Back from a long ride out in the sun now getting ready to visit the grandson.
Buggy started misfiring when hot and then when cool on return all ok until 10 miles or so.   Just knew what this was having been "there before". Sure enough when I managed to egress my buggy and felt the ignition coil just about burn`t my skin off....Remainder of engine ancillaries no more hot than usual despite the intense ambient heat.  The coil was a Pertronix Flamethrower and they are not cheap. This coil has been in use less than a year and it makes two now that have quit.
Have a new cheap Bremi coil as a back up so this is going on the buggy whilst I check out something niggling me.
Old school ignition coils must not be left powered up with the engine off. It may be modern coils that cannot take the heat in the way old school ones and I am going to cut the duff flamethrower apart to see just how they are constructed and to check the "breakdown" as it occurs.
I am also wondering about the Pertronix module and wiring. Need to work out a way of seeing what it`s output voltage & current stability is like under load. Is it possible that the output is no longer what it should be. The module is too small to take apart with what I have and a simple "transistor" test would not be of use.
One thing I won`t be doing is fitting a coil every 12 months. On the look out for an original old school Bosch Blue version. (That means nothing younger than 40 years old  )

Coil failure seems to be a lot of people's first suggestion for ignition failure but I can honestly say in 53 years of owning, driving and repairing vehicles I've never had one coil fail on me.

On my old British cars; BMC, Ford etc and German dailies, Jettas, Golfs etc the original coils have outlasted the cars. On VW 'hobby' cars ignition-wise I've always used genuine (ancient) German made Bosch blue coils and genuine Bosch dissies with either Bosch, Hella or at a push Beru internals.

I slipped up recently by fitting a new condenser from a previously trusted supplier on eBay which packed up after 30 or so miles so dragged a rusty dented old Hella one from the bottom of the tool bag... faultless! 

Modern Bosch 'blue' coils are just cheap third world jobs painted blue, not worth having...stick to old auto jumble specials! 

Modern Bosch 'blue' coils are just cheap third world jobs painted blue, not worth having...stick to old auto jumble specials!

Dave could not agree with you more. I have mentioned before on the forum of just how many ancient tired Beetles I had in my early driving years. They were tired even back then but they were literally all I could afford. I too never had a single coil, contact breaker set, condenser fail in thousands of miles of driving. It is an old bosch blue I am looking for now.
p.s. The distributor is very definately original and has never been apart other than to have the cap removed. The Pertronix was on the donor beetle and I doubt very much that it is the cause.

Spark plugs would be taken out, wire brushed, gapped and put back, points cleaned with a nail file and re-gapped so all good for another 6 months 

I've got this is any good for you? Old and battered, 40+ years old but it'll probably still be around with the cockroaches after they drop the bomb...

Dave,    I will take that Dave. Let me know what I owe you. Postage to DL5 5QB   I should still have your paypal id. Checking now

Just message me your address and I'll send it off.

You could bung a couple of quid in an RNLI or Air Ambulance charity box to cover postage if you like.

A lot of the new coils nowerdays are not filled with oil like the old one's were! I think this makes all the difference. No suddern overheating problems and the oil also gives insulation protection to the windings

Just message me your address and I'll send it off.

You could bung a couple of quid in an RNLI or Air Ambulance charity box to cover postage if you like.

Will do Dave and thank you   

A lot of the new coils nowerdays are not filled with oil like the old one's were! I think this makes all the difference. No suddern overheating problems and the oil also gives insulation protection to the windings

You 100% correct Rob.   Pulled the casing off the duff coil. (Pertronix). The stuff inside is like gum. I stand to be corrected but I am sure it was never oil.  Original Bosch coils had a fairly light oil within them but I suspect the wire was a better grade than the weird stuff in this one of mine. Put the new cheapo coil I had as backup on yesterday morning. Engine fired up instantly and back to smooth running again. Manx David sending me an original Bosch and I bet my last dollar it performs forever.

It's on its way, fingers crossed it'll be okay for you...🤞🤞🤞

Cheers Dave   Really appreciated. Will be in local town centre tomorrow pm and will donate to both charities.

Cheers Dave  Really appreciated. Will be in local town centre tomorrow pm and will donate to both charities.

Just make sure that it works and that the 'Royal Mail lunchtime football team' haven't had their fun with it before parting with a cent! 🤣🤣🤣