i've been having to replace my ignition coil every 4 to 6 months. 6 is the longest i've had them last. doesn't seem to matter if it is the cheapest coil from the parts house or the expensive accel or msd ones. please help!

 

Have you tried replacing the ignition module with the coil?

 

i' haven't replaced it yet. i get it tested and it always comes back good. i don't have any other problems just the coil doesn't last very long. no misfires or anything. i'll just go out one day it won't fire a lick.

 

How was the module tested?

 

the electronic tester at advance auto parts. i used to work there so i test it myself. it checks low and high rpm.

 

Does it test the current limiter? When the module detects coil saturation, it limits the charging current. When this fails, it's common for coils to overheat and fail repeatedly.

 

i'm not sure if it tests the limiter. i had someone tell me that sometimes it is caused by a bad ground. the guy told me that occasionally u have to splice an extra wire into the black wire coming out of the cap and run it to the body or to the engine to get a better ground. i don't know if thats any good or not. hei has been around for nearly 40 years and i've never seen anything from the factory with an extra ground.

 

anybody?

 

this sounds interesting, since my coils only seem to last 2-3 years. I just got tow-trucked last night, yup, it was the coil. good thing i have "spares" in "inventory" since I started noticing the recurring failures. so this might be attributable to some current limiting device in the distributor?

I've used different brand coils: MSD, Mallory, Accel, Summit, same lifetime, about 2.5 yrs.

come to think of it, I replaced the factory distributor with an aftermarket high-buck version, and ever since then... the factory-original coil lasted more than 10 yrs, wow!

now it seems kinda obvious.

so I have 2 options:
1- put a GM-original small-cap HEI distributor back in, keeping the remote coil.
2- convert to large-cap HEI distributor, with coil-in-cap.

I don't have the original distributor anymore, that kinda got mangled due to stupidity on my part, therefore the aftermarket dizzy. however, since then, I have collected a couple of fleaBay HEI distributors just in case. i guess that day has arrived.

crap. shucks.