A tale of two coils by Robert E.

Today (Saturday) as I was returning from the Boyce Farmers Market in the morning I was in the middle of the Burton bridge when the engine in the Jag cut-out. There was no sputtering or stumbling, it just died as if I'd turned off the ignition.  I hit the clutch and let her coast down the downside of the grade still doing a pretty good clip.  Because of how she'd suddenly died I assumed it was ignition.  As the Burton road approached I quickly considered my options and checking for traffic, swung right on the off ramp.  There was almost no traffic and still doing a good 60KPH I made the decision to try for Ian's garage.  We coasted the several hundred metres slowing as we went and I cut the corner into Ian's parking lot at a running pace.  A gentle jab at the brakes brought us to a halt and I lifted the bonnet for a quick inspection.
The ignition appeared sound with no cracks in the cap and the rotor still in one piece.  I checked the connections and tried to start her with no luck.  It was still early and I knew that Ian wouldn't be there for hours yet.  I grabbed my shopping bag and headed towards home in the rain.  Luckily, a friend from work who lives not far from me was heading home just as I started walking and gave me a lift. Two lucky occurrences in one day was too much to ask.  I called Ian to explain why baby was in his parking lot and arranged to meet him there once he was at work.  Later in the morning I peddled my bicycle to his place with a spare ignition system, some tools and a multi-meter in my backpack. Once there, it only took a moment to diagnose the problem as a non-functional coil.  Coils are stupid simple in construction and NEVER fail catastrophically.  They may leak oil and eventually overheat and fail but you get plenty of warning that this rare event is occuring.  I had replaced my old and beat-up but still functional NAME BRAND coil in the spring with a cheap generic unit just because.  Ian mentioned that he's never seen a coil fail.  Not having a spare on me, I took one from the boot of an old XJ6 that Ian and I had purchased a couple of years ago and started to gut for parts.  This unit functioned properly and baby started right up. Once home I ordered a Bosch unit.
      The lesson?....use good quality parts.  Generic stuff is cheap for a reason.
- Bob