[ghaegele]

How does a coil problem manifest itself?

I recently rebuilt my engine and may have replaced a new coil with a questionable coil that I had saved as a spare (As I recall this coil question occurred just after installing the Ignitor a few years ago!) The engine has been running great until this weekend. It was the first extended trip. I motored Saturday afternoon for about 2 hrs. When we anchored the engine stalled at idle as I was preparing to drop the anchor. I couldn't restart it. I noted a spark from the coil wire and decided it was a fuel problem so I left it for the next morning. However, the next morning she starred right up so I didn't investigate further. After a great sail on Sunday I again motored for a couple of hours back to our mooring to meet friends. Again, as I slowed to an idle and was I was just about to pick up the mooring lines, the engine stalled. Like earlier it could not be restarted.

Now I went right to a fuel condition and took off the fuel line. A crank instantly proved this wrong as fuel gushed out. Incidentally, some gas spilled onto the coil and vaporized. The coil was extremely hot. I again pulled the coil wire and cranked and this time noted that though there was a spark it was anemic and barely jumped a 1/4 inch gap. Suspecting the coil was being effected by the heat I applied a hunk of ice to the coil for a few minutes and cooled it down enough that I could touch it. The engine then started right up.

Does this sound like an coil problem or should I keep looking?