I need to buy a replacement for the Standard LX320 pick up coil I bought but subsequently found was not suitable for all the reasons previously discussed in this Forum and others. In my haste I have ordered the only other "Economy" option available from Rock Auto which is a FAMOUS brand item that looks very much like a WVE 4P1209 but is probably an MEA 2284. If it is an MEA does anybody know if this pick up coil will work in my C4 or have I bought another dud part to be sent all the way to Australia?

From Bowling Green Kentucky to bowling green Tin Can Bay, Queensland Australia.

I was also a victim of the Standard LX320 pick up coil from Rock Auto. I am in Canada and was able to get Rock Auto to take it back and pay for shipping.
I was lucky enough to find the OEM pickup on EBay and was back up and running.
I think any of the corvette specialty parts stores would sell only known working pickups.

Thanks Agent 86 - I have applied for a store credit from Rock Auto but if they ask for the LX 320 back and want me to pay shipping (which from Oz is high) I will just write it off as "lesson learnt". More concerned that the next one from Rock Auto works but if not I have also seen a WVE 4P1209 available on Ebay.
Love your username - you might be interested in what's lurking under my drink holder cover.

EDIT - Rock Auto gave me a full refund within a day of my request and did not ask for the part to be returned. I appreciate this show of good customer service and relations and remain a loyal Rock Auto customer.

Nice, do they work ? 😆

Sure do ! - if you push in the EJECT button you can light a cigarette and if you pull either of the MISSILE buttons then they come out complete with their wooden base. My 88 is very much a fun car not a show car and that's the way I like it.

OK - the more I read about MEA 2284 pick up coil the more uneasy I am that it will not work in my 1988 C4. Even though the MEA 2284 from Rock Auto is due to arrive a couple of weeks before the WVE 4P1209 I also ordered from Ebay I think I will wait for the WVE pick up coil because it has been endorsed as OK by members on this Forum.

I think I have just bought the last WVE 4P1209 pick up coil that was listed on Ebay which leads me to ask - Where is the next c4 owner who needs a replacement pick up coil going to find one ?
The original Ac Delco D1945 is unavailable and of the two Rock Auto options the Standard LX320 clearly does not work and the Famous (MEA2284) suitability as a replacement seems to be presently unknown. Time is certainly ticking away on all of those remaining original pick up coils that have been whirring around in distributors now for up to 42 years.

There are a number of other options in there, do none of them work well? I replaced mine recently in my 88 and it did work but cannot remember the brand I used. In a pinch maybe the D505A could work but i see it's quite expensive..

I have an '86 that starts and runs fine for the moment, but if dist pickup coils that actually work are not available thought i'd look into my options ( just in case ). the major 'vette parts suppliers do supply replacement distributors so I s'pose that's an expensive option. but a bit better than having a 2 ton modern art lump in the driveway.

In my experience - if you’re replacing more than 1 part of the distributor, you’re going to be well on your way to the cost of a whole new setup. Curious what coils those have though…

I agree ramahon - but in my case I replaced everything that was "up top" and relatively easy to reach on the distributor and only when that didn't solve my no spark problem was when I found the pick up coil was dead (0 ohms on test). When you are in a hole sometines you just keep digging !

Hi Rusty - I am talking about the difficulty of replacing a distributor pick up coil rather than the ignition coil - which I did replace with a D505A (which is quite expensive).

Oh I know, I recently lived it I started bottoms up and it ended up being the ignition coil that solved it….would have helped if I tested things first before just jumping in. The distributor needed a refresh anyway so I’m not complaining that much.

Just had an automotive electrician remove the distributor on my 88 and switch out the Standard LX320 pick up coil, which I suspected of having reverse polarity causing no end of problems, for a WVE 4P1209 pick up coil. Car now runs as normal.
Anybody who is not convinced that there are "reversed" polarity SMP LX320 pick up coils out there for sale should study these photos noting that a properly oriented replacement GM pick up should attract the N pole of a compass -
WVE 4P1209

Standard Motor Products LX320

There's a couple of us on here that are currently, or were formerly NSA and CIA employees. Let me tell you... we do not get cool cars. When we have to check out a car from the "pool," it's always some compact piece of ****. The only cool cars are the specialty ones that are used for technical operations, and they're usually vans and trucks (there's some Turbo Ford Excursions that are outfitted with some awesome stuff). Definitely no Aston Martin DB9s or anything like that, haha. When someone does buy a really fancy car, we wonder where he got the money from and that usually leads to people looking at his financial disclosure to see if he's doing something he / she shouldn't.

