Ignition question

trents · Feb 17, 2008

I Dursparked several years ago and I'm using the ignition compontents that were OEM with a '76 Pinto. My rig is running rough lately and lacks power. Checked timing and its right on. I replaced the distributor as the vacuum advance diaphragm had gone bad. Still runs rough and lacks power at cruising speeds. It needs a new carb and I've got one on order but that should only affect idle problems. At frst I thought it as a vacuum leak but now I'm beginning to think it's an ignition problem.

My question is this: Could it be the coil or the ignition module? Do those things malfunction without giving up the ghost completely or are they the type of thing that they are all or nothing, i.e., they either work or they don't?

Steve

Mutant Pony · Feb 17, 2008

If you are using the '76 pinto duraspark coil, you need to get rid of it. The stock Ranger E-core coil is an upgrade. The Accel supercoil is pretty much the same thing, just a little more durable. All coils go bad eventually. Yes sometimes they do still run but, not well.
Check your spark, if you have a nice blue arc then it is not an ignition problem.

trents · Feb 18, 2008

Well, I think I may have found my problem: ignition coil gone flakey. After it got good and dark outside, I did the old pull the coil wire away from the snout of the coil to check the spark trick. Instead of a strong, blue arc it was orange and weak. Looked like a Fourth of July Sparkler. I could only separate it a very little bit from the snout before I would lose the arc althogether. I also tested it with an ohm meter after reading this on the internet:

"This testing procedure is valid for just about any automotive coil. Using an ohmmeter, check the resistance between the side terminals of the coil. Do this with all of the wires to the coil disconnected. You should see 0.75 to 0.81 ohm of resistance. Then check the resistance between either side terminal and the center high tension terminal. The reading should be 10,000 to 11,000 ohms. Any significant deviation from these numbers would indicate that the coil is defective."

Instead of 0.75-0.81 on the side terminals I got 1.6 and instead of 10,000 to 11,000 between side and center I got 8,500.

A new coil should be in at the parts store tomorrow. We'll see if it solves the problem. Several years of gapping the plugs wider than specs for that coil may have done it in.

Steve

greaseyfingers · Mar 19, 2011

trents said:
Well, I think I may have found my problem: ignition coil gone flakey. After it got good and dark outside, I did the old pull the coil wire away from the snout of the coil to check the spark trick. Instead of a strong, blue arc it was orange and weak. Looked like a Fourth of July Sparkler. I could only separate it a very little bit from the snout before I would lose the arc althogether. I also tested it with an ohm meter after reading this on the internet:

"This testing procedure is valid for just about any automotive coil. Using an ohmmeter, check the resistance between the side terminals of the coil. Do this with all of the wires to the coil disconnected. You should see 0.75 to 0.81 ohm of resistance. Then check the resistance between either side terminal and the center high tension terminal. The reading should be 10,000 to 11,000 ohms. Any significant deviation from these numbers would indicate that the coil is defective."
Steve

So, did installing your new ignition coil in your vehicle solve your problem?

Instead of 0.75-0.81 on the side terminals I got 1.6 and instead of 10,000 to 11,000 between side and center I got 8,500.

A new coil should be in at the parts store tomorrow. We'll see if it solves the problem. Several years of gapping the plugs wider than specs for that coil may have done it in.

Ignition question

trents

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Mutant Pony

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