Re: Gremlins in my coils !

[Scott Fisher <sfisher71@domain.elided>]

--- Alfisto@domain.elided wrote:
> Regarding the suspected coil problem in my 24V LS I
> am now definitely going 
> to change them in the Spring/Summer. (My car started
> right up today as if 
> nothing had happened - - even in 30 degree weather).
> I do have three spare 
> coils - all used,  so I do not know just how good
> they are, which brings up 
> these questions. How do these coils go bad and why ?

Graham,

I haven't been paying close attention as your 164
isn't a car I know anything about.

But.

I DO know a LOT about wonky electrical-system
failures, especially those that appear to be related
to humidity and temperature.  And in about 90% of the
cases where I've had intermittent failures such as you
describe, it hasn't been the component, it's been the
connectors.  More specifically, it's either been that
the connectors have loosened through age and
vibration, or an all-but-invisible layer of corrosion
has formed between the metal surfaces.  Under some
circumstances, this layer appears to absorb moisture,
turning it into an insulator; when the moisture
disappears, the component starts working again.

(Hence my long-standing joke about my Spider: when I
tell modern-car enthusiasts that my '74 has sequential
multiport fuel injection and they give me the look
that says I'm full of it, I explain about the
mechanical nature of the Spica, and then go on to say
that there are no semiconductors in this car -- apart
from the chassis grounds, that is.)

My advice: Find every connector for your coils.  If
you have the more-or-less universal spade-lug
connector, here's the drill: On the male portion of
the connector, go over the surface very lightly with
glasscloth/fine-grit emery paper (600 or a higher
number), just to get rid of any corrosion on the
surface.  For the female portion of the connector (the
part that looks like an uppercase B when viewed from
the end), carefully crimp the curved parts of the
connector towards the flat part, using small
needle-nose pliers.

It should be HARD to press the connector back onto the
spade-lug when you're done.  That's good -- it means
you're getting good metal-to-metal contact as the
B-shaped part gouges new grooves into the spade-lug.

If you have screw-on connectors at the coil, the same
principles apply but the techniques are different.  I
have had good luck cleaning up the flat portions of
such connectors with a fiber brush on a Dremel -- the
high speed cleans off the corrosion without removing
any of the metal underneath, since the brush is softer
than the metal.  

In my experience with parts from all three
manufacturers, I've observed that the much-maligned
Lucas and Marelli components -- COMPONENTS -- can be
every bit as reliable as, possibly even more than,
their Bosch counterparts, so long as they are
connected properly.  (Let's not get me started on
Lucas bullet connectors, which are basically designed
to fail in short order and not to be repairable... no,
as I said, let's not get me started.) But the
best-made electric part in the world won't function if
it isn't plugged in.

No doubt some erudite theoretician will chime in here
telling me that my suspicion about hygroscopic layers
of corrosion turning into intermittent insulators
can't work, and will then proceed to show with
geometric logic how the electrochemical equations
cannot result in the necessary ion flux between
austenitic steel and manganese-bronze connectors that
could produce sufficient free radicals, or some
equally well-documented disproof, and that therefore
it can't do what I suggest and my cars cannot actually
start or run.  Whatever.  Meanwhile, I'll keep
cleaning my connectors as required, and my cars will
keep starting and running, reinforcing the eminently
more plausible possibility that, as I have long
suspected, cars simply enjoy the attention and respond
to being touched, lovingly, by the people who drive
them.

Best,

--Scott Fisher
  Tualatin, Oregon
.
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