Phreeq called me a couple days ago, said his car wouldn't start. I suggested a new starter and solenoid. I told him to swap the wires onto the new solenoid and replace exactly as they were on the old one. His car started, he got home. Then he got stuck replacing the starter so I came over and help. Battery was dead, too. Replaced that. Wont start, no spark. Dizzy cap and rotor were in bad shape, and plugs nasty, swapped all those, still no spark. Loaned him my coil, and started right up. He drove to work two days, then burned my coil up. Which wire goes to the coil from the solenoid? The one from the I or S posts? I think he may have swapped them or the new solenoid they are labeled opposite his stock one? It had no power with the key off, and 12 volts with key in ON, so I assumed it was wired correctly.
Is his car and ignition the same as yours ? If it's not, that could be the problem. Coil has to match the ignition style.
His is 200, mine is 5.0. Same type of coil (same shape and size). Mine was a Accel SuperStock, his was a Mallory. Yes, red with white, maybe green was on + side of coil. - side went to distributor and another + wire to distributor (both of us run Pertronix).
It seems like the problem started after he swapped solenoids. He swears he put the wires on the same posts as the original one. If he crossed the two with the L-boots on them, would it kill the coils? I was wanting to upgrade to an MSD Blaster, so his burning up my SuperStock gives me the opportunity to do so.
If he switched places with the two small wires it wouldn't turn the engine over when he turned the key. Does the coil you loaned him need a resister?
I don't know. I am very weak when it comes to electronics. His car ran with the old coil forever, until he swapped the solenoid. Then it killed two in 4 days. We didn't change anything else around. Just swapped in the new solenoid (hopefully wired correctly) and then swapped coils after he burned up the first one.
The coil manufacturer website or customer service should be able to tell you whether or not you need a ballast resistor. The Mavericks are wired with a resistor wire in the harness from the ignition switch that performs this function. The I terminal on the solenoid provides battery voltage to the coil just on start up and when you move the key to RUN after starting the engine the voltage is provided through the resistor wire, usually no more than 9 volts with the coil plugged in during operation. 12volts will be present if the coil is not grounded due to the open circuit in the coil primary, key on, engine off, points open(or petronix not grounded). If the wiring is stock and not modified (resistor wire intact) I would check the voltage to the coil while the engine is running and verify whether or not the coil needs the resistor. It is possible that this wire could have shorted to power or someone may have modified the wiring in the past and bypassed the resistor altogether.
Shape and size of the coil has nothing to do with it. Ignition style is the key here to picking the right coil. My Duraspark ran like crap with the stock appearing coil that came with the car. Turns out that coil was for a points ignition, not for a Duraspark setup.
I use a FlameThrower and Ignitor ll distributer....so far, no problems. I did use a Blaster ll coil, and after two of them died, they finally killed a Mallory distributor. No more of that stuff for me!
I've got an MSD Blaster II on my Duraspark. 4 years now and zero problems. Coil HAS to match the ignition demands.
