Stupid freaking mistake with Coil

Danno · Post by **Danno** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 1:31 pm

OK, I was trying to get my tach to read correctly. I figured it needs to be plugged into the negative side of the coil. I went out there and said "hey, it's plugged into the positive side, that aint right," so I pulled it right off and put it on the negative side.

Went to start the car, no such luck... Now my car wont start, geesh.

Walk back around. That pink wire (you know for the tach) wasn't really pink, but just faded red. That's right I hooked the 12v straight to the negative side of the coil.

So, what could be my problem now? that wire was f'n hot when I pulled it off. Did I fry my coil? fry my points? my plugs? where should I look first. The best kicker is that I did this on my lunch break, so I'm stuck at work (not a huge deal, I live about 10 blocks away)

So Cal Mark · Post by **So Cal Mark** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 1:39 pm

if the points were closed, then you had a direct short to ground and that would cause a hot wire. It could have welded the points shut

Danno · Post by **Danno** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 1:41 pm

So Cal Mark wrote:if the points were closed, then you had a direct short to ground and that would cause a hot wire. It could have welded the points shut

and solution to that possible problem could be pulling the cap off and breaking free/cleaning points, or are they toast if that's the case?

Danno · Post by **Danno** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 2:13 pm

Pulled cap off, it looks ok. They were in the closed position when I checked, but, but i've been trying to start it, so....

I'm pretty sure it's a problem with spark. I'm smelling gas. I am getting 12v to the coil when I turn the ignition key.

Haven't checked the Ohms on the coil yet.....

So Cal Mark · Post by **So Cal Mark** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 2:44 pm

that shouldn't have hurt the coil, but are the points opening when cranking? and are they severely pitted?

Danno · Post by **Danno** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 2:49 pm

So Cal Mark wrote:that shouldn't have hurt the coil, but are the points opening when cranking? and are they severely pitted?

They didn't look too bad, actually. I have some 220 sandpaper in my trunk, i guess I could clean em up a little.

I'll have to check to see if they are opening while cranking. It's raining right now, so it's not fun to check, nor will it be fun to walk home....

Danno · Post by **Danno** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 3:07 pm

just checked the primary and secondary coils with my Ohmeter, it says 7,900 for the secondary (exactly like before) and 1.6-1.9 for the primary (I had been reading 1.4; Do you reckon that's far enough out of wack to be a problem?

also, look at the thing on the left of the coil in this really old picture I found:
What is it? a resistor? like I have an "external resistor coil"? Cause it doesn't look like the resistor i find with the coil at autozone if I look up an ignition coil for a 75 fiat (Remember I have dual point retro-version) BTW, i see in my old picture that it's hooked up to the positive side. I think It's hooked to the negative side by my doing when I first got it to finally run...... If it's the resistor, could a bad resistor be my problem?

So Cal Mark · Post by **So Cal Mark** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 3:22 pm

that picture shows an electronic ign coil and heat sink. There is a condensor hooked up on the left, used for radio noise suppression. I don't see a resistor in the pic

Danno · Post by **Danno** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 3:33 pm

So Cal Mark wrote:that picture shows an electronic ign coil and heat sink. There is a condensor hooked up on the left, used for radio noise suppression. I don't see a resistor in the pic

Thanks Mark, I found several mentions of that condensor at Mira after I posted the Q.

The heat sink and module are still remnants of the old ignition system, but trust me the coil isn't connected to the module, etc, and doesn't fit right in that heat sink.

Do you think that 1.6-1.9 ohms for the primary winding is too far out of whack considering it was 1.4 the day I got it running?

So Cal Mark · Post by **So Cal Mark** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 5:40 pm

if the coil was shorted I would expect ohm readings much different than what you had. Temp can have an effect on resistance too. You can hook a coil up backwards without damaging the coil, you just cut the available voltage in half

Danno · Post by **Danno** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 5:50 pm

then I wonder what the heck is wrong with it! I drove it to work and it ran fine then. Then I made the mistake I just told you about, then fixed it, but now it just don't run!

s990wg3 · Post by **s990wg3** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 6:10 pm

A friend of mine had a honda that wouldn't start and his coil checked out as good with a meter.

we pulled the coil out and hooked it up to the battery directly with some jumper leads,

if you open and close the primay side by touching the positive wire on and off by hand you should see a spark if you hold the secondary output near the block.

if you don't get a spark it's not working no matter how its tests.

we did this on a known good coil and got a spark, his was bad.

he got a new coil and the car started right up.

if yours is good, check continuity of all the wires in the circuit maybe one burned through. clean all contact points scrape off oxidation etc. crazy things happen in these situations.

hope you get her going

Bill

Danno · Post by **Danno** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 8:45 pm

well,i went ahead and bought a cheapo coil at AutoZone. It's dark and late and the car is at work, so I'll have to get back to you about it later.

Danno · Post by **Danno** » Tue Oct 23, 2007 2:09 pm

coil replaced, still no start. points are opening during cranking. I've not checked for actual spark at the coil or at the plugs, that will be next. I had a couple of minutes at lunch, just enough to swap the coil.

I have a new set of plugs, could that have burnt them out? I will do the easy thing and replace plugs just to be safe. I'll report back after work when I have a chance to get at it again.

Today is a beautiful day, I really want to drive it with the top down and a warm sweater on!

mbouse · Post by **mbouse** » Tue Oct 23, 2007 2:18 pm

i may have gotten lost in this post, so please forgive if this is a dumb question.

the pink/red wire that was sooo hot in the beginning of your post. did you replace that wire?