Overheating coil on Mercruiser 888 8cyl 5L. 1970's

Pirate01

Cadet
Joined
Dec 11, 2013
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8
Replaced electrical system during restoration. New distributor cap, wires, coil, spark plugs. We do not have a spark so far and the coil is heating up almost too hot to touch. During purchase, was advised may require external resistor, we are unsure if we have one in our system or if one will be required. Also if one is required, what kind of resistor, and where to purchase would be our next question. Any help or advice on how to proceed to achieve a spark will be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
 

alldodge

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Mar 8, 2009
Messages
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Replaced electrical system during restoration. New distributor cap, wires, coil, spark plugs. We do not have a spark so far and the coil is heating up almost too hot to touch. During purchase, was advised may require external resistor, we are unsure if we have one in our system or if one will be required. Also if one is required, what kind of resistor, and where to purchase would be our next question. Any help or advice on how to proceed to achieve a spark will be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

If you still have points in the distributer, you need a coil which requires and external resistor. During starting, 12V needs to bypass the resistor and go dirct to the coil, when key is released it needs to go thru the resistor.
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/m...Ta5WK56gS1ZOwDu07sHT-m4M9KFTZ-RcZIaAgXd8P8HAQ
 
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