Ignition Coil keeps blowing out.

Hey y'all. For the second time since I bought my E Pup over the summer Ive had to replace the coil. Due to a very badly broken hand, I've only even driven it a few times. What would be causing it to fry? I have to give it quite a bit of gas to not stall when in first and reverse. Going into second and third is smooth like butter though. I'm guessing thats the clutch going. Not sure that would be causing the coil to go though but maybe the high RPM's are doing it? Thank in advance,
LW

Well,,,,,, the points and coil need 6 volts for them to work,,,,,,do you have the ballast resistor in the line that goes to the positive side of the coil that cuts the 12 volts from the ignition switch down to 6 volts?

The stock wiring has a resistor wire in it for the coil,, that being overridden by full twelve volts in the start only like normal. Full voltage to over ride starter voltage drop momentarily while you start and then to a lower voltage while running. The resistor wire is a pink one. If you dont have a matched setup with the coil you may be just burning it up,, If you are using a resistor type coil and are putting a full 14 volts to it all the time it will burn up... 14.2 volts the normal charge voltage in a 12 vlt system.....

vic,,,,

Thanks fellas and sorry for the slow reply as I've been off Island for a couple weeks.

Here's what I'm working. Kind aHard to tell but you can see the BR, Coil and connecting wires.

I good starting point is the resistor, and then trace your wires to and fro. Use the econline wiring diagram, even a falcon one will work and retrace everything. You have a bad ground or two positives going into the hot side somewhere. Only way to fry coils so easy. If you need the diagram I have one but I'd have to send you phone pics of it. --Jimmy

Resistor coils have a resistor built in,, stock non resistor coils use less RUNNING VOLTAGE by using the pink resistor wire that is in the loom for RUN circuit.
The RUNNING less voltage is over ridden at START by running full voltage at START only. The START circuit full voltage is designed to compensate for the high starter voltage usage and voltage drop for easier starting only and NOT on the run circuit.
Check your voltage at RUN and if its reading 12 volts you will continue to burn out the coils as they are NOT designed to run at full voltage.
Wiring from the ignition key will have two supplies. When the key is in the start it overrides the run voltage and then no longer works by your releasing the key from start to run. The only "GROUND" for the coil is the points in the distributor as it momentarily grounds the coil intermittently as the points close each time. If it were shorted or grounded then the coil would never work at all. The resistor wire for the RUN circuit is built into the wiring circuit in the loom and connected under the dash as there is NO RESISTOR other than that wire. Resistor wires are used on MANY vehicles as well as resistors but no RESISTORS per say used in ours.
There should be a RED-GREEN wire from the ignition switch which is connected to the RESISTOR wire which is colored PINK. The PINK wire being the resistor wire itself which connects AGAIN to a RED-GREEN wire which connects to the starting solinoid. At this same terminal on the solinoid there will be ANOTHER wire which should be BROWN. This SINGLE BROWN WIRE connecting to the coil.
In the RUN circuit the lower voltage is supplied from the ignition switch --> to the RED-GREEN which connects to a PINK (resistor wire) to a RED-GREEN wire which --> connects to the starter solinoid-->which then now uses the BROWN wire from the solinoid to the coil. When you hit the START on the ignition switch the solinoid now supplying the full voltage momentarily to the same BROWN wire. This OVER RIDES the run voltage ONLY WHILE YOU ARE STARTING THE MOTOR.
Vic

Vice is correct. Falcons used the resistor, which I had to sort out on a customers car...talk about a headache. Added to that we were putting in a Fitech fuel injection system which needs a solid tach signal. It was the resistor which was causing the lapse...took me 4 days to figure it out...what a disaster..

Name is VIC,,,, nothing to do with VICE,,,,,, LOL
OLD SKOOL ECONOLINE

Hey, thanks fellas and sorry for the very slow reply. I had to get another surgery on that broken hand of mine but I'm recovering. Not just the coil burning out but starter solenoid as well. Put in a new one last week, drove it twice. Just went to fire it up and it slowly tried to roll over before solenoid burned out again.

