I have a hot rod which I had to make up the entire wiring harness myself. I keep burning out HEI coils....Do I need to install a resistor or diode in the 12V power feed to the distrutor of some type to keep this happening? The engine is a 1980 Chevy Truck engine (350)
Rick
If the Electrical system is grounding out, particularly the hot lead to the coil. then you will fry coils. Check your Positive leads at the fuse box for continuity to ground. 1st check the ignition wire i.e. red wire going to your coil. Disconnect the ignition wire from the coil or distributor (depending where your coil is located). If it has continuity to ground, then go to your fuse box and pull out all your fuses and test each terminal for continuity to ground until you find which circuit is grounding out and polluting the rest of the positive circuitry. If it is only the ignition hot wire then you know that is where the problem is. If it is coming into the fuse block from another positive source, isolate that source by not allowing it to come into contact with + current.
Did this car used to have a points distributor? I have seen problems if you dont run new wire for the distributor because the old wire wasnt 12 volts because it had a ballast resistor in it. When you pt the coil in are you makeing sure you are checking the button that it sits on? That could be what is burning the coil out. Try and test the power wire and make sure you are getting a full 12 volts fro it. Good luck and if you found this helpful please rate this solution when you get a chance.
Thanks - Tech101
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