Packard Forum Index » Pre-War (1899-1942)

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I replaced my NAPA oil filled coil on my '53 after it leaked out it's oil and made the ignition do all kinds of crazy things. I've had an epoxy filled one on now for most of this driving season and it's good so far, as it should be, it's still new.

Most all coils for older applications have the primary terminals marked + and -. Be sure to determine the ground polarity of your car, and connect the coil primary as appropriate. The wire from the coil to the distributor should connect to the primary terminal on the coil that corresponds to the car's ground polarity. The coil will work either way, but it will work better if the polarity is correct.

While screwing around with the coils, I found the armored cable from the ignition is pretty degraded. So I took a piece of plastic tubing and shoved it as far in as it would go, put a new ring connector on and she seems to be wanting to fire up better.
So we went for a drive, about 2 hours in, she started over heating and pushing coolant out of the radiator cap. The overflow tube is open and clear. So, we limped it home. While the RPMs are up, she cooled down a smidge, at stops the temp shot back up and overflowed. Back at the shop we opened the radiator cap (knowing it's not a pressurized system), and it shot out like a geyser. So, it now looks like I have much larger fish to fry. I will be draining and flushing the system, checking the water pump, and the dist. tube. It was a huge surprise to open the radiator and have a geyser. Temps ran about 190 (on the gauge) then shot to 215-220 when she was boiled over. Oh, I also have to check and see if the previous owner put a thermostat in it and remove it.

I want to say thank you to the members here, you have all been very helpful to guy who is still learning about these fantastic vehicles.

No thermostat, so that's good. How are you guys removing the lower radiator hose. It's not even 6 inches long and crammed down in there between the oil cooler and the radiator. Would it be easier to unbolt the water inlet and flush through that?