How do you test coils?

[richardbrown67@yahoo.com]

What are the symptoms of a coil, or coils, going bad?

How do you test coils to see if they are faulty?

Richard

 

[jeffersondodson561]

Re: How do you test coils?

Coils almost never go bad, the leads on the other hand are more but not really that bid of a problem. The easiest way is to test the primary voltage...you need a DVA to do this though. I would suspect other problems though, but again you need a DVA to diagnose.

 

[Sixmark]

Re: How do you test coils?

Richard, without having to send you to the store to buy some things that you may never need again, there are some simple ways to check a coil however they are just a general way of checking them.

If you suspect a coil for a select cylinder to be bad, you can swap it with a coil on another cylinder, if the problem follows the coil you suspected of being bad then then the odds are pretty good it's bad.

Electrical compnents on an ignition system tend to fail when they become warm, and once they cool off they may star to function properly again. So keep this in mind especially since you were having a problem on a warm engine.

 

[Faztbullet]

Re: How do you test coils?

You can only check the windings with a meter and the coil still have problems. If the swap and test fails to rectify the problem, send them to CDI electronics as they have a tester to check them and also test see if the core(iron or powdered) is fractured or broken and cost is about $15 a coil. The later ecapsulated coils(powdered core) needs washer under mounting bolt as this spreads torque across core and does not fracture it internally.

 

[wilde1j]

Re: How do you test coils?

You guys must not be old enough. My Dad's shop had a coil growler, a Stevens device if memory serves me right. Worked like a champ.

 

[boobie]

Re: How do you test coils?

The growler was used to check armatures on starters and generators. The Stevens coil tester could check any coil ever made and any decent shop wouldn't have been without one.