The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Electrical Bay COILS??? GOOD OR DEAD???

I came across an old Delco Remy finned aluminum coil,with a brass band around the top. Its 12v.
Its not a "case" or dress up housing. Its the real coil just the way it was made.(REALLY COOL LOOKING!!) Wish i knew how to post a pic.
My question is,,if the coil is good,is it good till it dies?
Or do coils get weak and wither away? I wanna use this coil,but dont wanna create problems just to have this thing under my hood.
Thanks in advance for your thoughts,opinions,expertise.
Marty

Marty,

Unless it has a 'open' in one of the windings or a shorted winding then it is probably fine. I don't know if a coil such as that would be oil filled or not. If it was oil filled and leaked dry then it's NFG.

It's a pretty simple task to hook it up to a battery and see if it can launch the neighbors Poodle. Generally speaking, a coil will work or won't...no withering or fading into the sunset.

Stuart

Stu:

I must admit that I had wondered that, too.

Thanks for the info.

Just make sure that you're watching the other end while you're hooking the coil up to the posterior segment of said poodle. Those er... puppies... [snerk] are mean little bastards.

I'd like to offer my neighbor's poodle for your coil test! Yapping ##$$&*!

I do better than Waldo ...Ill offer my MOTHER IN LAW for the test !

Just my $.03...but it might be easier just to mount the coil on the engine, crank it up and let it run. I've had coils that tested okay but once they were mounted and heated up they tended to go flat. If after running up to operating temperature, your engine doesn't fire up as easily as it did with your current coil.....well, you've got a neat conversation piece for your shop. Hopefully, you won't have that problem. Hope this helps.

Dave

I agree with Fla54, coils can deteroate with heat.

Thank you everyone.....
Stuart,Brendan,Waldo,SW,Dave,And Beav.
Although id love to take you all up on your offers,,I have plenty of territory markin,crap pile leavin, feral cats around here to keep me and probably 20 coils busy for the rest of the year.
If anyone wants to see a pic of this really neat coil,,just ask. Ill e-mail you a pic. or two.
Thanks again,Marty

I'm curious, because in the early 60's, I remember seeing the finned aluminum heat sinks, but all the ones I saw were purchased in the aftermarket and just slid onto the stock coil.
GM has only 2 numbers for 12 volt coils up to and including 1963,
The standard coil stamped 087-12v for low perf,
The HPerf coil stamped 091-12v for all hi perf.

I know that the above listed HP coil didn't have the fins. This isn't to say that it couldn't have come from a later year. I would just like to know if it is an original from GM and what years it was available.
Bob