AC Delco Coil

[naranjas]

I've got a '79 and I suspect the coil is dying. When I turn the key sometimes the engine light does not come on. When this happens it will crank but not start. Occasionally it will die while I'm driving. When I search for a coil an AC DELCO one comes up and it costs less than $30. Has anyone ever tried one of these?

[Mathew26]

I'm sure that would work ok. As long as the power matches to the Fiat it really should be fine, but you can find Bosch and Marelli ones. Also it may be your magnetic pickup (pickup coil) or possibly a control module issue.

[manoa matt]

If its for a 79 then you need to have the correct coil with the correct primary and secondary resistances. Chances are the resistance measurements are not published for that coil.

This is the coil I'm running on my daily driver, no issues in 3 years, and has the correct resistances for the electronic breakerless system. http://www.summitracing.com/parts/ACC-8145/

The Fiat factory service manual has a great section for testing all the components of the electronic ignition systems, do that first.

[ga.spyder]

I use that same coil as Matt(except chrome..bling!).A coil failure is not unheard of,but pretty rare.I had a issue last year that was very similar.I had just changed my ign. module,so I put the old one back in.Sure enough it fired right up.I dont know what shorted the 'high perf.' module out...stock unit is still in and running fine.Good luck
Craig

[So Cal Mark]

what engine light are you discussing? The red light in the bottom of the tach is for the charging system. I'm not aware of a light that indicates ignition

[majicwrench]

Everybody love to replace their coil. Im with Ga Spyder, coils hardly ever fail. And they have NOTHING to do with lights on the dash.

Back in the 70's, I got so tired of foks walking in and asking "can you check my coil??" that I built a little coil checker and started charging two bucks for the test. Over the years I probably checked over 200, and I must have found a bad one at some point, but I can't really remember.

[naranjas]

It's the red light. More and more frequently it will not light up when I turn the key even though the starter cranks.

[Tobi]

OK, I am a bit late here but you should check on your ignition switch.

[htchevyii]

It's the red light. More and more frequently it will not light up when I turn the key even though the starter cranks.

My car's a late model EFI, but I had a bad ign switch that always cranked, but didn't always provide ign power. Come to think of it, my '72 ign switch failed too, but never provided ign power. Hook a jumper to the coil to bypass the switch next time it happends.