... and when you say resistor coil, are you referring to the ballast resistor? sorry, this is all new for me.

lets just say there are 2 types of coils, a 6 and a 12 volt type,,,,,,,the 6 volt ones are really 12 volt ones that have the resistor built in,,,,,,,,we dont use those,,,,,,,now what is that ground wire doing on that relay,,,,,,Ford relays send juice out those little terminals to the coil to give the coil 12 volts hotter spark JUST to help get the engine started so you are just probably shorting out the relay,,,,,,normal electrical relays need that terminal to be grounded for the relay to work,,,,but Not the ones used on cars,,,,,,,,,they do 2 different jobs at one time,,,,,,fire up the coil and starter,,,,,,,

which one is the ground? haha sorry, i told you I'm new to all of this!

no problem,,,,,,,thats what we are here for,,,,,,,,you got 4 terminals on that relay,,,,2 big ones on the side,,,,big cables to the battery and starter,,,,,and  2 little ones on the front,,,,,,1 is juice  from the key to turn the relay on to start the engine,,,,,that other one, should have a wire going to the positive side of the coil,,,,there should be a connector with a couple of wires laying around there that go to that terminal,,,,,but stuff gets changed, you got that illegal white wire going from that terminal to a bolt next to it,,,,,,you are just sending 12 volts right to ground everytime you crank the engine,,,,,so get rid of it,,,,that relay is wired wrong,,,,,

Don has it. That I terminal(none of those terminals for that matter) should be connected to ground. The solenoid is grounded through it's body. You should have 2 small terminals, an "I" and an "S". The S is the start wire from the ignition switch, the I wire is the temporary full 12v overide to the coil Vic was refering to. One big terminal goes to battery + and the other side goes to the starter. When you are starting it wired the way you have it you are shorting out both the solenoid and the coil. Im amazed you ever got it to run like that.

Thanks! Here is the current situation with the solenoid I put in just last week and burned out already. Same thoughts? I just got back from parts store with new solenoid and a fresh ballast resistor.

It's impossible to trace the coil wires from the picture, but yes. First remove that white wire and throw it away. Then trace the "I" terminal wire to the coil +. That's where it should go. Then with the key in the run position, engine off, take a voltmeter and measure the DC voltage @ the coil + terminal. Meter on DC, red lead to the coil + terminal, black lead to a good ground. You should get a reading of 5-8v. If that all checks out, you should be good to go.

put in new solenoid minus the white wire, cranked key, immediately saw lots of sparks and solenoid burned out. Back to O'Rileys for my 3rd solenoid this week. Here is coil I've been running.

where are the sparks coming from,,,,,,you sure you got the cable on the output of that relay going ONLY to the starter, not touching ground,,,,,,,test the starter to see if it is grounded out,,,,,,,1st unhook the little wires off the new relay,,,,,,,turn the key on,,,,,does any of those little wires on the coil get hot or you see sparks?   put the little wires back on ,then unhook the cable that is coming from the starter off the relay,,,,,,,turn the key to START,,,,,does the relay  click or you see sparks or wires get hot,,,,,,,,finally touch that starter cable to the other big cable on the relay, the battery cable,,,,,,with the van in NEUTRAL,,,,,see how violent the cable gets before the starter cranks,,,,,,there should be some sparks, but see what you get,,,,,,,you got 3 circuits going on together here,,,,lets see if you can narrow it down,,,,,,,,,it could be a bad starter,,,,,,,surely Pos and Neg are touiching somewhere,,,,,and that aint good,,,,,,

sparks coming from starter solenoid. Honestly I'm not sure whats going where. The very first time i replaced solenoid, I took a picture before removing the bad one and I put everything back how the previous owner had it but that was a few days after buying it so I'm thinking he had the same issues and failed to mention it to me. I have to run out the door or PT on my hand so I'll touch base later when I can get back to it. Thanks y'all!!

