Stranded in Gresham, might need a coil

[EN318isPDX]

Never have I seen a coil go out on an M20 E30.

I've never seen a coil go out on any car ive worked on. Except user error... 5toes cough

[djjerme]

I have seen some have shorting issues - though not on an E30. These were on cars from the 60's.

Here's a tip though - most coils can be swapped as long as they are 12 volt.. Coils are very simple and if you had indeed shorted out one of the windings (which means you probably have other issues, or the coil is just bouncing around the engine compartment) then just grab a coil from any other car around you can at least limp home. Heck, you could even use one of the GM HEI coils as long as it's not the mount in the distributor cap style.

Remember, a coil is really nothing more than a giant Capacitor - so you just need voltage coming in to charge the primary side, and something to trigger the secondary side (a short to ground - on the E30 controlled by the PCM.)



This is why some guys used to use old 6 volt coils as a primitive alarm system - they would tie the primary side to a battery, then the negative to the chassis, and then when someone came up and touched the car - they got a nice little jolt..

[Earendil]

Given that so much of the rest of the common electrical components to replace were brand new as of a month or two ago, and that the car has so many miles, it made sense to at least try the coil. I know the coil on my car started acting weird (causing a slight miss) when my car was around 300K. I swapped in a different used one and problem solved.

Turns out though that it wasn't the coil, and the CPS looked like it was in good shape. He had it towed to a mechanic and got a lift back down the Gorge. Can't wait to find out what they determine the gremlin is...

[Pdxseth]

I had the top of my coil break once wich caused a faulty connection.


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