Are coils suppose to get hot, i mean really hot !!!!!

Hi all,
i need to pick your brains guys, sorry this a bit long, ok recently i have had replaced my old points dizzy with an electronic dizzy along with the ballast resisted coil as suggested by GSF and also a new fuel pump & pedestal. the HT leads are recently new aswell, now since then i have noticed that there is a flat spot while accelerating to which i have to feather the accelerator pedal, but not only that today, i had to call out the AA due to the bus losing power, popping and stalling. while waiting for the AA by then the engine had cooled down and fired straight away and ticked over beutifully, when the nice AA man turned up he took the K&N filter off put his hand over the top of the Carb and revved the engine till it stalled which cleared out the carb, fired up the engine again drove off with him following us the flat spot had stopped and we thought great it the carb at fault but 3/4 of the way started to do the same, but this time he checked the coil which was too hot to hold your hand on, he checked for a spark while turning over the engine but nothing, he then cooled down the coil with a wet rag then the engine fired into life which enabled us to get home, he suggest that the coil is at fault even though it is new, any ideas please.
thanks Skid.

 

Show us what coil you bought.

 

Hi ya this is the chappy ->http://www.veewee.co.uk/index.php/parts/electrical/distributors-associated-parts/925vg0030?vehicle=VW-Camper 68 -79 as recommended by GSF with the 009 dizzy i bought. and this is the dizzy ->
http://www.veewee.co.uk/index.php/920vg0160?vehicle=VW-Camper 68 -79

Cheers for the replys snotty & poptop2

 

As poptop said it's pooped time for a new one

 

It's not clear looking at the pic what the resistance of the coil primary is (seems to imply 0.9ohms - waaaay too low). If you've got a meter, measure the resistance between the coil +ve and -ve terminals (with the leads off). If it's not about 3 - 4 ohms, the coil is going to get extremely hot in operation. If it is 0.9ohms, you've got the wrong coil: get a boggo blue-label Brazilian job.

Most electronic ignition units (and breakers) need a coil resistance of 3 ohms or so.

 

FUBAR it is then which is unfortunate as today is only the second time we have drove it since it was installed just before Xmas.

 

Hi snotty, forgive my stupidity but when you say "leads off" do you mean HT lead only or all the cables & coil lead ?
cheers Skid

 

Just pull the lead from the dissy to the coil -ve off (should be the only one), so you know you're measuring the coil primary resistance and not some other path through the wiring. Can leave the HT lead on.

 

Cheers mate will try that tomorrow, will let you know what outcome is.
Skid

 

Do that. If the resistance is less than 3 ohms, send it back - they've sold you the wrong coil!

 

will do, strange though I've just checked the packaging and they gave me the right part (BERU) maybe it is faulty, what i will do is buy another one tomorrow and try it just to get a comparison then take the faulty one back.

 

right, the prognosis is this, went to Just Kampers spoke to Ian (top bloke) and he confirmed that the ballast resister part is missing, which after looking on GSF website last night i thought so too, anyway went back to GSF and asked why the ballast resister part does not come with the coil (response = "don't know") took my number and said will get back to me (which they haven't) soooo told them basically they sold me a part that is not complete and is basically useless, so I'm going to take it back and get a refund, i then put my old Bosch coil on and drove around non-stop for 45 mins covering about 20 or so miles, got home, while the engine was running nipped around the back checked the coil it was hot but not hot enough that i could hold it. fingers crossed that it has now been sorted. many thanks for your replies and no doubt i will be picking all your brains again some time regards skid

 

Good ! A coil with separate ballast resistor is an real oddity these days. Basically, the coil you were sold was the wrong spec, so you're right to take it back. Your coil may get fairly warm - there's a fair current going through it - but not so hot you can't touch it.

I'm surprised it didn't blow your ignition unit up, TBH.

 

me too

 

I had a similar thing last year. Treated myself to the pertronix electronic ignition kit and thought I'd get the matching leads, and coil. Ran great for about 9 months then I took it for an mot. Picked it up and it kept cutting out and was running crap. I could find nothing wrong. Garage had it twice and looked at the carb. No joy. Then I took the coil off. Sounded like it was full of water and was hot. Put the old one back on and it was transformed! Been fine ever since. I assumed they had left the ignition on and cooked it.

 

Was it a Pertronix coil? They don't have a great rep for reliability...

 

Yep! I just thought it would all match then.

 

Well, you know now

For info: as Bosch have a lot of stuff made in India these days, their coils now come in "hot", "medium hot" and "mild". Important to get the right one...

 

@snotty i measured the resistance on the coil with it off the bus and it was 2.3 ohms