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Ignition coil problems???

DavidJ

Total noob
Location
Texas
2005 Bullet 500 with points and Lucas coil. Picked up RE from friend to get it running after years sitting idle. It was running ragged and backfiring through muffler. Checked points and then pulled plug to look at spark. Erratic spark, three sparks skip two fire once skip twice, etc. replaced coil with OEM Lucas and all ran great. Impressed with smoothness. 20 miles later pushing the beast to the curb!!! Just started missing, lack of power and then nothing. Finally restarted and crippled home. Pulled seat and finally dug down to the coil. Pulled HT wire from coil and found clear oil in the HT recess. Appears the coil puked insulating oil out. Cleaned oil out and it restarted and ran like a champ, for another 20 or so miles. Same procedure performed but now it’s back to its old habit of backfiring. Measured resistance across 12v terminals at 3.5 ohms and it went down to 3 ohms after coil saturated I assume. HT lead to either 12v terminal was around 4k. Consulted two RE dealers here around Houston and just got blank stares. Any comments on this problem would be appreciated. Would like to replace canned coil with newer resin encased coil. Help me get this beast back on the road. Many comments when riding “old school” bike. Almost as many as my Honda Dream, Superhawk and Benly.
 

Bluestrom13

Well travelled
Location
--'Coventry'....
Used to be similar jokes about Skoda, back in the day.....Times, and things, move on.
Remember when Royal Enfield used to be Royal OILfield.

Don't know, but suspect, Lucas "branded" stuff will be exactly that, these days - branded.
I DO respect Hitchcocks enough to think that they won't sell rubbish.
 

Roy Gavin

Well travelled
Never had a problem with a genuine Lucas coil that tested exactly to spec before I fitted it.
Condensers were a different story, ended up just fitting the Hitachi one from the Datsun L series motor, much larger so always had to be externally mounted, which also kept it cooler.
If appearance counts for anything the spark looked about twice as strong compared to the Lucas, but that is probably damming it with faint praise!
 

Eatmore Mudd

Moderator
Staff member
2005 Bullet 500 with points and Lucas coil. Picked up RE from friend to get it running after years sitting idle. It was running ragged and backfiring through muffler. Checked points and then pulled plug to look at spark. Erratic spark, three sparks skip two fire once skip twice, etc. replaced coil with OEM Lucas and all ran great. Impressed with smoothness. 20 miles later pushing the beast to the curb!!! Just started missing, lack of power and then nothing. Finally restarted and crippled home. Pulled seat and finally dug down to the coil. Pulled HT wire from coil and found clear oil in the HT recess. Appears the coil puked insulating oil out. Cleaned oil out and it restarted and ran like a champ, for another 20 or so miles. Same procedure performed but now it’s back to its old habit of backfiring. Measured resistance across 12v terminals at 3.5 ohms and it went down to 3 ohms after coil saturated I assume. HT lead to either 12v terminal was around 4k. Consulted two RE dealers here around Houston and just got blank stares. Any comments on this problem would be appreciated. Would like to replace canned coil with newer resin encased coil. Help me get this beast back on the road. Many comments when riding “old school” bike. Almost as many as my Honda Dream, Superhawk and Benly.
Call Western Cycle Supply.
 
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