[Healeys] Bringing it back to life, little spark, maybe coil

Patton Dickson 57healey at gmail.com
Wed Oct 29 13:07:15 MST 2008


I rebuilt the Welbro fuel pump that was in the car when I got it
yesterday, and tried to start the car for the first time in 10 months
to no avail.  I pulled the plug on #3 and I wasn't getting any fire.
Power was on both sides of the coil, and the points were sparking.   I
then noticed that my new distributor cap button had stuck up in the
cap.  I used silicon spary and got it loose and out, and now I have
very intermittant spark.  Almost infrequent enough to say none.

A file I had printed on troubleshooting ignition circuts, I think from
Barney Gaylords site, said to check the coil first with a multimeter.
The coil is a Lucas HA 12, and if the 1156 is any indication, it is
the original.   I own a Greenlee DM-200 multimeter, but don't know how
to use it except to check continuity.  I downloaded the manual
(http://65.36.183.19/greenlee/im/im1400rev02.pdf) and think I figured
it out (it says it automatically sets the ohm scale)

The troubleshooting file I have listed 1.5 to 3 ohms as normal for the
SW and CB posts (and mine reads 3.2 ohms) and the SW and HT should be
between 6000 and 3000 ohms (mine reads 6.84 kOhm).  So, if I am
reading my multimeter right, the coil has gone out of spec.  Are the
numbers I am comparing them to the right range?  Does anyone have a
known good Lucas HA12 handy to see where the numbers fall?

It was running fine when the fuel pump went out, so I don't know what
could have changed internally to make it go bad.

Thanks
Patton

-- 
Patton Dickson - http://Austin-Healeys.com - Plano, TX
1957 Austin-Healey 100-Six "Built to run 'til the road wears out."
1977 Newport '28


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