suitable coil?

[lekman]

I am suffering from a sometimes weak spark. Sometimes at boost it misfires and sometimes it doesn't. I use the old stock coil for my 1988 audi and I have tried a couple of them (with the same result I believe)
I have been adding on on the dwell time, now its 3.8 ms, and now I believe that Its a heat problem, the warmer day the more it misfires..
Ill try going back to somewhere 3.2 ms.... Or should I buy a new coil, then, -what to buy? I run MSnS with a distributor and I want a lot of spark.
Any special requirements?

Regards/Lars

[brooin8]

Would you consider a wasted spark set up?

I went to the J/Y and got a Mercedes coil from a 190E, and all the heat issues went away.
Cheep and easy to find.

[lekman]

I have a five cylinder, so wasted spark is not possible... Actually, now Im both happy and in the same time a bit embarrassed. All my "detonation problems" disappeared when I changed the coil. This one is from a Volvo 850.
The misfires I had sounded as detonations when I listened to the engine with a hose in my ear! Now I will slowly add on on timing advance...
It seems that all the things and parts have to be OK.....

Thanks/Lars

ps: I find it hard to know if I have the right dwell settings.............

[brooin8]

I have a Dwell tester.
If you were near San Diego, I could test it for you. I used to have a 240DL.
I could check the Dwell on that coil if it might help some. I am not sure if the 850 uses a similar one or not.
-Andrew

[lekman]

Thank you for the offer, but I live in Sweden, so I have to sort it out on my own. Now I run on 3.6 ms dwell time. I really don't see much difference from different values....
The coil is this modern type, looking more as a transformer than a traditional ignition coil.

Thanks/Lars