Well,,,,,IF,,,, you say the starter did work and you didnt undo the cable off it,,,then you probably have the Negative battery cable from the battery hooked correctly to the ground like to the engine somewhere,,,,,,when do sparks fly,,,,,,,when you turn the key to ON or when you turn the key to START? run the tests,,,,,,just dont hook up the big cable from the starter onto the new relay until you touch that cable to the one on the other side or use a jumper cable hooked from the Positive post on the battery to energize that cable going down to the starter,,,,,see how that starter acts,,,,,it should just start cranking the engine after a small spark,,,,,,get us some clues,,,,,,,,,

to test if the resistor for the coil that  cuts the voltage down to 6 volts so it, and the points dont burn up,,,,,,,,,,,turn the key on,,,,,,,see if you got about 6 volts on that little brown wire on the front of that relay where you HAD that illegal white wire hooked to,,,,,,its just one of the 3 circuits that need testing,,,,,,,,,you got a lot of stuff wrong,,,,,but we can fix it, 1 step at a time,,,,,,,,

Okay,, l tried re reading all and there is no such thing as a ballast resistor used on a 61 to 67 Ford Econoline,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,period....
  Its pretty simple to find out which wire is which with a volt meter.  I explained it fully and will try again... LOL..
  The ignition switch has a START position and a RUN position. 

When you hit the START position it sends out a FULL 12 VOLTS to that connection on the starter solenoid. The solenoid is a HIGH AMPERAGE SWITCH which is needed for a starter as a starter needs full AMPERAGE and would burn out a small wire as the load is too high. SO if you connect a wire from that terminal to any metal like you did with the white wire YOU ARE SHORTING OUT EVERYTHING BACK TO THE IGNITION SWITCH WHEN YOU TRY TO START THE MOTOR....  continue on,,,,,  when you 1st turned the key to the start position you had already turned the key PAST the RUN position with the RUN position sending voltage from the ignition switch to the PINK RESISTOR WIRE THAT IS IN SERIES IN THE LOOM.  (sorry to have to explain it all over again) So,, this means that there is aleady a reduced voltage going to the coil as its being reduced by the resistor wire and then when you hit the START it sends a full voltage to the same wire on the coil. This is how Ford TEMPORARILY SENDS HIGHER VOLTAGE to the coil and its ONLY IN THE START position. As soon as the engine starts and you release the key from the start position it runs because the correct lower voltage is still being sent through the resistor wire to the same terminal on the coil.  

  SO,, if you cannot tell which wire is which because of the usual old cracked wiring,,, its simple,,,, disconect all the wires at the solinoid.  Ground one side of the meter and then hit turn the key to the run position and read the voltage. If the resistor wire is not fried and is working you should read about 6 volts. If there is NO VOLTAGE then hit the start position and it should now read a FULL 12 VOLTS as this is the start wire to the solinoid it will have an extra wire from here to the positive side of the coil for a total of two wires. LIke I said above,,,, one is from the resistor wire and one from the start side with a full 12 volts....  This way you can tell which wire is the correct one as well as also checking the resistor wire voltage if you havent fried it also....

  Vic,,,,,,

You've got to trace all the wires to and from the solenoid and the coil and verify it's like in the diagram Don posted. You should have 2 wires hooked to coil +, one is the run wire from the ignition the other comes from the I terminal on the solenoid. The - terminal on the coil should go to the distributor. The S on the solenoid should go to the start wire from the ignition switch. One big wire from the solenoid to the battery +, the other big wire to the starter. And that's it. Sounds like the PO jacked something up royal.

I give up,,, its exactly like I said way back in the thread, and just said again,,, Same as Seth just said, again, as to how to check the wires, etc, etc,,,,,  
vic---------- off for dinner,,,,