Two weeks ago I went for a stunning drive of just over 50 miles, all around the West Cornwall coast road, I got home, went in for a cup of tea. Went to put the car away and it wouldn't start, not a flicker. I put it away on the starter motor.

Last year, the hall effect distributor failed with the same symptoms so I got another off ebay for only a tenner. It made no difference. I checked the timing (and sparks obviously) and all was fine, good compression and fuel is at a good pressure at the fuel rail. I have good compression, the cambelt is not broken or jumped.

I did get it going for a short while, but it wouldn't rev too well and spluttered on application of the throttle, back fired a couple of times. I have new dizzy cap and rotor arm, new plugs, old leads, I also have these on the dizzy cap - do i need them?
Rescued attachment Supressor.jpg

They are for surpressing RF interference aren't they. I presume you've removed them to check for a change. How old is the coil?

JC

what engine do you have


The coil could be putting out a weak spark i have had this happen once on a 1984 transit 1600 pinto engine years ago

new coil cured the problem


[Edited on 4/11/2010 by DRC INDY 7]

Sorry, its a 2.0i Pinto. The coil is 18 months old, I just removed the supressors and it started so fast I didn't even hear the starter motor!

Should I replace or just chuck? I think I will get a set of new leads in any case, they are the only oldish parts in the system

Id replace them unless you want the missus complaining that your car interferes with Corrie when your in the garage....

Keep the suppressors, makes for good neighbours. While preparing my racecar in a closed garage before the season there was a knock on the door. Opened the door to Police, apparently I had wiped out the TV of both neighbours, last game of Stanley Cup Finals. OH Canada, were they upset.

those a ressitvie suppressor - given away by the Kilo Ohm lettering.

I would have thought if you have suppressed leads, you would not need to use those.

Throw away those suppressors. They are just extra belt and braces as required by the manufatures to meet the most stringent requirements. For the most part modern leads are quite sufficient and generally nobody around you will notice any difference. Besides which, for the most part you will be gone before anyone notices that they have had interference from a passing vehicle.

Quick update - i drove to Lands End and back via St Ives where I promptly broke down

The car had become slightly hesitant a few miles before, but right in the centre of St Ives, she stuttered and backfired like the loudest backfire you have ever heard - and then multiply it by 10! Children were crying, dogs ran away, every seagull in to town disappeared.

After my blushes subsided, I opened the bonnet for a look, all looked fine, but then I felt the coil which was several hundred degrees hotter that it should have been. Quick call to Mrs A, and a replacement coil was on its way, fitted and now running better than it had done for quite a few thousand miles. This is the second coil I have replaced now, the first just went like a lamp bulb, this one has never been brilliant (my full throttle misfire has also stopped!).

Any ideas why I am frying coils? Can anyone recommend a REALLY good replacement?

Could be you're fitting coils intended to be run with a ballast resistor, but you don't have such a resistor?

Basically, to improve starting, some coils are designed to run off about 8 volts, and in normal running the excess voltage is dropped across a quite sizeable resistor. When you start, and the voltage available drops to around 8-9 volts due to the starter motor load, the ballast resistor is bypassed so you still get a strong spark.

If you are using a coil designed for running with a ballast resistor, but you don't have one you will be putting 13-14 volts across it in normal running, which it isn't designed to handle.

[Edited on 11/4/10 by fatbaldbloke]

I think if you were running a coil without a ballast resistor when it needed one, it would give up pretty quickly. Within a few miles!

quote:

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Originally posted by Mark Allanson every seagull in to town disappeared.

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Definitely the correct coil, I kept the original Sierra one as a spare and bought aftermarket ones to run on the car.

With good old faithful Sierra one installed, she is driving like a dream again - I might get a genuine Ford one to keep on the car.