Help? What's This Do?

[Guest Darren2010]

This looks like the wires could part company at any time!! Any help where to get a new one? Or can I get rid of it? And how if yes!!

[Guest 2b cruising]

Hi. Don't know what it is.

Just try entering the number on the web and see what it brings.

[Guest 2b cruising]

Nah, looks like a coal warmer for a scuttle.

[agent_zed]

does it have any voltage going to it when the engine is running? or when stopped?

 

could be some kind of suppressor or... government tracking device. You now know too much and some men in black shades are on their way to your house....

Edited June 2, 2015 by agent_zed

[Guest Darren2010]

I think it is some sort of suppressor Thingymabob! The coil goes to it fhen out to the Dissy!! I was wondering if I could get rid of it before the Government Chaps turn up!!!

[agent_zed]

now i could be entirely of the mark but i believe there was a coil setup that uses a lower voltage than 12v. It has some kind of bypass when starting which give it 12v then drops back to the lower voltage when running. This could be a thingy to reduce the voltage for the main running. A multimeter will tell you if thats what it is doing.

 

more knowledgeable people should be along shortly

[sj-bradley]

It's not a ballast resistor is it? I could not find any details with the numbers listed on it.

 

Where in the circuit is it wired?

 

Simon.

[sj-bradley]

It certainly looks like a starting ballast resistor, but I could find no info on the net. The numbers are not very clear. Maybe I typed them in wrong?

 

Simon.

[Longboarder]

Radio supressor. Bin it and fit something more modern if you have a radio.

Numbers are 72 GB-18K842-CB. Like http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Ford-Distributor-Assembly-Radio-Suppression-Capacitor-MK1-Fiesta-OHC-Sierra-/231130409988?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item35d0722c04 here on the bay.

 

Nigel

[Guest Darren2010]

Thanks Nigel. I don't have a radio. Can I just do away with it and it will start and run as normal?

[jaimo]

If its a suppressor then all is does is stop the engine noise coming through radio and speakers which makes is sound like a supercharger whine through speakers up and down with revs so if removed won't affect running of car at all

[Guest chrispine]

Battery voltage drops when cranking, 12v coil is actually 9v so gets battery voltage when cranking then 9v through a ballast resistor when engine is running, I've known people take the resistor out with no problems, see, I remembered something from my apprenticeship, now, where did I put my keys.

 

Chris

[Longboarder]

Yes you can, as long as you have suppressed HT leads from coil to dizzy and dizzy to plugs. IVA should check this as part of the test. Back in the day the practice of fitting unsuppressed copper wire cored leads to improve spark used to cause marked radio and TV interference, not just in the car but to nearby houses, which is no longer permitted.

 

(It's not a ballast resistor. If it had been then it would have been wired between ignition live and the coil positive and there would have been a wire from a fourth terminal (live when cranking) on the starter solenoid and the coil as well. Removing it and the solenoid to coil wire and fitting a 12v coil wired only to ignition live would have been perfectly OK. I wouldn't advise running a low voltage coil that was designed to be ballasted direct from ignition live without its resistor. It would fail early.)

 

Nigel

Edited June 3, 2015 by Longboarder

[agent_zed]

I should have stuck with my first answer

 

My HT leads have it clearly written that they are suppressed so hopefully easy to tell on yours. I would guess most modern ones would be.

 

At my Gfs house every now and then a moped would drive by (not sure if it was the same one each time) but the TV would lose signal as it past as it interfered with it.

[Guest TerryBarry]

There was something like that on my donor.

I thought that it allowed the heated rear window to be used as a radio aerial