Hi Gents.
A coil/wiring question.
Toward the end of last year the coil on my car started to leak a bit of oil,it was a blaster 2 and had been on the car since i bought it ten years.
I replaced it with an Accel.
The car runs a stock mopar electronic distributor.
When the car was wired to accept the electronic distributor i seem to recall the guy who did it bypassed the ballast resistor and then tidied the loom up to look stock,ie there are still wires gonig thru the ballast resistor and they disappear into the loom.
Iv checked the ballast resistor with car running and there is no current passing thru.
Today as i was riding along thru town at low speed the car began to cut out,not like fading away and coming back as if it was short of fuel but on and off like flicking a switch,the rev counter was also flicking on and off and then the car stalled.
After looking at the usual stuff i checked the coil an it was too hot to touch,it's mounted in the stock position.
So my question(s)are.
When fitting mopar electronic ign should i still be using the ballast resistor?
By not using the ballast resistor will the coil get hot and break down?
Anything else obvious i'm missing?
Car is a 68 superbee
Thank you gentlemen
Simon

Yes you need a resistor.

So,is the lack of resistor causing the coil to 'boil'and break down?

Yes. It's made to work on 9v and you're feeding it 12v.

Thank you,i'll have it wired back in.....

Hi,
I've had the mutimeter out this morning and this is what i found.
All measurements were taken with ign on and the engine not running.
Positive side of coil to earth 10.4 volts
from each side of the ballast resistor to earth is also 10.4 volts.
I also had the origional(points)resistor so i plugged this in and got 10.2 at the coil and from both sides of the resistor to earth.
With the ballast resistor totally disconected i still get 10.4 at the pos side of the coil.

If i sound dumb please forgive me but as the ballast resistor is part of the ign curcuit and is disconnected should'nt the coil have no power?
Any help much appreciated
Thank You
Simon

You should have (within several tenths of a volt) the same voltage as the batt does & 10.4 is not right. Is that what the batt has?. It runs with the ballast disconnected because the prior owner bypassed it in the harness & it(the ballast( does need to be wired in or the coil will eventually fail(unless it has a coil designed for full 12V. Simon I would unwrap the harness and change it & run the ign1(run) to the upstream side of the ballast and ign2 "crank" to the downstream side of it. VOM readings with it not running(not charging) are for basic continuity checking. When you get it changed take your readings when at a fast idle(at the coil/ballast/alt and especially the battery).them post what you have.

Thanks Robert will do this when i get in from work in the morning
Simon

Hi,
I've had the car running today and this is what i found.
At a fast tickover i've got 14.2 vols at the battery,the same at both sides of the ballast resistor and same at the coil.
Now i'm not good with electrics and as i mentioned before this loom was not modified by me.
also bearing in mind i have to take my daughter to her high school prom next week i can't have the car laid up.
So after thinking a bit i tried this...
i disconected the ballast resistor from the loom and ran the live coil wire up to one side,out the other and back to the coil.
This gave me 14.2 going into the ballast,9.9 coming out and 9.9 at the coil.
Is this an okish temporay solution until i can find an electrician to dive into the loom.
Will i risk damage to anything else?
I did take the precaution of disconnecting my factory rev counter........
Many Thanks
Simon

reduced voltage to the coil positive(thru the ballast) in "run" and full voltage(bypassing the ballast) to the coil positive during "start" only. If you have that your good. If your coil was not made for constant batt voltage then its life expectancy has been shortened but she'll make it to the prom and it may last for decades. Happy motoring. PS I'd die for your voltage drops(what voltage drops)and "tickover" thats the Kings English for idle right

Hi,
Yes 'tickover' in the kings english is 'idle'.

I'm gonig to carry on as we discussed above for now.
I wondering about getting one of the year one 'elecronic ign' looms in the future.
I also a rummage around today and found a NOS coil from a Jensen i had,its a mopar coil pn 2495531.
I've fitted this also.
Car is running fine now.
Many thanks Robert
Simon

I reread this subject several times and just had to dig it up again with a bit of a twist. I'm trying to find a miss in a 73' slant six that had a "pertronix" conversion system put in. The original ballast is in place and reads 11.2 volts in and 6.2 out. I also have 6.2 at the coil positive. The battery shows about 12.4 volts so I,m loosing power a bit from the battery to the ballast somewhere, but does the ballast sound bad to you guys? Also, where is the ballast fed power from, might be a bad connection there.
Thanks

Thanks RapidRobert. I'll proceed as you've suggested and hope you're out there when I come up with more questions.