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high performance coil???

dave next time you start the atv cold, put a battery charger on it, 6 amp should be fine and see if it starts right up. i have an atv that does that, either the starter is a little weak or the battery is shy on amps. seems like the engine doesnt spin fast enough on the starter to get a good spark. hotter coil wont hurt anything.
 
A

Anonymous-0

Well-known Member
Hey folks,
a coil is a coil, isn't it? Reason I'm asking is, I have an ATV that I've been working some bugs out of and I am (I hope) down to the last one. It doesn't want to start real well when it is cold. Eventually, it starts, but sometimes I have to pull the plug out and clean it. Most times, I have to start it the first time with the pull rope instead of the electric start. Is it possible that my coil is intermitantly weak? Today, I got ready for the morning ritual, but the thing started the first crank with the E starter. 2 hours later, I had to beat my brains out with the pull rope. Starts fine now.

Anyway,
I was looking on ebay for coils and some are listed as high performance to "Change your stock Coil to this one for more performance & speed!"

Will one coil give a stronger spark than the next? Will a stronger spark cause engine damage?

Thanks, Dave
 
A "coil" is a coil of wire in a can or box. Some have more wire in them than others, and thus have the potential to make a higher voltage spark - and pass through higher resistance - if called for.

An engine is only going to use the amount of spark it needs to fire the plug (unless there's a short somewhere). So, having a super powerful coil many not gain anything - all depends on what the problem is.

If something in your secondary wiring has unusually high resistance, a more powerful coil may make it start and run better, but it's not fixing the problem; just acting as a work-around.

If battery ignition, maybe you need to check your primary voltage at cranking. A normal 12 volt system drops to 9-10 volts when the engine is cranking - so that's all the coil gets when starting a cold engine. If it's dropping lower, the spark output will also be lower.

I'll stop here, since a book could be written on the subject. In most cases though, OEM coils are well suited for the job. If you've got starting problems, it might be wiring, and it might be a bad coil, but I doubt it's the wrong coil for the job.
 
When it won't start with the E starter, I know it's time to pull the rope when it seems to spin faster. There is no such thing as too much coil? Could I hook up a VW coil that I have laying around?

Thanks, Dave
 
(quoted from post at 12:02:44 10/25/08)
If battery ignition, maybe you need to check your primary voltage at cranking. A normal 12 volt system drops to 9-10 volts when the engine is cranking - so that's all the coil gets when starting a cold engine. If it's dropping lower, the spark output will also be lower.
Click to expand...

It sounds like this could be it. The kid that had it before me was a light freak. It has more lights and wires running than a redneck's light bar. Could it be something as simple as a ground?

Dave
 
Our old 89 Yamaha 250 starts right up every time with a little boost or the battery charger hooked up. New battery works great for about six months before they get weak and won't start it in the winter anymore.

Dad found the solution to the problem this fall - he went out and bought a new Polaris 500 EFI. :lol:
 
Spect demaris is correct. Motorcycles with low batteries, besides being hard to start used to run poorly. I didn't believe it until it happened to me with Honda 350.
 
(quoted from post at 19:45:09 10/26/08) Spect demaris is correct. Motorcycles with low batteries, besides being hard to start used to run poorly. I didn't believe it until it happened to me with Honda 350.
Click to expand...

Now I'm curious....
Is it possible that the idle problem is electric related and not carb related? If the coil isn't getting full power at idle for whatever reason, could that cause a weak spark and all fuel to not be burned (loading up)? Or, am I being ignorant? Soon as you raise the RPM's, it zooms along like a champ.


Thanks, Dave
 
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