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Well, after 2 weeks of checking everything possible to figure out my intermittent backfires, it turns out my 3 month old “premium” coil went bad. It is an Acccel HEI Super Coil part num 140003. This is really disappointing, as it is the first accel part I’ve bought that has failed so soon. I payed a premium for what I thought was a premium part. Oh well, it happens.
Anyways what do you think is wrong with it? Internal ground failure? My symptoms were single, loud backfires out the carb under any acceleration besides EXTREMELY light acceleration. This would happen while driving or while I pulled the throttl with my hand. Any ideas?
here is a pic of some minor discoloration under the coil. On the left and that mark on upper part has some too
Don't buy "T" suffix parts unless you're a paid installer/shop and looking for cheap. They have a lesser warranty and cost less for just that reason. "T" parts are intended for shops; just get 'em out the door.
Do buy the Standard DR-31
*** pretty sure DR-32 / DR-32T coils are intended for GM Sixes both L6 & V6 ... NOT SO ... see my post below where I correct this; differences are due to Polarity of PICKUP Coil in bottom of HEI
Last edited by ebbnflow; Jan 30, 2022 at 08:38 PM.
That brass eyelet. was there a black wire at one time soldiered to it?
I see a hint of melted something at the end?
yes that is where the ground is. It doesnt look melted, but it definitely doesnt look like it did new.
I guess i’ll stick to getting AC delco parts in the future
Well, after 2 weeks of checking everything possible to figure out my intermittent backfires, it turns out my 3 month old “premium” coil went bad. It is an Acccel HEI Super Coil part num 140003. This is really disappointing, as it is the first accel part I’ve bought that has failed so soon. I payed a premium for what I thought was a premium part. Oh well, it happens.
Anyways what do you think is wrong with it? Internal ground failure? My symptoms were single, loud backfires out the carb under any acceleration besides EXTREMELY light acceleration. This would happen while driving or while I pulled the throttl with my hand. Any ideas?
here is a pic of some minor discoloration under the coil. On the left and that mark on upper part has some too
Here is the ultimate sad part of it all. Sometimes bad parts happen, but the performance aftermarket is largely Holley and they have shipped alot of their manufacturing to China with very little quality control. Look at what your buying and compare. Case in point that Accel part is basically just a different cover with a MSD 8225 coil inside it. In fact they list MSD 8225 as one of the part numbers to reference on the product page. https://www.holley.com/products/igni...l/parts/140003 Which makes you really wonder being the 8225 coil by itself is $100 but you can get the Accel part for $85 which has a different cover and the additional terminals etc. And in your case the coil is what burnt up. Makes you wonder just how much OA they have in any of their stuff.
I misspoke: Coil type differences Not Solely due to whether 6 or 8 cylinders; it's due to coils' Polarity and wire Color differences. This to match Magnetic Polarity of the HEI Pickup coil.
example: DR-31 has Red & Yellow wires while DR-32 has Red & White wires.
Following was lifted from Chevelle site where it had been lifted from Dave Fiedler's OLD website.
Coil interchangeability
The coil-in-cap ignition coils need to be matched to the pickup coil, and the pickup coil must be matched to the engine family. There are two color-coded ignition coils, and three color-coded pickup coils. (Note that external ignition coils are not color coded to the pickup coil.) One coil-in-cap ignition coil uses red and yellow wires; the other uses red and white wires. They are functionally identical except the magnetic (not electrical) polarity is opposite. One pickup coil uses either a yellow tyrap or a yellow plastic connector body on the wires that attach to the module. Another pickup coil uses either a blue tyrap or black plastic connector body, and the third pickup coil uses a clear tyrap or a clear plastic connector body. (Some aftermarket manufacturers will use no connector body instead of a clear one.) The yellow coil has opposite magnetic polarity from the blue/black, and clear pickup coils.
