burnin up!!!!

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sssmotor

sssmotor

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63 coronet ballast glowing red hot and coil too hot to touch...(new redundant grounds on entire vehical !)
 
Need a little more info on ignition system and components. Could be an internal short in the coil. Anything piggybacked off the coil circuit?
 
1...What is running charging voltage? Measure with engine running to simulate low-med cruise RPM, measure right at battery, and also at the ballast, check both sides and pick "high" side.

2...Is this a factory type coil or an aftermarket high output? (Wrong coil for ballast, some aftermarket coils require a SECOND ballast in series with OEM)

3...Even if factory coil, the coil could be bad, IE partially shorted.
 
And if the engine is not running, and you have the original points ignition, and the engine stops with the points are closed, and the ignition switch is in the RUN position, then the ballast and coil will run hot.

BTW, coil - does not get grounded..... just in case that happened!
 
running voltage 13.30 at ballast...( one older factory coil and one new factory coil both super hot) 13.33 to 14.20 at battery. tight running slant six with great throttle response but no slow idle when warm/hot... original points! to fields from alt, one to volt reg. and other to ballast (key side) when not running...12.11 at ballast and 8.12 neg., coil side of ballast.
 
The voltages look good. The voltage at the coil end of the ballast will vary.

If this is a points distributor as you noted, then check the points gap when it is most open. It should be around .017-.018"; you have to measure with a feeler gage. Too small a points gap when open will cause poor idling and would contribute to the heating.

Can you post a pix of the ballast? Or give a PN? Make sure it is not a plain resistor; these will not properly increase resistance when hot to limit the current.

Measure the ballast resistance when cold with one end disconnect from everything else. Put the leads of the meter together first and note the resistance of just the leads. Do this a few times and take the average. Then measure the ballast's resistance, and subtract the lead resistance.

Then run the engine for a minute, cut it off, and remeasure the ballast resistance hot.

The OEM ballast will be .5 to.6 ohm cold and around 2 ohms hot.
 
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before i read your message (nm9stheham) i added a second ballast resistor before the coil, and now the first resistor is hot but i can atleast touch it, the coil is warm but not hot. ty(67dart273) for the idea of 2 resistors and ( mguner) i had the throttle plate gasket the wrong way! nice low idle now and with a vaccum gauge air/fuel set pretty, and great throttle response!...i'm a little worried at the piggy back connection of the alt. wire close to battery because its hot to the touch! is that normal?
 
No that is not good or normal..... This does tno sounds like nomral wiring; it this runnign from the alternator main output direct to the battery or what? We need detailed info.

2 ballasts says something is at least odd and possibly wrong: what coil are you using? We need brand and exact model number. Did you set the points gap as given above?
 
nm9stheham said:
No that is not good or normal..... This does tno sounds like nomral wiring; it this runnign from the alternator main output direct to the battery or what? We need detailed info.

2 ballasts says something is at least odd and possibly wrong: what coil are you using? We need brand and exact model number. Did you set the points gap as given above?
Click to expand...
not sure when i can get back to the project....i'll keep you posted. ( i think i setpoints at .22)
 
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