Thread: 302 wont fire PLZ HELP

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Originally Posted by treese13

....i put a light tester on the battery and it lit up but then i put i on the coil and i got nothing...

(I'm assuming you probed the + terminal on the coil with the key in the run position and the ground lead of the test light had a good ground)

Does it have a ballast resistor? Most old engines either use a ballast resistor or a resistor wire between the ignition switch and the ignition coil to reduce the voltage to the coil.

If you have a ballast resistor, you can check it using your test light.
- if there's power on one side but not the other, it's a bad resistor.
- If there's power on both sides, the wire from the resistor to the coil is bad.
- If there's no power to the resistor, it's either a bad wire to the ignition switch, a faulty ignition switch, or just plain miswired.

I would not recommend running a coil directly off the battery for an extended period of time unless you know for sure that it's a 12v coil (most stock coils are 6v - many 12v coils are just 6v coils with an internal ballast resistor). I blew-up a coil once because I overheated it with too much voltage - no firey explosion or anything, the can just ruptured and spewed oil everywhere.

Hope this helps.

Good Luck.