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Burning up coils?

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capemaydiamond

Contributing Member
I have 270 crusaders and one day the one didn't start so I put a new pertronix igniter and a stock coil in it. Took it out for a run the other day and once I got the rpm's up she sputtered and died and would not start. The salesman at the marina told me I need a high power flame thrower coil to use with that igniter so I put one of those in and wala same problem. I cannot figure out why I keep burning out coils. I am told that that is pretty difficult to do. I'm stumped and any help would be greatly appreciated.
 
found this on their site Q. What type of coil can I use? A. The Ignitor™ is compatible only with a "points style" coil. exactly which coil did you use? I hear everyone saying good things about these units, but I'm cautious about them. My understanding of coils, that there are 2 types those that need a ballast resistor and those that don't. mismatch parts will either kill he coil or be poor performance. Also a good practice to regap spark plugs as the "hotter"spark will need a new gap say typical 0.35 to 0.65.

You can put a voltmeter on the positive side of the coil and see how much voltage is present, if you are getting a voltage drop, look for a ballast resistor and temp jump it out, see if it runs better. check this link out, does this look like your wiring? http://www.marinepartssource.com/crusaderpb/220ap73.asp this shows the ballast resistor in the wiring
 
Stay AWAY from the salesmen at the marina, especially if they are motivated by commission.

pertronix stuff is ok but, like its competitor's products, it is subject to premature failures if they aren't installed correctly. coil, ballast resistor, adequate primary wiring, etc, can all cause performance issues. best to follow the install directions to the letter and get their Tech Support inputs if any questionable areas are found.
 
well i put another new coil in and a new rotor because that was not feeding spark and also disconnected my tach. i read on here that a tach could malfunction which it was and smoke a coil which it did because it ran great for three hours with the tach wire disconnected from the coil. the tech guy also said to run a ballast resistor even though the coil has an internal one to absorb some of the heat. ?????? i am not quite sure if it totally solved the problem, i will find out this weekend when i open her up all the way when i am by myself so i won't be embarrassed if it shuts down again.
 
At least you have made some progress.

It's a major PITA but the bet approach is to change one item (at a time) and then retest to see if issue resolved. that way you know exactly which part made what change.

Your research apparently paid off re the tach - it isn't a common failure but when it does occur, it can be fustrating to run down.

Sadly, the tech guy didn't explain the ballast concept very well. The sole purpose of a ballast resistor is to limit the current flowing thru the ignition's primary circuit. Adding an additional resistor reduces that current and thus limits the spark's energy that the coil can produce. its a tough balancing act. Those resistors create heat; they don't absorb it. if the tech was recommending another resistor so that their coil's internal resistor didn't get 'hot', I'd say their coil has a design issue.
 
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