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  View original topic: bad coil?
VdubDreamer Wed Jan 30, 2008 12:41 am

hey everybody,

i'm just wanting to make sure im thinking the correct problem. i think i might have a bad coil on my cabbie. before, it was running pretty decently (not amazing because my cold start reg is broken, to be replaced as soon as monetarily possible) anyway, after getting up to cruising speed (65-70) it would occasionally seem to stumble. then after getting home, it wouldnt re-start to bring into the garage. but then started fine the next morning. but now it wont start at all.

i thought it was the fuel pump, but after changing the filter, i got proper pressure out of it, checked my rotor, points, and dis. cap. and all of that was fine, but it still wont start. i get an occasional mumble of it turning over, but its only fleeting. when i was checking that my plugs were arcing properly, it seemed like it wasnt sparking often enough.

i'd heard from someone on here that if the car is left with the key on, but not running, it will kill the coil. and i did accidentally have that happen at one point.

anyway, i just wanted to see what anyone else though before i go buy another part that might not be broken. because this poor stuedent cant afford much.

thanks samba-folks

-dreamer

jaysonhadwick Thu Jan 31, 2008 9:42 pm

I've heard that sometimes a break in the wire inside the coil can develop and it only becomes noticeable when the car is warm, because the break starts to gap out as the coil warms up causing it to fault out. I've never had it happen, but it might be your issue.

I was going to ask if you had an electronic ingition setup but didn't seem to be the issue.

other thing i can think of is possibly check your fuel pressure after it warms up, maybe your gas cap isn't breathing and your getting a vacuum situation as your driving.

i dunno might be some stuff to check, not sure how you'll test the coil though.

dumpvalve Fri Feb 01, 2008 11:54 am

what year cab? sometimes when the either the water temp sender or something similar goes bad the car will run like shit then not start until cooled down. if it's after 95 you may want to look into that... probably a 10 dollar part.

VdubDreamer Fri Feb 08, 2008 8:30 pm

was testing the coil and distributor, found out i was getting a spark just fine, but then i went to see if maybe , just maybe i put the new fuel filter on backwards (which i realized is impossible as the threads are 2 different sizes) and noticed. the filter was empty. no fuel flow. turns out my pump died. bridged the relay poles to see if it might just be the relay. nope. its the pump.

thanks for the help though. i should have gone straight to the pump after realizing it wasnt the filter.

anyway, thanks



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