In a message dated 14-Nov-01 15:23:57 Eastern Standard Time,
Luckyone@sympatico.ca writes:
> Art,
>
> Was wondering, how do you test the voltage of your coil? Is there a
> special instrument that will tell you how many Kv you are running? I have
> been wondering about this for some time, and I have only been able to tell
> a weak coil by its spark. My multimeter goes up to 1Kv :-)
>
> Steve
>
Steve, I took mine to to a local auto repair shop (1968). The tech told me
to bring in the coil; I hadn't told him exactly what my problem was, only
that sometimes I had a problem starting the car. I brought in the coil, he
put it on his test bench and he then described exactly what the symptoms were
that I was having. I replaced the coil, solved the problem and, more
importantly, learned a lesson.
I have taught logic/rhetoric at the college level for many years and use this
as an example of faulty logic. What I tell my students is:
"Following a flow chart type diagram in one of my Triumph repair books, I
tested the ignition system. Each time I passed over the test for the coil,
figuring that the coil must be OK since I had a "good" spark visually. Hell,
I replaced the points, plugs, wires, virtually the whole ignition system. It
was only after I had the coil tested (and found the low output voltage) and
replaced it that I solved the problem. My faulty logic was assuming that the
coil was OK, thereby not testing it because I did not have a voltmeter with a
high enough range at the time." My stubbornness about fixing it without any
help was what kept me from going to a place with the right equipment to test
the coil. As I said "faulty logic" on my part caused me to replace things
that did not need to be replaced and to not test and replace the defective
coil.
Art
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