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MG MGA - Hot Coil!

Car runs fine but the coil is to hot to touch. Should I go ahead and replace it?
Mike Razor

Check resistance of the primary winding in the coil. It should be about 3.2 ohms (slightly lower for a high energy coil). If you get about 1.6 ohms you have the wrong coil, intended for use with ballasted ignition system. Without the ballast resistor it would draw double the intended current run very hot, and burn up contact points, and ultimately burn out the coil.
Barney Gaylord

My coil also gets very very hot. After a run it becomes untouchable. It's an original Lucas coil and its primary resistance is about 4.2 ohms. It is mounted on top of the dynamo as per original specs. If I buy a coil, say from Moss, intended for the MGA, would it have the resistance indicated by Barney? How about changing its location well away from the engine block?

Frank
F Camilleri

I've always found that coils get hot, especially the dynamo-mounted ones. Doesn't seem to be a problem, unless of course it fails or you burn your fingers on it! Mike, as long as you have the correct kind of coil according to Barney's posting, don't worry about it, but it's always wise to carry a spare.
Lindsay Sampford

This thread was discussed on 27/07/2010

MG MGA index

This thread is from the archive. The Live MG MGA BBS is active now.