Topic: old coil

[big bad blue]

 Could an original coil off my 70 Cougar be considered reliable? I bought a new one from Deadnutson, but when I removed the old one from the holder I found the script and date were facing down, with a little work I think i could clean this up. Do they deteriorate with age? The engine it came off of was very low miles. thanks

[Bob Gaines]

Could an original coil off my 70 Cougar be considered reliable? I bought a new one from Deadnutson, but when I removed the old one from the holder I found the script and date were facing down, with a little work I think i could clean this up. Do they deteriorate with age? The engine it came off of was very low miles. thanks

It has been my experience that old yellow top coils typically still work more times then not when tested. Of course you can easily test on a established running car when you swap it out to see if it works and runs the engine. When they fail it typically isn't marginal they simply are dead. There is a illustration and word description of how to test a coil with test equipment in the shop manual.     

[Bob Gaines]

From a identification stand point it has been my experience that the repro coils do not have the 2 digit number and letter code (not a date code) in between the terminals like the genuine coils have .

[J_Speegle]

I've never used a reproduction. Originals, as Bob mentioned, if they work refinish it and reuse it unless it's damaged.  For long trips most will carry a small box of items that could fail and leave you stranded.