COIL CONNECTIONS

[lencot76]

Since the Morris is postive earth,does the lead from the distributor still go the the -VE negative connection to the coil.I don`tknow if it changed for a +VE car Len

[liammonty]

It should be the opposite way round to a negative earth car. It will run either way, but the coil may overheat eventually if it's wrong, and I suspect you'll get through points faster too.

[lencot76]

Thanks I don`tthink I have done a +ve car before,and it makes sense thet it should be the other way round.But I thought it best to ask.On mine ,the SW (white wire) went to the +ve connection on the coil In the manual it only shows the wite lead going to the sw and the white and black to the CB.Most manuals show the coil as +ve and -ve Len

[graham1957]

On a Pos earth car the white wire should go to the neg or"sw" terminal on the coil. The white/black should go to the plus or "CB" terminal on the coil.If its the wrong way round the coil wont cook and the points wont burn out quicker!!What normally happens is the spark at the plugs should jump from the centre electrode to the tip. With the wires wrong way round the spark will try to jump from the tip to the centre electrode and in this case will be a weaker spark which could result in poor starting, poor performance and maybe misfiring and poorer mpg,so its worth while checking next time you have the bonnet up!!Graham

[bmcecosse]

As above - no overheating, but the spark will be slightly weaker if connected wrongly.

[lencot76]

Hello thanks for the info.mine were connected -ve to the coil ( IE BLACK AND WHITE LEAD ) as on modern cars I have now changed them round.

[liammonty]

Just speaking from personal experience on a couple of different cars which had the coil wired the wrong way around. Still, what does personal experience count for? We all know coils never malfunction

[bmcecosse]

Indeed they don't - if they are good OLD coils. No guarantees on 'new' coils i'm afraid. You do realise that my comment re coils not failing is there to encourage people to think what may be wrong - rather than the often heard - 'I replaced the coil and it still doesn't run'... Of course coils can fail - but very rarely - it's most often the condenser - or the points gap - or the rotor arm, pretty much in that order - although of course failing condenser will often take the points out as it goes....

[moggalot]

I had faithfully adopted the mantra 'Its never the coil', but I helped out a branch member last weekend whose recently restored car coughed and spluttered for a few days then refused to start. So we replaced the condenser, the plugs, plug leads, distributor cap, rotor arm and points. Nothing, but there was a spark from the coil. We were slightly distracted by the fact that the spluttering commenced after filling up the tank, so the carb was duly checked, still nothing. Eventually, it occurred to me that the ht spark did look a bit weak and so, guess what?.... 'It was the bloody coil'. Worked perfectly with a new one fitted.

[ManyMinors]

Only one person claims that "it's never the coil". My last breakdown - about a year ago - was certainly the coil. The car would always start straight up from cold but after about 5miles would splutter and die then refuse to start for a few minutes. The points gap was fine and I changed the rotor arm because it is the easiest to change but that made no difference. Next, I took the coil off my other Minor and substituted that. Never been any trouble since. However, when I fitted the suspect coil to my other car......that began playing up too, so the coil is now in the bin and all is well. The failed coil wasn't a replacement from a far off land but a "good old one" right up until the time it packed up. I have had a few breakdowns caused by faulty condensors and rotor arms too and tend to agree that these are more likely failures but the coil CAN let you down and everything is only "good and old" until it fails!

[smithskids]

Sadly the original coil on my 1951 MM died the death in a similar fashon. After running for about 20 mins and things were nice and warm it started missing at higher RPM and had to be changed for a later (1960 Lucas) one. No trouble since. After all, it was 65 years old and thats retirement age is'nt it. Although the coil in my 1935 morris is stil going ok.

[lencot76]

I have ordered a new capacitor ,form Distributor Doctorand I am waiting for it to arrive.I noticed when I was restoring the car and I wanted to time the engine,there are no timing marks on the front pulley.I suppose I will have to find TDC and time it from there .But how much before TDC before the contacts open .I know it will be a guess if I havn`t any timing marks .I have someone coming tomorrow to view the car,so it will be interesting to see what he says as regards the price.You can alway haggle to lower it ,but not to raise the price,if you think you have undervalued it.I would like it sold,as I can look for another car to restore,that interests me.Len.

[liammonty]

Are you sure there isn't a timing mark on the pulley? It's only a tiny notch on one side of the rim. If it's there and you find it, you can put a blob of Tipex or something on it to make it easier to spot. Presumably the 3 little triangular pointers (TDC, 5 BTDC and 10 BTDC) are there?

[myoldjalopy]

Remember.....on a +ive earth car, the current has to go to earth at the points when they close. Therefore, the +ive terminal on the coil must be the CB (contact breaker) terminal to go to the distributor via the low tension lead and thus to earth. If the car is -ive earth, it will be opposite way round.

[bmcecosse]

You don't need to worry about timing marks - just swing the dizzy gently at idle to get the best/smoothest idle. Then road test of course to ensure no pinking. Ideally it should be 'not quite ' pinking when working hard in 4th gear.

[lencot76]

Received the new capacitor,from Dist.Doc and fitted it,with new contacts .The previous owner who hardly used the car,had new leads and a new coil ( he was charged £28 for the coil) 2000 miles ago,so they should be OK.I noticed there isn`t a lot of movement,when turning the Distrubutor due to the air line to it.Hope it is within the range of how much the advance pipe will let me turn the Dist.Len

[bmcecosse]

That 'new' coil may well be a source of trouble - and £28......good grief...

[lencot76]

Looking through the previous bills I had with the car a garage he used ,charged him £750 to fit a second hand front wing on the car .This is one he sourced,this is why when the car needed restoring he just couldn`t afford to take it to a garage I have a Balast coil but the Morris isn`t wired for this type ,I suppose I could always wire it in myself if I found a balast resistor.If you took a lead off the car starter,which was live when turning the engine ove and then took this lead to the coil(removing the old lead of course) then the original lead ,could be reconnected to the coil via the resistor .Len

[graham1957]

sorry len i cant see how that would work with a standard morris solinoid, ford used the ballast resistor system but used a solinoid with an extra terminal which when cranked put battery volts direct to coil and then when started solinoid would switch out and the series resistor would supply a reduced supply of approx 9 volts to the 9 volt coil, graham

[lencot76]

If you had a lead from the starter to the coil,then only when the starter is cranked would you get the full 12 volts to the coil.Couldn`t you then have another lead from the ignition via a ballast resistor to the coil,to supply reduced voltage while running Len