Are new coils duff?

I have a Series One with a late Series 3 engine which I have had for about 10 years. A while back I changed the points, leads, condenser and coil. Soon after, started having issues where it would cut out after about 15 mins and then just misbehave. I isolated it down to the coil and replaced it again (they are only a few quid). Not long after it started again and long story short I am 99% sure it is the coil again. I have put the old, corroded, oily one that is at least ten years old back in and all seems fine.


Has anybody had issues with new coils? They were Lucas so I expected them to be OK but am fairly sure they are the culprit. If they are I am reluctant to buy a third! I don’t really want to go down the electronic route. Any ideas?

Maltloaf said:

I have a Series One with a late Series 3 engine which I have had for about 10 years. A while back I changed the points, leads, condenser and coil. Soon after, started having issues where it would cut out after about 15 mins and then just misbehave. I isolated it down to the coil and replaced it again (they are only a few quid). Not long after it started again and long story short I am 99% sure it is the coil again. I have put the old, corroded, oily one that is at least ten years old back in and all seems fine.


Has anybody had issues with new coils? They were Lucas so I expected them to be OK but am fairly sure they are the culprit. If they are I am reluctant to buy a third! I don’t really want to go down the electronic route. Any ideas?

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Sure the capacitor isn't duff? What are the faces of the points like?

Both are good and when I swap coils it springs into life

Maltloaf said:

Both are good and when I swap coils it springs into life

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Sounds like you have answered yer own question, really.
Maybe clean up the old one and put it back on?

Yes. New coils are very very duff for points ignition. Especially ones made by "The Prince of Darkness"... I'd say the brand itself but I don't want to get into libel laws!! 2 years ago I saw the failure of no less than 8 coils on customers vehicles. A mate with an 80 inch Land Rover had 3 new ones in a row and wouldn't believe me when I said that they were all duff. I fitted an ancient second hand one for him and it cured the problem instantly. The problem is that al the traditional brand name coils for points ignition are made in China. Bosch ones for the UK market are made in Mexico. I had one fail after driving from the Midlands back to London so when my customer sent it back to me I cut it open to find out what was wrong: It had been wired backwards in manufacture and the High Tension windings had fried the Low tension circuit. I have so far only discovered three makes of coil which are reliable for points ignition over any sort of mileage: Beru or NGK (which have only just become available here) or the Powerspark silver sports coil... I've fitted about 15 of these in the last 18 months with no problems:

http://www.simonbbc.com/ignition-coils/powerspark-chrome-sports-ignition-coil-with-zinc-plated-clamp

Oh and BTW... I don't work for Powerspark

Thanks V&C, just the answer I was hoping for. I was considering going to a racing outlet like Deamon Tweaks etc to see if a racing coil would actually work but you have saved me from going way over spec. I can't see how Paddocks etc can sell these coils if they fail at that rate. It is almost like a temperature cut out, they warm up then fail. Let them cool down and they are OK (ish), hence it becomes an almost intermitant problem as fiddle long enough and they will come back to life (sort of). I don't remember coils ever failing when they were the normal ignition system and it is difficult to believe that modern day China is worse than 1970s British Leyland.

I'll buy the one you suggest and if all is OK I'll send a snot-o-gram to the vendors of said coils, though refund etc will not be an option as I have taken an age to get around to this.

I'm sure the Powerspark one will be fine. I don't think that anyone cares about the quality of the other ones just so long as they are getting the money. Many people just convince themselves that points ignition was just unsuitable anyway and fit electronic. I'm afraid that contact sets, rotor arms and condensors available these days aren't much better than the coils.
Remax condensors seem very reliable
http://www.gsparkplug.com/ignition/condensers
I get new old stock contact sets from the 1960s and 70s on ebay although others in the trade tell me that the new ones from Distributor Doctor are very good. Distributor Doctor also do decent quality rotor arms which won't fail like the other ones currently available.

Thanks for all the gen, very useful. Ta