WARNING!! MAD MSD COILS!!!

[SousaKerry 502]

Friend of mine who is trying to get spark back on his C-121 Auto went out and purchased a MSD coil from an auto parts box store got one hell of a surprise this morning when the coil blew apart in his face spraying hot oil everywhere. Fortunately he was not in direct fire and oly had to change his shorts (pun intended.) According to what he tells me everything is wired correctly even if it wasn't I don't see how this could have happened.

[diesel cowboy 263]

Wow. At least he wasnt hurt. I've run into simmilar issues using auto parts on the older kohlers. Its possible the coil could have been made wrong and had a short in it or it might have just built up too much of a charge and the one spark plug wasnt enough to dissipate it. Had a 14 horse come it that was running rough and did the standard tune up and it ran perfect for 20 min and then started to run bad again. Shut it off and looked it over and found japanese writing on the coil. Pulled it off and under the clamp it said for transitorized ignition only. It put too much power through the points and melted the plastic on them. I've also run into a lot of other issues with coils that ranged from the wrong part to too much power to it or it was just bad from the factory. Hope this helps. Stewart

[rmaynard 16,208]

Did it explode when the power was applied for the first time, or had the engine been running at all?

[305 380]

the MSD blaster coil is very low ohms and requires a ballast resister for use with points

[Kelly 1,033]

I was going to add you need a ballast resistor with that coil, to drop voltage to about 9v, I had a coil blow up when I was charging a batt. and had left the key on, it made a mess all over everything and was a loud bang when it happened, luckily I was about 10 feet away.

[specialwheelhorse 174]

Yep ! Just like a gun going off, the qucikest way in the world

to see what the inside of a coil is made of.

Sure glad you weren't hurt,Could have been hot oil or a new hairdo.

[SousaKerry 502]

Well I guess that'll teach us know-it-all's to read the directions once in awhile.... :banghead: :confusion-scratchheadblue:

Edited February 8, 2013 by Sousakerry2

[squonk 43,404]

Had almost the same thing only it was a capacitor. 2 guys at work were working on an ice machine and it was short cycling. They call me because they needed me to check the refrigerant circuit. I walked up to it to start to look at and BANG and flames out the side! They wired the cap wrong. I never saw a bunch of nurses move so fast besides quitting time! :ROTF:

[Coadster32 793]

Dam!! :omg:

[clemedc 29]

A standard coil used on a Kohler has an internal resistor, automotive coils do not. You can and I have used automotive coils "in a pinch" with the resistor put on the 12V wire that powers the coil