that question. I have a hot rod that was maybe it runs, maybe it doesn't for a few years. Mallory Unilite and Mallory coil as advised specifically by Mallory tech's. I was stranded on the way home from an event and problem was identified as a bad coil. ?? Don't coils last forever? That one died while driving, and I coasted to a stop at the side of the road at 9:00 on a Sunday evening. We cured the problem by replacing the Mallory coil and module with Pertronix parts. I now have a happy hot rod with a hybrid distributor, Mallory case and Pertronix module.
 
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katy said:
How can an oil filled coil be be identified in comparison to an non oil filled coil?
Just shake it and listen to it? Or?
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I'd like a sure fire answer to that question. I only figured out that oil coils don't work upside down because of a VW many decades ago. I suppose a hole could be drilled in the case, but, I've not done that. Maybe it would rattle if shaken, I'll try sometime.
 
During this "adventure", I have found that oil filled coils aren't. This is what I was told by someone whose business is ignition:
"The oil filled coil has liquid about half full to allow for expansion. when the coil is placed with the coil wire terminal mounted down the primary coil that gets hot is usually almost out of the cooling oil. Mounting the coil with the coil terminal up puts the primary windings in the oil all the way all the time."
With the oil only half way up the can, with a shake and listen, you will hear it slurping around in there.
It is a nice sunny morning out there. I thin I'll go and enjoy that rotor button.:D
 
Synchro909 said:
During this "adventure", I have found that oil filled coils aren't. This is what I was told by someone whose business is ignition:
"The oil filled coil has liquid about half full to allow for expansion. when the coil is placed with the coil wire terminal mounted down the primary coil that gets hot is usually almost out of the cooling oil. Mounting the coil with the coil terminal up puts the primary windings in the oil all the way all the time."
With the oil only half way up the can, with a shake and listen, you will hear it slurping around in there.
It is a nice sunny morning out there. I thin I'll go and enjoy that rotor button.:D
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Thanks for the response, I have a bunch of old coils that I'll have to check, when I get a chance and ifn I remember.:):)
 
Well I checked some old coils that I have, and on one I could hear oil sloshing back and forth when it was shook, but not on any of the other 4. Methinks that they need to be x-rayed.
 
Ever hear doctors say, "Don't eat eggs, real bad."; or "Don't drink coffee, bad."; "Eat margarine ..... not butter."

Just like those who do all three above & live to be 100+, my Petronix Flame Thrower has "oil filled" written on the box.

Just like all of the other oil filled coils of yesteryear, I installed my Petronix with all wires pointing downwards ...... and guess what?

No leaks. Just FWIW.
 
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