Sloshy Coil

[mrv8q]

Should coils make a "sloshing" sound, when lightly shaken? Don't remember why I agitated it, but my TR6 coil makes a sloshing sound; my TR3 coil, which may be original to the car:

doesn't sound "sloshy" at all when lightly shaken, not stirred...

 

[Guest]

There's oil inside

 

[dklawson]

As stated by John, there is supposed to be oil inside.

I've been reading up on Bosch Blue coils recently and a point of discussion regarding those is that there are multiple Bosch coils sold as "blues". The better ones made in Brazil are completely full of oil and do not "slosh". The lesser quality ones made in Mexico are known to often have appreciable amounts of air in them so they will slosh.

The oil is there not only as a dielectric or insulator but also to conduct heat out of the coil. Therefore, the argument is sometimes made that less sloshing means less air which in turn means better quality and longer life.

 

[angelfj1]

Kevin: Your car was probably assembled during August 1959. Your commission number precedes that of the "grey lady", TS58476 and she was assembled on Sept. 1, 1959. That coil is probably original and produced by Lucas in the eighth week of '59.

 

[JohnnyMead]

The coils I hate are the ones where the oil sloshes out.
The dated components are fun to find.
John

 

[tomshobby]

Or you could get an Epoxy filled coil from Jeff.
https://advanceddistributors.mybisi.com/product/bosch-blue-coil

 

[mrv8q]

Hey, Tom, thanks for mentioning that; my 3's distributor is at Jeff's right now!

 

[Don Elliott]

Here is the bottom of my coil that came with my 1958 TR3A brand new in May 1958. TS 27489 LO was assembled on Feb. 14th, 1958 - so the numerals in your photo look like they are on the original coil too.

Mine has been on my TR since new (over 183,000 miles) and it still works fine. I never heard any sloshing from mine.

 

[tdskip]

Wow - original coil going strong still. Pretty darn impressive I'd say.