OK, i just replaced my ignition coil for the third time due to Im guessing to much voltage running through the main red wire and burning holes in it... i have an accel distributor cap and rotor. i took the top cover off and started the car and watched as the red wire was arking across to the coil... replaced it today thinking that was my problem and started and instantly burned a hole through the wire and arked again, this time worse... ive checked all grounds on the coil and motor and even tried grounding the coil itself to the motor... car feels like its running on 2 cylinders and dies when u give it gas but will barely idle... the problem also loves to drain my battery very fast... does this sound like i may have a problem with the distributor itself or somewhere else? i really dont want to but another distributor and try it and damage that one as well if anyone has any ideas i may try first...

 

Sounds like you have a problem down stream fom the coil. Verify the carbon button is under the insulating washer (against the cap) and still has the conductor spring intact. Both sides of the insulating washer should be coated with dielectric grease. Assure your secondary ignition cables are good and provide a complete circuit to the plugs. The coil spark will take the path of least resistance so you need to assure the path to the plugs is the easiest path.

 

i had just replaced the cap and rotor three days ago to make sure that wasnt the problem... i did make sure the button was seated correctly with the washer on top of it but no grease but ill try that tommorow... but its funny because where it starts to arc across to the coil it actually blows a hole through the plastic of the wire and goes nuts... i have also replaced the plugs and wires and igntion module twice to no avail... any other suggestions besides drive it off a cliff?

 

It sounds as though you are refering to a coil-in-cap setup. If thats the case, make sure that the ground strap is not missing. It installs into the distributor cap (often thrown away during replacement) and shares a coil mounting screw.

 

yes it is an in cap set up and i double checked the ground wire three times to make sure it was bolted to the side of the coil on the cap... thanks for helping but do u have any more ideas? its literally a fireworks display right now

 

He is not referring to the wire, but rather the metal strap that goes from the external connector to under the coil.

 

If that strap is there, then verify that the ground wire (black) is plugged into the distributor, and that its actually grounded to block/body. I know you said you tried an external ground, but for some reason, voltage is looking for an alternate path.

 

ok i think my distributor isnt set up that way... out of the box it has a black,red,and yellow wire coming out from the ignition module out of the base. these three wires are hooked into the coil towards the top of the cap. Then i just hooked up my hot wire to the red one and then my tach to the yellow... it ran like that for 6 months no problems. But now that I have been looking it over the black wire that hooks right in between the red and yellow doesnt hook to anything? instead the distributor instructions said to ground the coil out on the coil. So i tried grounding that black wire to the motor and still didnt help the situation. Is that the ground u were talking about?