86 Oldsmobile coil problem

Our 86 Oldsmobile Delta 88 has a problem with its distrubutorless coil. We bought it new back in 1986.

There are 6 cylinders.

There are 3 coils.

Problem: The middle coil that fires cylinders 2 and 5 has no spark.

We have never worked on distributorless coils. We are just your average weekend mechanics.

Question: Do we have to buy an entire new coil back with the 3 coils, or can we just buy a single middle coil that sends a spark to cylinders 2 and 5?

Can we take the coil pack apart and clean some of the contacts?

Any help would be appreciated.

Reply to
MIRSE
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You need to buy the whole coil as its all one unit. Chevy Dealer list price in July was $127.00 for my coil, my cost through a buddy's discount was $89.00

4 -6 screws hold it down, remove the ignition wires and the wires underneath the coil that connect to the ignition module.

You might want to get the gasket that goes between the coil & ign Module. It will no doubt break apart when you remove the coil.

Good Luck !

========= Harryface =========

1991 Pontiac Bonneville LE 3800 V6 ( C ), Black/Slate Grey _~_~_~296,274 miles_~_~_

~_~_~_~_U.S.A._~_~_~_~_~_

~~~The Former Fleet ~~~

89 Cavalier Z 24 convertible 78 Holiday 88 coupe 68 LeSabre convertible 73 Impala sedan
Reply to
Harry Face

Thanks for your help. Can I get the 86 Oldsmobile coil pack at Chevy, or do I have to get it at Oldsmobile? Thanks.

Reply to
MIRSE

If you want to stick with a GM Coil any GM dealer would be able to order one for you if one is not in stock.

========= Harryface =========

1991 Pontiac Bonneville LE 3800 V6 ( C ), Black/Slate Grey _~_~_~296,274 miles_~_~_

~_~_~_~_U.S.A._~_~_~_~_~_

~~~The Former Fleet ~~~

89 Cavalier Z 24 convertible 78 Holiday 88 coupe 68 LeSabre convertible 73 Impala sedan
Reply to
Harry Face

You can most likely get one at any salvage yard.

Reply to
ABC

Are you certain it is the coil. You should be able to verify that with a resistance check once you get the coils unplugged. I would be more suspicious of the module.

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Reply to
ABC

******* Thanks for your help.

Resistance check: Could you please go into more details how I can do a resistance check on the coils?

What should the resistance readings be? Thanks.

I have never worked on this distributorless coil in our 86 Oldsmobile even though we bought the car new in '86. We know very little on how this type of coil works or how to work on it.

We have been trying to educate ourselves on this distributorless system by studying our 86 Olds Haynes book and by checking out auto sites on the web.

Still, trying to replace or check out the coil and module assembly is new to us.

We keep the car around for sentimental reasons. Our main car is a 1998 Dodge large passenger van that seats 7 and that has about 100,000 miles on it.

We have been lucky with the 86 Oldsmobile, because the coil is the original coil that came with the car.

Module: How can we check that the source of the no-spark problem to cylinders 2 and 5 is the module instead of the coil that provides juice to cylinders 2 and 5?

The reason I ask is that the module seems like it is hard to take off, because the 3 nuts that hold the module to the engine are in hard to reach places.

Thanks for any help.

Reply to
MIRSE

Perhaps this article can be of some help to you:

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My 92 G/A has 3 separate coils. Each measures about .5 ohms on the primary side and about 11 ohms on the secondary. However, measuring the ohms won't tell you if the insulation breaks down when hot and under a 30kv load. A bad plug or wire will destroy a coil. It will then cascade the current and destroy part of the ign.mod.

Reply to
« Paul »

The only resistance measurement you can make without pulling the coils is the secondary. There should be a reading from plug wires 2 to 5. It should be the same as you would read from 1 to 4 and 3 to 6.

I am not real certain just how that module is fastened but I think there are screws that hold the coil and module together. Then you will see wires from the module to the coils. I think they are just spade lugs that slide on. They could be dirty too I suppose. There is one wire that attaches to all three coils. I expect that is 12 volts. There are separate wires to each coil that come from the module.

I will send an email with a diagram that may be similar to your installation..

Reply to
ABC

******* Thanks for the link. I'm sure the information at the above link will help me a lot in trying to understand the 86 Oldsmobile distributorless coil system.
Reply to
MIRSE

******* Does anyone have an idea on how much an ignition module costs for the 86 Oldsmobile Delta 88 distributorless coil system?

Do we have to buy the coils and the ignition module as one set, or can we buy the coils and the module separately? Thanks.

Reply to
MIRSE

The coil & Ignition module are available seperately. I think the module is in the $150 to $175 range, but don't quote me on it.

Good Luck.

========= Harryface =========

1991 Pontiac Bonneville LE 3800 V6 ( C ), Black/Slate Grey _~_~_~296,339 miles_~_~_

~_~_~_~_U.S.A._~_~_~_~_~_

~~~The Former Fleet ~~~

89 Cavalier Z 24 convertible 78 Holiday 88 coupe 68 LeSabre convertible 73 Impala sedan
Reply to
Harry Face

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