Quote:
Originally Posted by Flathead Fever
It really should have resistor on it or the coil will burnout. I worked for the phone for 30-year's as a fleet mechanic. We had Dodges that had external ceramic resistors on them. They burned out all the time. I could tell the resistor was bad because the engine would start while you were cranking (resistor is by-passed while cranking) and then the engine would quit as soon as you released the key. They have a certain resistance value to them but I always found it difficult to check them with a ohm meter because the measurement changed so much with the temperature of the resistor. They were almost always either good or they didn't work at all so there was no reason to stick an ohm meter on them.
One day I had a resister burnout and I did have one in stock. I bypassed the resistor thinking it would be okay for just a day until the new resistor arrived. The truck came in on the tow truck the very next day with a burned out coil. I never did that again. I have hundreds of those kinds of lessons I learned while experimenting on phone company vehicles.
There are two kinds of external resistors. Dodge used the ceramic one bolted in the engine compartment. Ford used a length of resistor wire under the dash, I think it was pink? Its best to put a volt meter on the positive wire to the coil. Disconnect it from the coil and check it with the key on and see what voltage you have. If you left the wire hooked up and the circuit was energized (key on and points closed) and you tried to check it you would be performing a "voltage drop test" which locates resistance in the circuit and not the available voltage.
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Thank you flathead. Maybe who ever did this work knew what they were doing..............I will leave it alone!