While riding home yesterday - and fortunately only about 1/4 mile from home - my 83' SHovel began to miss and then the fire went out completely. I smelled a plastic, hot burning smell (almost like the smell of wire insulation burning) but after pushing it home and digging around I could not find any wires burned but I did see the the plastic substance they pour into the front of the coil to seal it had gotten hot and begun to melt as it was soft and beginning to liquify and run down the coil. Any ideas as to why the coil overheated? All help will be apprecitated!

 

Coil overheats for one of two reasons: 1. Internally it's self destructing, 2. Too much load. Since your's is already melting, I'd say that it's already bad and will need to be replaced. While doing that, need to check your electrical system (battery, current draw).

 

Thanks Ultra for the reply - as of now the electrical system is ok as I recently discovered several bad connections to include the 30 amp breaker off the battery which was bad and was probably causing most of my previous electrical problems. Also my battery is new. About the only thing left is as you said - internal failure or too much load. If to much load where could the additional load be coming from? Is it possible for these coils to short out internally? I guess I'm looking for the exact reason as to why it would suddenly overheat to the point of melting.

 

Yes, coils can fail internally. In the process of coverting AC into DC combined with the normal load - causes internal heat and possible self-destruction.