Technical Coil Problem

[armstrong]

Hi, I hope someone can give me some advice. My mk1 55 started running on 3 cylinders this morning. I tracked the problem down to one of the outputs from the coil not producing a spark. As far as I understand each of the two coils puts the same output into 2 of the ht leads (wasted spark system). Sure enough when I swapped leads 2 and 3 around, the non firing cylinder worked fine and the other failed.

I need to get home from work, about 10 miles. I have now already run it a few miles on 3 cylinders and want to avoid further damage to cat / bearings. If the output from the coil to two HT leads is identical, then can't I wire both 2 and three to the one working output from that coil? Or is this likely to do more damage than running on 3 cylinders? Any opinions before 5ish greatly appreciated!

 

[varesecrazy]

Hi ,
coil issues are common - and cheap + easy to fix,

MY son's was virtually undriveable when his 55 went bad,
but it lost BOTH of the sparks from 1 coil pack = 2 cylinders down..!!

are you sure this is your issue - ( not a dodgy lead..??),
you do have a RED light on dash - yes??

Charlie

 

[armstrong]

Definitely not HT Lead. Cylinder 2 was the first at fault, and with the same plug and lead it fired fine when I switched to the other coil output. I know this must be rare as I can't find anyone else on forums who has a coil with one output and not the other... I know it will be easy to fix once I have a new coil, but until then what is the best solution, I can't help feel that connecting the two together might temporarily work?

 

[armstrong]

Also I don't think I do have a red light on the dash... which one would you expect to see?

 

[dave]

where do you live a new one cant be hard to find, almost all 8v fiats since the early 90's with petrol engines use the same coil, scrappys should be full of them

 

[armstrong]

Well I'm 10 miles away from Pease Pottage scrap yard which I might just be able to make before it closes... about the same distance home - so either way is that too far to run it on three cylinders?

 

[dave]

no mate to take you there?

 

[armstrong]

Not really, (at work and it would mean asking someone to leave work early and drive a 20 mile round trip in the opposite direction to home). I guess my real question is (assuming my idea of joining the two coil outputs is stupid) should I be panicking about running it a fair distance on three cylinders?

 

[Andy Monty]

Yes unburnt fuel into the cat converter will kill it

If its a 8 valve the coil back costs 12 quid from euro car parts (fitted one to mates panda on Monday

 

[Andy Monty]

Pack even we managed to plug the coil and leads in and lay it on top the engine to get it home to sort.

 

[armstrong]

Cheers, euro car parts is a mere 8 miles away and open 'til 6! Fingers crossed it makes it...

 

[dave]

ring to make sure its in stock

 

[armstrong]

Made it there on 3 cylinders and the new coil worked a treat! Thanks for your help. I still would have been interested to know if it would have worked had I wired the two connections together, but it's sorted now anyhow.