Hot coil

Post by **southerly95** » Sun May 11, 2008 4:38 pm

After 8 months of trouble free running after fitting a Lucas 'Gold' coil our 1965 convertible suddenly died on Friday eve.

So I fitted a new standard Lucas coil from DSN and although the engine runs seemingly ok, the coil is very hot.

Car is neg earth with alternator; voltmeter reads 14.2 to 14.4 across the battery when running engine at mid range speed. However I record variable readings from the LT side of the coil (changing every half second or so randomly beteeen 3 and 12 volts). This is on the terminal with power coming from the ignition switch side.

What other checks can I do? Points and condenser are 9m old and ok, thanks, John

Post by **d_harris** » Sun May 11, 2008 5:16 pm

If the coil is running hot that suggests that its one of the ones which are only partially oil filled, they need to be installed vertically with the terrminals at the bottom.

Post by **Willie** » Sun May 11, 2008 5:36 pm

The coil winding is shorted to chassis every time the points close, therefore any coil should run quite hot. If you switch the ignition on without the engine running the points are closed all the time and the coil will quickly burn out. The only reliable way of checking a suspect coil is by substitution.