Delco discovered that magnetic interference from the starter/battery cable could trigger “false” sparks at low RPM—especially during cranking. Pickup coils are selected based on engine family. Ignition coils are then selected based on which pickup coil was selected. chart did not copy & paste too well... Table 1. Pickup Coil and Coil-in-cap Ignition Coil Selection for Traditional V-8 Engines Engine--Pickup Coil Connector'scolor code--Ignition Coil--color code Buick--Blue/Black--Red and White Cadillac--Yellow--Red and Yellow Chevrolet--Yellow--Red and Yellow Oldsmobile except Toro--Blue/Black--Red and White Oldsmobile Toronado--Yellow--Red and Yellow Pontiac--Clear--Red and White
So, for the “traditional” V-8 engines, Chevrolet, Cadillac, and Olds Toronado use the yellow-coded pickup coil, and because they use the yellow pickup coil, they use the red and yellow ignition coil. Put another way, the yellow coils are a matched set. Buick, and Oldsmobile except Toronado, use the blue/black pickup coil, and therefore use the red and white ignition coil. Pontiac uses the clear coded pickup coil. It is wound the same way as the blue/black coil, but has longer leads to physically fit in the Pontiac version of the HEI distributor. Therefore it, too, uses the red and white ignition coil. Many parts catalogs indicate the wrong pickup and ignition coils for Olds Toronados.
Last edited by ebbnflow; Jan 30, 2022 at 09:00 PM.
rest assured; these days, AC Delco coils are Not made in North America ... and AC Delco is merely a licensed trademark/name and today actually manufactures zilch.
While the Standard mark's been around nearly as long as Charles Kettering's ACD. Standard (SMP Standard Motor Products) has many global plants.
smpcorp.com
NYSE: SMP
Last edited by ebbnflow; Jan 30, 2022 at 08:51 PM.
I misspoke: Coil type differences Not due SOLELY to whether 6 or 8 cylinders; it's Primarily due to coils' Polarity and wire Color differences. This to match Magnetic Polarity of the HEI Pickup coil.
example: DR-31 has Red & Yellow wires while DR-32 has Red & White wires.
Following was lifted from Chevelle site where it had been lifted from Dave Fiedler's OLD website.
Coil interchangeability
The coil-in-cap ignition coils need to be matched to the pickup coil, and the pickup coil must be matched to the engine family. There are two color-coded ignition coils, and three color-coded pickup coils. (Note that external ignition coils are not color coded to the pickup coil.) One coil-in-cap ignition coil uses red and yellow wires; the other uses red and white wires. They are functionally identical except the magnetic (not electrical) polarity is opposite. One pickup coil uses either a yellow tyrap or a yellow plastic connector body on the wires that attach to the module. Another pickup coil uses either a blue tyrap or black plastic connector body, and the third pickup coil uses a clear tyrap or a clear plastic connector body. (Some aftermarket manufacturers will use no connector body instead of a clear one.) The yellow coil has opposite magnetic polarity from the blue/black, and clear pickup coils.
Delco discovered that magnetic interference from the starter/battery cable could trigger “false” sparks at low RPM—especially during cranking. Pickup coils are selected based on engine family. Ignition coils are then selected based on which pickup coil was selected. chart did not copy & paste too well... Table 1. Pickup Coil and Coil-in-cap Ignition Coil Selection for Traditional V-8 Engines Engine--Pickup Coil (connector's) color code--Ignition Coil--color code Buick--Blue/Black--Red and White Cadillac--Yellow--Red and Yellow Chevrolet--Yellow--Red and Yellow Oldsmobile except Toro--Blue/Black--Red and White Oldsmobile Toronado--Yellow--Red and Yellow Pontiac--Clear--Red and White
So, for the “traditional” V-8 engines, Chevrolet, Cadillac, and Olds Toronado use the yellow-coded pickup coil, and because they use the yellow pickup coil, they use the red and yellow ignition coil. Put another way, the yellow coils are a matched set. Buick, and Oldsmobile except Toronado, use the blue/black pickup coil, and therefore use the red and white ignition coil. Pontiac uses the clear coded pickup coil. It is wound the same way as the blue/black coil, but has longer leads to physically fit in the Pontiac version of the HEI distributor. Therefore it, too, uses the red and white ignition coil. Many parts catalogs indicate the wrong pickup and ignition coils for Olds Toronados.
Last edited by ebbnflow; Jan 31, 2022 at 02:31 PM.
From: Arizona - If you don’t know CFI, STOP proliferating the myths around it...
It's hard to tell, but I blew the pic up in the discolored area and it might be suspect to arcing a little which would more than likely cause a misfire? Look at the carbon to the right of that as well, that looks like it was tracking? Again, hard to tell for sure. Replace it a DUI coil and find out. GL
What is wrong with this coil?
