Coil on a V8

Dunno about the V*, but the V8 of that age ought to have a straight 12volt coil. Easy to confirm by sticking a voltmeter between coil + and a good earth, with the engine running. Badger.

Coil is FUBAR'd I think, it's arcing to earth, so was trying to find out if the one on my mech's shelf was a useable replacement, but evidently not, as all his are marked for use with a 1.5Volt ballast resistor...

`Mark

As a short term measure, stick a 12v coil on and see if it runs ok, you won't do any damage. If you put a ballast coil on and feed it 12v, you 'could' burn it out. Measure the voltage as I suggested with it running and if 12v, then leave the coil fitted. If 6v to 9v, then fit the correct coil, they are normally marked on the base, eg lucas 12C6 is a 6v coil, for use on a 12v system with the correct ballast resistor (early carb rangerover, in this case). BTW, the ballast resistor will have its value measured in ohms, not volts. Badger.

You can run a ballast coil without a ballast for ages without any problem - I ran one on my hybrid for 5 years and AFAIK it's still going strong !

Just make sure the coil is a V8 one though, a 4 cylinder coil has a slower recharge time so will tick over beautifully but will then the engine will run like a dog at higher revs.

I found that out the hard way after swapping my 2.25 for a V8 !

cheers

Dave W.

On or around 18 Feb 2005 21:43:33 GMT, Dave White enlightened us thusly:

more to the point, don't put a "points" coil on an electronic dizzy or vice versa. The first combo will give you poor running, the other way around will overheat the coil PDQ.

In message , Dave White writes

I'd add that it probably depends where the coil is mounted and how much free air cooling it gets ...

Ah, can you get coils rated to run at 6 volts, because I have an old truck with a 6 cylinder engine which is 6 volts, can any one out there suggest a coil ???

Rich

Thanks guys, having read all the possibilities, I'll go to the Lucas place on MOnday and just buy a new one, seems easier :0)

`Mark

Use a ballasted coil without a ballast - it'll be pretty close to right.

Lucas 12C6, without the ballast.

Badger.

Ok I will try that coil thanks for the help

Rich