As for the big black SUVs... people think we buy those because they look ominous and cool. The reality is... that's the default "fleet" color that GM and Ford provides them in. So, it is quite literally "best value / lowest cost" to the government. The big black Suburbans are cheaper than all the other colors. Sometimes GM / Ford / Chrysler fleet sales will have fully-optioned SUVs near the end of the year, just because they couldn't get rid of them, and then the government buys them. In Area 82, we had a couple of really, REALLY nice GMC Yukon XLs with literally every single friggin' option, including leather seats. Those seats would get really torn up with people hopping in and out with their side-arm. It was so obvious who they belonged to when you saw them driving down Warrior or Disney in Bagram, because only NSA had them. Most people got the TaTas, Chevy Colorados, or those cool Toyota Land Cruisers.

Anyway, I'll stop now...

Thanks to the contributors on this thread. I replaced my pickup coil as a maintenance thing since the wires seemed a bit aged and it appears to be the original. Also has some of the “packing” coming away around the coil winding itself

When I saw the mention here of the SMP LX320 part being problematic, that prompted me to question mine and look closer at it. Looks like Corvette Central has a re-boxed SMP part because theirs is labeled RLX320

i really appreciate the mention of the polarity test with the compass, as I’m somewhat electron-illiterate! So I had to re-disassemble my distributor to remove & check the new pickup coil. It seems far too often I do things twice, so bsns as usual for me….. Thankfully mine checked out OK for polarity, Which is worth more than you may think in terms of peace-of-mind!

I also checked the polarity of my old pickup for comparison and here’s where I can add more than just a thanks. The polarity can easily be reversed/corrected by flipping the magnet in the assembly. I’m not saying that casually, like it’s OK for new parts to be faulty. The polarity should be checked in manufacturing/assemby. But it is indeed an easy fix

The coil assembly is not a super precise parts assembly. Simply remove the three screws and separate the top plate, internal-pointed steel ring and the magnet. Flip the magnet over and reassemble. I did this exact test with my old one to make sure doing so reversed the polarity from original.

A few caveats with respect to reassembly:

1. Do NOT overly-tighten the three screws when you reassemble. Oh and it only assembles one way in terms of hole spacing and the clocking of the metal tab on the coil support plate. The screws only need to be barely snug. If you over-tighten the screws, the coil support plate will bend and start to smush the magnet.

They don’t need to be super snug because the coil assembly isn’t under any mechanical load, other than the metal points of the distributor shaft passing by the points in the pickup coil assembly. Which leads me to my next point (pun intended)

2. When you disassemble the pickup coil sandwich, you have to check the clearance btwn the aforementioned points. By checking I mean they should not hear an audible clicking as you rotate the shaft. You just want to feel the slight resistance of the magnetism as they pass each other

So before you slightly snug the three screws, shift the coil plate around (it doesn’t move much, but it does move…..) to make sure your points don’t click

lastly, my pickup coil assembly didn’t want seat on the distributor because the slot in the tab on the coil support plate wasn’t big enough. So I had to open up the slot a bit with a round file. Which is annoying, considering I’m filing metal right next to a @&$#ing magnet……

So that’s my contribution. My car is in all kinds of pieces so I can’t honestly say mine works like new. It won’t be running for a while. But at least I feel better knowing my polarity isn’t reversed….

Thanks again for everyone’s contributions

KL

Old pickup coil unit next to new box from CC

Forgot to add that the compass test is great. We just need to be sure the correct side of the coil is facing the compass. Plus, be sure you’re not already facing north, so the compass actually rotates to north for attraction to the coil magnet

When I flipped the magnet in my old coil, it would indeed point south/opposite when I brought the coil up to the compass