Posted by David Sherman on Saturday, November 20, 2004 at 3:02AM :
In Reply to: exploded coil posted by Dylan on Friday, November 19, 2004 at 10:59PM :
This is why "modern" vehicles have an "accessory" position, which turns on everything but the ignition. Old rigs didn't have that since you wouldn't typically have a radio in a truck. Then, when you leave the ignition on and the engine off, it's a crap shoot whether the points happen to be closed or not and whether the coil/resistor overheats. The best solution is put in a modern 4-position "OFF/ACC/IGN/START" switch. If you like the stock 3-position switch but you want to leave something powered up with the ignition off, you could add a separate switch, perhaps a small toggle hidden discretely under the dash to control the radio or whatever. Otherwise, the lesson is don't leave the ignition on with the engine not running on any vehicle.
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