454 ignition system

"Recently swapped out old pres

"Recently swapped out old prestolite distrib's for new Pertronix billet marine units. Not quite 40hrs. and fried one ignition module in distrib. Ordered and replaced with new,runs great. Not sure why it would go bad so quickly, sent email to Pertronix with no response yet. I am using resister coils (no ballast resister). Voltage at positive coil terminal is 13.3 with ignition on and 14.3 with engine running. Should this be a lower voltage at coil (ie. my old chrysler was 9 volts to coil) Anyone know how to stop spikes of higher voltage to coil? (if this is whats happening)"

"shouldn't have fried

I

"shouldn't have fried

If the resistor is in the coil, all you can measure from the outside is the system voltage - yours sounds reasonable. The old chrysler probably had an external (ballast) resister.

The coil's purpose is to make high voltage spikes...easiest way to stop them is turn the key off."

"Yeah I know it should not hav

"Yeah I know it should not have fried! As for the coil I am talking about the primary side(12 volt) not the secondary (40,000 volt) Yes the chrysler did use a ballast resistor."

"You can see arcing off the pr

"You can see arcing off the primary termminal?

If so, I'd suspect the coil casing is cracked or dirty and it's really high voltage from the secondary finding a leak path that goes near the primary terminal. Try cleaning it up real good with detergent and give it a good inspection with a bright light. Or, give it a good inspection at night when any arcs are easy to see."

You should use the coils that

You should use the coils that are matched for that system...I use their ignitor 2 in my Mallory's but also use the Flamethrower 2 what is recommended by Pertronics and use no ballast..Low voltage to system can effect performance it starts with the battery and goes from there.