Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.
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Martin A
Joined: 06 Oct 2014
Posts: 17
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 Posted: Sun Oct 16, 2016 8:15 pm Post subject: How to choose a replacement ignition coil...? |
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How can I make a rational choice of replacement ignition coil?
The ignition coil of my Mk1 Ford Zephyr failed and I replaced it with a unit of unkown origin but which seems to work.
How can I make a rational choice of which ignition coil to buy to install as a permanent replacement? There seem to be almost no end of 12V non-ballast ignition coils. But essentially no information is easily available about their technican characteristics and their reliability. (Reliability is important to me. I'd happily pay a bit extra to make a breakdown much less likely.)
One Ebay supplier lists the ignition coils below (among others). How should I choose the one best suited to my car and my needs? There must be a better way than choosing the cheapest, or the most expensive, - or just choosing one at random.
Regards
Martin
Bosch "High Energy Ignition Coil" 0 221 119 027 £25.94
Bosch "High Energy Ignition Coil" F 000 ZS0 027 £32.32
Bosch Ignition Coil 0221122001 £47.52
Bosch Ignition Coil 0221119023 £46.96
Ignition Coil - Lucas - DLB105 SPORT £18.50
Ignition Coil - Lucas - DLB101 £18.50
Ignition Coil - Lucas - DLB100 £22.80
Ignition Coil - Lucas - DLB170 £66.00 |
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kevin2306
Joined: 01 Jul 2013
Posts: 1359
Location: nr Llangollen, north wales
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| Posted: Mon Oct 17, 2016 10:14 am Post subject: |
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I cant advise on what coil to choose, what I found however is that there are a lot of fake items on the market. I bought a lucas one a few years back and when that turned up it was clearly a very nasty copy.
I ended up going to a local VW garage that works on Beetles etc and bought a genuine Bosch one from them, bit more expensive than ebay etc but at least its a genuine product.
Kev |
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colwyn500
Joined: 21 Oct 2012
Posts: 1745
Location: Nairn, Scotland
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Peter_L
Joined: 10 Apr 2008
Posts: 2680
Location: New Brunswick. Canada.
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| Posted: Mon Oct 17, 2016 8:03 pm Post subject: |
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When the subject of quality parts and/or replacements parts arises, there is a little line from the film "Armageddon" when the team are strapped into the space shuttle ready for lift off.
Quote: Rockhound: You realize we're sitting on 45,000 pounds of fuel, one nuclear warhead and a thing that has 270,000 moving parts built by the lowest bidder? Makes you feel good doesn't it?
/quote |
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Martin A
Joined: 06 Oct 2014
Posts: 17
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| Posted: Tue Oct 18, 2016 11:16 am Post subject: |
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Thanks for those comments. On internet discussions, I noticed a number of comments about relatively frequent Lucas ignition coil failures.
Holden.co.uk have this to say about the Lucas brand as it is now:
| Quote: | What is a �Lucas � part?
Lucas, as the manufacturing conglomerate it once was, no longer exists. The various sites were sold off or closed down (as in the Birmingham Hampton Street site). Management buy-outs and some specialist factories still exist. At the time of sale of these companies, the parent �Lucas� company entered into long term trade agreements, whereby those factories could continue to manufacture the same items and use the Lucas brand. Our understanding of the current ownership of Lucas is that they make modern braking components and fuel injection systems. There appear to be agreements with some companies to sell modern reproduction items using the Lucas brand, and packaging � these items, in our opinion, are sometimes good, sometimes poor. |
From that, my conclusion is:
- Lucas ignition components today evidently come from unknown manufacturers of whom the only known thing is that they have bought the right to use the name "Lucas". So in my book they are essentially the same as "no-name" components, though with somewhat higher prices.
- In the absence of evidence to the contrary, the extra price for Lucas items is for the label, rather than for any other property of the product
The Green Spark Plug company supplied me with a Bosch coil (the same model as mentioned by colwyn500). I asked them if they had any data on its reliability relative to other makes. They kindly replied that they had had essentially no complaints about Bosch - but they did not reply to my follow up question as to whether that applied also to coils from other makers.
One thing that is noticeable is that little or no information is ever given about the technical characteristics of ignition coils. Sometimes the primary resistance is quoted, but I have never seen any information on other parameters such as the turns ratio or the primary inductance, without which you can't estimate things like the energy per spark. Reliability information (eg MTBF) seems a foreign concept in the world of ignition system components - at least for classic cars.
So choosing an ignition coil seems to be essentially a matter of guesswork. Or having faith that there is a relation between the quality of an item and the maker's name on its label. |
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