Coils

[tshancock]

Hello again follow Ford guys. I have another mystery. The 36 Model 68 I have had a 6 volt coil setup of the modern kind. I am in the process of changing it back to the original coil that sits on top of the distributor. I sent the original type coil to Skip down in Florida and he sent it back all fix up and I began the process of the rewiring to make it work. Put the resister that's under the dash on the firewall back into play, thanks to Mike at 3rd gen for that pointer, checked voltage at the coil with ignition on and 6 volts. Great, hit the button car fired right up. Then in about 2 or 3 minutes the car died and wouldn't start. Check for fire, no fire. Pulled the coil back off, check ohms on condenser, it's perfect, checked coil. nothing. Sent coil back to Skip after talking to him about what happened and he said send it back and he'll look at it. This morning he tells me that after looking at the coil the only thing that could cause the coil to burn up like it was is that I left the ignition on. I assured him that wasn't the case and retold what had happened but to no avail I had to send him some money to get it redone and functioning properly once again. That being said. Did I miss anything that would cause this to happen? Input much appreciated.

[petehoovie]

Have you somehow bypassed the On/Off ignition switch when you wired the resistor back into the ignition circuit? That is, did you wire the resistor directly to the coil?....

[tubman]

First off, you have not really tested your condenser. Condensers (capacitors) are rated in a scale called Farads, with the typical automotive ignition condenser being in the .20 to .40 micro-farad range. Ohms have nothing to do with it.

Multi-meters (except for certain high-end models) do not have the ability to properly test condensers.

[tshancock]

Great question. I checked the source wire to the coil with ignition on and had power to it, and with the ignition off and had no power to it. When the new style ignition is placed on these cars people just take the wires that are on opposite sides of that resistor and hooked them together on the side that is sending the juice, as was the case here. I just unhooked from the right side of the resistor the wires that should be on the left and placed them on the left side. About the condenser in using the Ohm meter you can test the amount of resistance that the condenser has. If the Ohms continue to increase at a rapid pace than your condenser is good if the meter barely moves then it's bad. The condenser is brand new from 3rd Gen. Am I missing something? What should the ignition source wire voltage be on the coil when the car is running? Is their a source page with these numbers? Again thanks for the input.

[marko39]

If you have 6 volts at the coil it would seem your resistor is not working. You should only have about 3 volts at coil. Even so it should not cause the coil to fail in that short period.

[tshancock]

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Good, thanks. I'll check on what is causing that.

[petehoovie]

6 volts at the coil when points are open. 3.25 to 4 volts at the coil with points closed - this reading depending on how hot the resistor is. The voltage drops when the points are closed...

[tshancock]

Gotcha.

[35fordtn]

A couple things of question. With the resistor as mentioned you should have around 3.6-4 volts at the coil. That doesn't concern me too much, as I am certain Skip uses the same coil bolt 6 and 12v just changes polarity as needed. It sounds like a coil to me. I have seen his coils fail (rarely) but like any part they can fail. If the condenser is a concern, send it back to us and we will test it.

[Terry,OH]

You are correct a good capacitor will act like you expect on an analog ohmmeter, but your missing heat. Heat can make the capacitor go bad only when heated.

Your cap appears to not be the problem since even a bad cap can not make the coil burn up. What year is your car. You mention a few wires on the resistor? Usually the red wire is to the coil and that should be the only wire on one side of the resistor. The other side of the resistor can have a couple of wires. Check the resistor it should be approximately 0.5 Ohm

[tshancock]

The condenser never had enough time to get hot. I just started the car and ran for maybe 3 minutes. My car is a 1936 Ford Model 68 Deluxe 5 window coupe. Thanks I will check the ohms and wires when I get home on the resister.

[tshancock]

Thanks for your input but I think the condenser you sent is just fine. I'm concerned about the wires on the resister that the other gentlemen had mentioned though. I will recheck those. Does anyone have a picture of how the resister is supposed to be wired?

[wamnram]

Follow the link or use the search function for 36 wiring diagram.

https://www.fordbarn.com/forum/showt...ight=36+wiring

[petehoovie]

Originally Posted by tshancock

Thanks for your input but I think the coil you sent is just fine. I'm concerned about the wires on the resister that the other gentlemen had mentioned though. I will recheck those. Does anyone have a picture of how the resister is supposed to be wired?

[JSeery]

Originally Posted by petehoovie

Looks familiar, LOL

[petehoovie]

Originally Posted by JSeery

Looks familiar, LOL

Yup, it belongs to you....

[tshancock]

Perfect. Thanks so much for this. This is exactly how I have it wired.

[tshancock]

Update on my coil. Got it back from Skip and it worked perfectly. I am however disappointed that I had to pay for something that broke and wasn't my fault. Principle thing with me. Thank all of you for making this easier with your inputs.