Point Gap/Effects on Operation

Thank you.

Understanding things I used to take for granted has become a hobby of mine as of late. I just want to know the why's.

Later,

Mark

The gap sets the time the coil is sucking current. Current is energy (1/2 LI squared) where L is the inductance of the coil and I is the current running through it.

The longer the points stay closed (narrow gap) the more the current buildup in the coil (exponentially increases). So take that times the number of times you do it per unit time (rpm x # of cyl/2)and you have power transferred.

Part of that is loss in the coil which generates heat (winding resistance and core loss). Heat kills coils....but I never took an ignition coil apart to see just why.....melted solder or melted varnish.

What's funny about heat problems is that usually when the unit cools it goes back to functioning normally..... till it gets hot again.

On the other side, if too open, low current to the coil and to the plug and it may not fire the plug.

So yes it could to answer your question.

(Not being a smarta$$ here but being retired, I have to keep my brain functioning.....one reason for yakin with you guys..... and I like you.)

HTH

Mark

I dont know what open points really do, but I know that points that are too close can take an engine that runs good and shut it down just as if someone turned the fuel off

In either case, the points need to be set to the correct specifications.

Most likely, (if the stalling problem is in fact, spark-related, rather than fuel-related), you have a condensor or coil that is bad and is thermally-sensistive, so the problem shows up as the component heats up from current flowing through it.