It's 'never' the coil

[54woody]

OK...but sometimes it IS the coil.

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[JOWETTJAVELIN]

Very rarely; there isn't much to go wrong with them. Old age is the main cause of coil malfunction and death.

[bmcecosse]

Yes - that's why I put the "never " in quote marks, because obviously, just sometimes, it CAN be the coil.... It's just not the first thing everyone should assume when the engine stops ..... and the fuss I make about it has (I hope) alerted everyone on here to that by now ! The accident shown above is obviously a fairly new 'Lucas' coil of unknown manufacture source, and may also have overheated if it was perhaps a 2 ohm coil designed for ballast ignition, or has just been left sitting with current flowing through... ie Ignition left on with engine not running. This must never be done for more than a few seconds.. And anyway - anything can happen on an MGB engine......

[Boomlander]

So if I need to have the ignition switched on without the engine running while I am working on electrical items would it be prudent to disconnect the coil?

[bmcecosse]

Absolutely......and the fuel pump too......

[mike.perry]

I have a coil like that. I was driving along minding my own business when it fell apart

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[54woody]

That was in my MGA a few years ago. (Yes, it's an MGB engine...good eye, Roy). It was a brand new (correct) coil which had been in the car for less than a week. It hadn't been overheated, etc, etc. Backing out of the garage one morning I heard a muffled POP and the engine died. That photo shows what I found under the hood.

I know this is an unusual occurance, but I've seen the "it's 'never' the coil" comment several times recently and each time I see it I'm reminded of this.

[bmcecosse]

Nasty after-market quality I'm afraid. I bet if you refilled it with oil, and put it back together - it would have worked !!

[JOWETTJAVELIN]

Very strange - it will be down to quality in modern components. Lucas aren't what they used to be I'm afraid. Coils and condensors can run and run for years and decades then just suddenly curl up and die.

[bmcecosse]

Condensers - yes, coils NO! These failures shown earlier are both modern replacements.....big mistake....good old coils are VERY reliable.

[JOWETTJAVELIN]

That's why I have a good stash of them, all bought for peanuts.

[bmcecosse]

Good thinking - like my stash of £1 alternators......and £50 W brakes......

[JOWETTJAVELIN]

I went to a real old-school scrapyard last year that was closing down and selling everything at rock-bottom prices, it was operational from the 1930s to the late 1970s, there were complete engines, trim pieces, lights, pistons, rows and rows of SU carbs, you name it. There was even an old Churchill brake tester complete with case, data recording cards etc which you sit on the car floor and apply the brakes and it measures them, could have got it for a fiver but unfortunately didn't bother.

[dalebrignall]

ive just discovered i had a loose spade connection on my coil i thaught the car felt a bit hesitant there are no excuses for that .i will find out if its improved things .i had this once before .

[bmcecosse]

Yes - that's a common problem.

[JOWETTJAVELIN]

The beauty of spade connections is that you can always tighten them up with a pair of pliers.

[bmcecosse]

But often the male spade connector is loose on the coil terminal...clean the post and tighten the nut/washer fixing.

[linearaudio]

Nasty after-market quality I'm afraid. I bet if you refilled it with oil, and put it back together - it would have worked !!

Looks horribly, horribly, like it didn't have any oil in to start with! Would have expected to see a fair smattering in the area if it had "popped", so maybe even cheaper quality thanusual??

Roy, when are you going to start selling off your "W" horde? We all know you have cornered the market, and then proceeded to hype them up like any good Entrepeneur would......Just waiting for the last phase

[bmcecosse]

Hahahaha - I have one set on the car - and a spare set. That's all. Not selling anytime soon.......
Here's a Riley set!! http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ORIGINAL-RILE ... 2ebd824b0d
and an extremely expensive set in Australia..... http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Riley-1-5-Fro ... 2a174e823b

[Chipper]

I had a weird ignition coil fault some years ago. The Traveller began misfiring and eventually wouldn't start. First thing I did was to check for a good spark - which it had. I then spent a week or so driving myself mad trying to find the fault, and was about to remove the cylinder head, when I thought I'd just check the sparks again - no sparks this time round!

A swap with a spare coil from the garage and all was well again.

But yes, they are generally very reliable.