I was running my 302 the other day and was messing with the carb while it was running, i then, choked the engine off to stall it. I messed with the carb for 15 mins, then shut off the lights and went inside. Although... i forgot, i left my mustang in the "run" position. When i came out in the morning to test the new carb( which was my last problem, but now runs good! yay!) i found it wasnt starting, due to no spark. I took a volt meter in the "run" position and found the coil was getting 12v and the coil would not put out a spark to the main wire. I checked the - side of the coil and it was also getting 12v. So i thought it may have been the coil, and tried another one, and it wasnt. So that leaves my IGNITOR system. I read somewhere a long time ago that they can get messed up from leaving the car in the run postion for to long and it messes up the magnets. I can not find and info on that problem now. Does anyone recall seeing a post like this? Or could this happen? Could this be my problem? I belive the ignitor is the problem and since i did leave the car in the "run" position, is theyre anyway to fix my ignitor and save me another 60$? for these things to make reliablity so much better, forgetting once costed me 60$ whereas points wouldnt have. -Jon

 

Your points could have burned up in that time, too, but they'd have to be in just the right spot. The same would be for any ignition system.

I would assume the Pertronix is basically sealed in epoxy, so there would be no fix aside from replacement. Sorry.

 

I also read this was a possible problem with the Pertronix Ignitor. I'm not absolutely certain, but I think that they did something with the Ignitor II to prevent this from happening. There is no way to fix these systems; just replacement. They are sealed.

 

Well, i threw in a set of points, and turned the ignition, and it fried the wire leading to the coil, then i put on a new coil and wire to the points and it ran OK( after timing adjusting) Still a little cold( 5 degrees, so that may be why its not running up to par- without a hood, sucking cold air) anyways, points and a coil and it runs again, i guess i know not to leave it in the "run" position now. Also, what could cause a coil to go bad? -Jon

 

No ignition system is designed to be left on...and not running..overnight. Be glad you didn't have $500 worth of MSD boxes and distributors....

$60 is cheap. Go buy 2.

 

A coil goes bad by shorting out internally.