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Jedi Knight
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OK...I'll confess...I tuned the Sprite up last spring... and haven't started or drove it since...yes I said LAST spring 2006...so I charged the battery up today ..primed the carbs and she starts but revs high and will only run now if I keep priming the carbs....while I'm not to concerned with that as I'll blow out the lines, clean out the carbs and refresh the gas...I am concerned that when I touched the coil (which is brand new) it seemed very hot!...
anyone experience this on their ride?
 
2 quick suggestions. Is it the right coil and is it wired right? If you have converted to neg ground and have a pos ground coil, you have to switch the wires to the opposite posts. The post marked SW should be wired to the dist. I don't remember off hand how the other post is marked. If they are marked + and - then the - side goes to the dist. If it is still pos ground or you have a neg ground coil then the opposite is true.

The other obvious possibility is the coil requires a ballast and your car does not have it. That would put 12-14 volts on a coil that is built for 6-8 and definately would cause overheating.
 
OK...sometimes I just need a checkpoint...I'm still wrestling with my gas feed to carbs...I put a new electric fuel pump on last spring...but now I prime the carbs and all runs fine but just barely even a trickle coming in for fuel...if I pull the line prior to fuel filter>carbs.. I should be seeing a steady stream when pump is on/running right?...

I'm thinking either the pump's shot or I've got sediment in the tank plugging outlet....I really outta drive this baby a little more often...pretty bad when a tank of gas lasts me for 2 years!!!
 
Blow back both sides after disconnecting pump, you may get lucky.
 
I've had my bugeye 25 yrs with alot of things I'd done to it over the yrs. I decided to go cone racing last yr. After the first run, it barely would. For some reason a 48 yr old gas tank had sediment in it. I had it cleaned and restored, but to do it over, I think I'd just replace. Maybe, take the line of at the pump(by the rear axle) and see if there is a free flow. Then you will know if that is the problem. If not it is in the delivery system.
 
I replaced my midget gas line. For about $300, you get the tank, the inernal parts and all that jazz...it was a kit from Moss. Not bad and after jacking up the car took no time to replace..few bolts!
 
oops i meant TANK..sorry!
 
Got her running...pulled the fuel line on pump to engine...blew it clean and..walla' fuel...still can't seem to get her to run smoothly but this hot coil has me stumped....I swapped out the new coil for the old one...still hot..swapped the wires both ways...it's a POS ground but tried positive to distributor then negative to distributor hot both ways...the old coil didn't have a ballast so any ideas...I mean this baby gets <u>so hot </u>I can't hold it in my hand!!!
 
Boy, beyond me. How much voltage you have going to it? Should only be 12 unless you have something direct from an alternator.

Hmm. check dizzy cap, maybe something is causing, for lack of a better word, a bottle neck. How about the high tension cable to the dizzy.
 
Jack...this one's got me bugabooed as well...the coil actually runs right off the battery post...and I know it's what's affecting the running....she fires right up seems to run OK for a minute or two then goes down hill from there and eventually just dies....If I grab the coil it's so HOT I can't even hold it in my palm...LOST???

sorry..what's a "high tension cable".
 
If your coil is that hot, something is definitely wrong with it. Either it's not properly ballasted or has some kind of internal short circuit. In any case, you are pulling way too much current through it. This current is also going through the points, and you are probably burning the points as well.

To confirm the obvious, disconnect the coil and measure the resistance with an ohmmeter, between the two low-voltage terminals. (If you don't have one, you can get a perfectly good one for under $10 from Harbor Freight.) If it's internally ballasted and not defective, you should have 3-4 ohms; if not, you will see 1-2 ohms. (Before making the measurement, short the ohmmeter's leads together and see what it reads. Probably about half an ohm. That is the meter's offset error; subtract it from what you measure at the coil.) You can try adding about 1.5-2 ohms of ballast; say, a ballast resistor from a parts store, or replace the coil with one that is internally ballasted. It's a safe bet you don't have any external ballast in the circuit.

If adding ballast doesn't fix it, the coil might simply be fried, and you'll have to replace it.

Then, check the points and clean them. They almost certainly will be somewhat burned. Even if you plan to replace them, it might be good just to clean them for now, with an ignition file, and replace them when all is running well. You don't want to risk frying a second set.

While you have the digital multimeter out, check the system voltage. I doubt it will be way out of order (i.e, more than about 15 volts) and even if it were a little high, it wouldn't cause what you're seeing. If it really is high, the regulator is bad (but your generator is doing great!)

This may not be the only problem. (Sorry to be so optimistic!) It sounds to me like there might be a fuel system problem too, but one thing at a time. This one should be easy to fix. Good luck!
 
Sorry, I just reread your last post. Is the coil hot-wired from the battery by you, just to get the car going? If so, you might have inadvertently bypassed the ballast resistor. Sometimes the ballast resistor is just a piece of resistance wire in the ignition's low-voltage circuit. That might be the whole problem.
 
Steve...no it came that way when I bought it years ago...the wire going to the battery terminal is actually through the harness and is part of the battery terminal clamp..it did run quite well this way for many years...only thing I did is swap the coil out with one from VB...but as I mentioned I did put the old coil back in and same thing...so it seems possible the ballast may
just be shot....so are these ballast resistors pretty standard items that I could pickup at an auto parts store and just wire into the line?....
 
The wires from and to the dizzy are high tension wires. The cables. Coil to dizzy and then to plugs.

Think I might change them and the cap and roter. No pain no gain I guess.

Otherwise I have no clue, I mean I am really stumped. I got to assume it is a 12V coil?? hehe.
 
The coil should have some kind of indication written on it regarding using a ballast resistor or not. Running hot like that, and the other coil running hot the same way indicate that you have two ballast type coils. Go down to the parts store and buy a ballast resistor. I kind of like the ones from the old Chrysler / Dodge cars. It's a ceramic housing with the resistance tucked neatly inside, screw terminals. That should bring the supply voltage down to a reasonable level.

It's obvious that if it's running more than 12.5 volts through a coil that is designed for 9 volts, then it gets too hot. (amps = volts / resistance , watts = volts * amps ,=> watts = volts^2 /R) As coil supply voltage increases, the energy the coil takes goes up with the square of the increase. Ballast resistors are very necessary if the coil is designed for it. Otherwise the coil disperses way too much energy. Only so much will go away as ignition spark. The rest disperses as heat.
 
Now that seems to make a lot of sense. Why not just get a regular coil, shoot they cheep.
 
I'll check it out...but the curve here is the old coil, that use to run fine with does the same thing now...I'm thinking it has to be a short or something in the distributor...would stuck points (closed) allow the car to run (although badly) but cause the coil to overheat?

Good thing I have until the 50th at OZARKS to figure this one out!!!
 
If the points are closed, the engine won't run at all. Recheck the gap, though. The only time I've had a coil overheat was the result of a severe overvoltage.
Jeff
 
Miss Agatha wonders how much voltage is going to the coil from the regulator.
 
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