5 replies to this topic

[rendersonique]

Hi again
I have had one or two issues of late with my coil packing up. history is such that I was originally running a points set up due to the fact my 1968 cooper S was posative earth. I had an auto electrician fit my luminition kit after converting to negative earth and the car trundled along for the best part of 2000 miles before breaking down the weekend before last in Stafford on the way home from an anniversary couple of days away. I thought I had done quite well in my historic car to have done 6000 miles without breaking down (although the wife wasn't best pleased ).

To cut a long story short, Mr AA fitted a new coil and boasted that he was into classic vehicles, and any body else attending my breakdown would no longer have carried the part because they would have taken them off stock years ago. So thinking how lucky I was I tootled home and everything was hunky dorey for a week. Anyways, yesterday I broke down on the way to work. Knowing it was most likeley the coil again I got in touch with a friend at Unipart who told me that the part code on the coil was for a VW. Great!! He did say that he had a Metro coil that would probably do the job which was for an electronic ignition model car. This seems to be getting very hot, so I can only assume its not right. A friend of mine was also talking about 'Ballast' coils, but I am not clued up on this side of things.

Can anybody advise

Thanks in advance

Andy parts that might be involved with the problem?[/b]

[GreenMini17]

You need to make sure your (12v) coil is providing 12v for the dizzy. If its a ballasted wire (which mine was) you need to bypass this wire from the fusebox and get a 12 volt coil (not a 9 volt). If you have a ballasted wire or ballast resisitor fitted, you will only be producing 9v at the dizzy. The magnetronic needs 12v to operate correctly. I had this problem with my magnetronic system. I used the bosch sport coil (the one with the blue label and says 12v on it!) Just forget about the resistor.

[tommy13]

Your '68 Cooper would not have been fitted with a ballast resistor and so an ignition coil of the early non ballast type would be used.
I have found a link to Lumenition fitting instructions which also states that a coil of not less than 3 ohms primary resistance should be used ( non ballast type). Please check the link, or your original fitting instructions to make sure this refers to the system you have.
http://www.bccp.nl/t...cs/PMA50ins.pdf
To measure the primary resistance, you should use a multimeter set to read ohms and connect the probes to the two small coil terminals ( with all other wires to these terminals disconnected). The reading should be 3 ohms or just over. A reading of 1.5 ohms indicates a ballast type coil which is not suitable for your system.
The Lucas part number for the early 12v non ballast coil was DLB 101, so get a coil which cross refers to this number.

[Dan]

The Lucas electronic coil is all wrong for the Lumenition kit. It is a ballasted coil designed to run only with the Lucas electronic distributor, which provides ballasting for it. It has a primary resistance of about 1.8 ohms I seem to remember. It's getting hot because you are running it above its rated voltage and it's probably damaging your Lumenition module too. Your friend at Unipart should know better than this, a 12v coil whether officially for a VW or not will be far more suitable for your ignition than what he has given you. Why did you assume the second break down was related to the coil?

[Cooperman]

I was talking to Peter Baldwin, who has the rolling road near Royston, and the subject of coil failures came up. He says that the current 2V coils are of poor quality, even the Lucas 'Sports' ones. Apparently there is a company in the USA who make a ceramic coil, but they are very expensive. The company is 'Pertronics'.

[dklawson]

Pertronix is the company that makes what you call the Alden Ignitor. Their coils are sold under the product/brand name of "Flame Thrower". As Dan said, they are no more or less suitable for use than any other 12V, "standard" coil.

If your car has a standard ignition (non-ballasted) and you are running the Lumenition ignition, I suggest you consider using a Bosch Blue Coil. (Look for the Blue Coils made in Brazil. Not Mexico or other locations). The Bosch Blue coil has been an excellent, long-life, standard coil since the 1960s. The Brazilian made units continue to offer good performance but you have to ask for the Brazilian model as Bosch sells units made in other locations under the same trade name.