Car caught fire

[Joe Wright]

So today my coil caught fire. Car conked out and the coil and ht lead to it are melted along with the little wire from the distributor cap. No idea what that's called.
Anybody got any ideas why this would happen? Obviously I need a new coil, king lead and whatever the wire running from the saucer shaped thing attached to the dizzy is called.
Thanks
Joe

[johnnydog]

Hi Joe,
Sounds like you may have had a lucky escape there - could have been a lot worse.
What type of coil was fitted, or has the coil been replaced recently? It should be a 12v coil on a Mk1, but 6v coils were used on Mk2's fitted with an external ballast resistor, or in later models this was built into the wiring. 12v and 6v coils look very similar, but usually 6v coils have sticker on the body stating 'use only with a 'certain' ohm ballast resistor', but if old, this label quite often has come off.
The saucer shaped thing - do you mean the vacuum advance unit on the side of the distibutor? If so, that has a thin black pipe running from it along the fuel line round the front of the cylinder head to the take off on the carbs, which purely assists the vacuum from the carbs to get to the vacuum advance unit on the distributor to alter the degrees of ignition advance relative to the driving conditions. Sometime Mk1s have been modified to the Mk2 system which goes straight over the rocker cover. There is no reason why that should have melted, although easily replaced, as is the small cable from the coil to the white block plug of the low tension lead on the side of the distributor by the dizzy cap. That in turn goes to the points. I would be looking at replacing the condenser as well if there has been any form of electrical short that has caused the problem with the coil and associated wiring.
Sounds like something on the positive side has earthed causing the melted wiring if you are happy the coil isn't the cause.
Elektrikery is a bit of a dark art to me, so hopefully someone else may be able to offer further suggestions about the issue....

[Joe Wright]

Thanks. I'm not sure what was at fault to be honest. Ill have search about for some wire parts that have been melted, a new coil and new leads. It is at my friend's now who is a mechanic so hopefully he can get to the bottom of it. To be honest although its something I could have done without im glad the whole car didn't go up and I wasn't mown down as it was in the live lane on the a1m.

[Joe Wright]

And sorry yes the vacuum advance thin black pipe was a casualty along with some other wires around the distributor and coil.

[Joe Wright]

Going to replace all the ignition system. Struggling to find what the engine heat shield is called or where to get it from too if anyone has any ideas. That caught fire too.
Thanks
Joe

[johnnydog]

Sorry Joe, not exactly sure what you mean by engine heat shield?
Where is it positioned, and what does it fasten to?
Or do you have a photo which may help identify it?

[Joe Wright]

The carpet type thing attached to the underside of the bonnet.

[johnnydog]

Both of my Mk1s don't have that fitted to the underside of the bonnet, and they are both very genuine original cars - one especially. Maybe it was fitted to early cars, or fitted by a previous owner for some reason?
I don't think there is an urgent need to replace it - if you come across one fair enough, otherwise I wouldnt worry about not having one.

[Joe Wright]

Okay great. Thankyou. I'll just replace all the ignition parts for now then.
Thanks
Joe

[johnnydog]

Thinking about it, was the PI the only model of the Mk1 that may have had an insulation pad on the underside of the bonnet? Not at home to check in the parts book, but I'm sure I'll be corrected if it's not the case...