Spark jumping around on top of coil.

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donsrods

Well-known member
Joined
May 11, 2007
Messages
10,476
Location
fort myers florida
On Saturday we got my Son Dan's 455 Olds running in his rpu. There are a few tuning issues to work out.......carb adjustments, timing, etc, but we put some miles on it last night and the oil control problems seem gone......plugs are clean.

But I saw something I have never seen before. I pulled the coil wire from the top of the coil so we could crank it without it starting and huge sparks arc'd out of the center of the coil and alternately kept arcing to the positive post and then the negative post. The spark was really big and kept dancing all over the to of the coil.

I figured he must have a cracked coil so I took another one off the shelf and it did exactly the same thing. As a test, I pulled the coil wire off of the coil on my roadster and it did not arc like that. :confused:

Anyone have any ideas ?


Don
 
Unilite electronic distributor with an Accel chrome coil. I am running exactly the same setup on my roadster. I tried an MSD coil I had and it sparked the same way.

Don
 
That's some kinda powerful coil! :eek:

BoB


Yeah, I'm thinking of welding with it ! [ddd I just called Mallory tech line and talked to a guy there. He said once you see that it means the spark has created a carbon track down the tower of the coil and the boot of the coil wire need replaced. He said oil residue or even water can cause it to do that.

Time to buy a new coil and wire set and see what happens. Thanks for all the input, guys .:)


Don
 
Yeah, I'm thinking of welding with it ! [ddd I just called Mallory tech line and talked to a guy there. He said once you see that it means the spark has created a carbon track down the tower of the coil and the boot of the coil wire need replaced. He said oil residue or even water can cause it to do that.Don

Coil wire boot needed to be replaced? Doesn't that just sound like a sales pitch from Mallory, considering you pulled the coil wire OFF of the coil? Maybe he's saying that the carbon tracking occurred while the wire was on, and persisted after the wire was taken off. Either way, I've seen it on brand spanking new coils. I just make sure not to stick my finger in it.
 

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