Perfectly normal. It functions as a heat sink for your ignition circuit. Without it, the same thermal energy would be transferred to your ECU, coil or wires cooking them in their own juices.
First time I've ever seen a resistor described as a radiator...
It's not by the way.
Resistance in an electrical circuit generates heat and depending on the components, light too.
If it says Lucas on it smoke is a given...
Kevin
Never said it was a radiator. A heat sink is an electrical component. The ballast is a resister that captures heat. The resister in the ballast is encapsulated by ceramic. This material can take a lot of heat and the location of it allows it to release that heat without affecting any of the other nearby electrical components.
That's so bad, it's not even wrong.
A heat sink is a radiator, it takes heat from an electrical component, like a power transistor, and radiates it out into the environment.
A ballast resistor is nothing more than an resistor that can tolerate high heat generated during it's use, as a resistor not as anything that "captures heat". A ballast resistor is NOT a heat sink. The fins on the ECU would be a heat sink, one that radiates the heat from the power transistor in the ECU.
Look up wire wound ceramic resistor, which is what a ballast resistor is.
