- Thread starter nickk
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Nomad
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- North Devon (for how long?)
The coil on my 70s classic died last year, I bought the coil "New unused" about 20 years ago and got around to fitting it about 3 years ago 
I now know fitting a ballast coil to a non-ballast system will work (in my case for many years / 10's K miles) but will eventually burn out. It's not as simple as "Fit the wrong coil and it won't work"
I now know fitting a ballast coil to a non-ballast system will work (in my case for many years / 10's K miles) but will eventually burn out. It's not as simple as "Fit the wrong coil and it won't work"
colnerov
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Having just returned from a 4 week tour of France,having to freewheel my camper up the slip road off the motorway,round a roundabout and park safely my first item to check was the coil,another one had failed after just 4500m,after talking to a fellow vw camper owner he said he mounted his upside down,eg,the king lead at the bottom,presumably to retain the oil around the ht terminal.
Sure enough when I look in the workshop manual that’s how they’re mounted,after all those years.
Not all coils are filled with oil, some have pitch in them.
Jack_K
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Most vehicles seem to have fitted them upside down like described. I always fit them with the lead at the top, many people including myself don't trust new coils to contain the oil.Having just returned from a 4 week tour of France,having to freewheel my camper up the slip road off the motorway,round a roundabout and park safely my first item to check was the coil,another one had failed after just 4500m,after talking to a fellow vw camper owner he said he mounted his upside down,eg,the king lead at the bottom,presumably to retain the oil around the ht terminal.
Sure enough when I look in the workshop manual that’s how they’re mounted,after all those years
Unfortunately nobody has managed to find a good new coil. There seems to be a very high failure rate. There was a lot of interest in the Remax coils which are made in England. Unfortunately many people have had failures with very little use and "Remax" wouldn't even respond.
oldbikedavey
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Seems that the Lucas MC series of coils are being remanufactured in the oil filled version again.
Not sure how good the quality control will be, as I've just had a Lucas - Biryani ignition switch show up as unusable, straight out of the box......
All coils should be kept as cool as possible. The twin coils on my little Beeza are mounted under the tank nose, bolted to a heatsink, but they still get up to 50C...
Might put a digital sensor on them , to see what's what on a running basis....
Not sure how good the quality control will be, as I've just had a Lucas - Biryani ignition switch show up as unusable, straight out of the box......
All coils should be kept as cool as possible. The twin coils on my little Beeza are mounted under the tank nose, bolted to a heatsink, but they still get up to 50C...
Might put a digital sensor on them , to see what's what on a running basis....
The ones I’ve been consuming are all oil filled. Having checked the temperatures by hand ,it hasn’t cooled,but I presume the oil is better at the business end,no leaks and it’s now done 1800miles,quality is often not how it was,my beetle one had 133,000 when I sold it on the original.
As in earlier vw air cooled?
