so the engine runs.....

but....

my ingnition light stopped working, so whilst i was behind the dash looking i heard a dripping sound...looked around the engine bay to find a red hot coil dripping oil everywhere.....is this normal???

i found if i disconnect my alternator plug and earth the brown and yellow wire i get an ignition light....knackered alternator?

so im on coil number 3 now and just about to do away with the points and fit my luminition kit....hope that doesnt get fried.....

[Edited on 12/2/10 by boggle]

are you missing a ballast resistor from your coil circuit?

What he says - ballasted coils are designed to run on about 9 volts, and only get 12v during startup - or, to be exact, they get full voltage during startup which may only be 9 or 10 volts 'cos the starter's hammering the battery.

Get a 12 volt coil...

And be careful with the stuff that's coming out of the fried coil, as it may well be a PCB oil, which is carcinogenic.

BEWARE, the "Oil" from the coil is nasty stuff.

Sounds like its a 9v coil to me as well. I did the same on my little crossflow when i had the dutton.

An afterthought - you are still on points? If you have the ignition switched on, but the engine not running, then you can fry the coil if the points happen to be closed.

I still think it's a 9v coil though...

well....coil number 3 is off of a ford escort mk 4 with a cvh lump...is this a ballast coil?

Ive got a 12v coil from a 1.8cvh if you need one.

is it a ballast or non ballast?

non

quote:

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Originally posted by boggle
well....coil number 3 is off of a ford escort mk 4 with a cvh lump...is this a ballast coil?

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so when i wire up my luminition will the cvh coil be ok then?

Don't know for sure but I suspect you may have problems . Do you have any instructions for the Lumenition? they should tell you ?. Whenever I have used an after market electronic ignition conversion I have always used the standard coil for that vehicle

i think to be safe i will order a coil and resistor from luminition to suit....

The original Lumenition kit (completely silver module) simply replaces the points with the photo-sensor, but doesn't add any kind of dwell control so you need to use the same type of coil you would with points.

A modern coil for use with electronic ignition has very low impedance to allow the coil to charge quickly, but this means you need a special driver to control the dwell period (sometimes called "constant energy" system).

The newer "performance" Lumenition systems with the black and silver module use a constant energy system and comes with it's own special coil.

so i need a non ballast or a ballast coil?

luminition list MS4 Optronic Mega Spark 4 Coil (inc ballast res.) £ 4 0.00 £ 46.00

so i think thats what i will order....it is the optronic kit i have....