Accel Super Coil FAIL - Any Ideas?

[Racer X]

If I understand the Accel part numbering system, the difference between the 140036 and the 140035 should only be the position of the coil connector, and not the wiring of the connector?

Incorrect, the wiring between the two is different as well. 140035 is the coil you will need to use.

I've heard that Accel coils improve gas mileage, and there is a small increase in performance.

I've also heard that unicorns, Santa Claus and leprechauns are real. Much like these things, the claims about gas mileage and power are fairy tales.

 

[SHOspazz92]

The factory SHO ignition system is FANTASTIC. In fact, on my 400+ HP supercharged SHO I was running a factory coil, factory wires and just a slightly different plug. The system on my current 92 is also factory, sans for aftermarket plug wires (because I had them laying around). There is really no reason to try and improve upon it unless you are making SERIOUS power. Even then, It would still probably hold up fine.

As stated, the ACCEL supercoil is just regarded as junk. There have been multiple failures by many people who have used them with this car, no matter if it was a 89,90,91,92,93...etc V6 SHO. Just find a replacement OEM coil and enjoy the already perfectly fine ignition system.

-Sam

 

[DeepPower]

I'm convinced, I'm returning the Accel coil.

Let see what new platinum plugs and Taylor Vertex 10.4mm wires do instead.

 

[luigisho]

What type of problems? Can you be more specific?

Failures out of the box to earlier than normal failures after install. That is frustrating because when you go to trouble shoot you initially assume the new or newish part is not the problem. Their stuff is fair to poor as far as I have heard over the past 10 or so years. I have not experienced an affordable aftermarket coil, including the newer coil on plug coils on new cars, that meets or exceeds oem replacement parts.

In fact, after replacing tons of parts on several cars over the last 20 years, I have come to believe this is true of most replacement parts.

 

[DeepPower]

Accel's support leaves a lot to be desired. I have been asking them for the specific pinout difference between the 140035 and the 140036. They emailed me a generic & useless "the orientation of the coil is designed around the year make and model of the vehicle". I wanted to send them a reply that said "Duh".

Accel really seems to have a lack of interest and knowledge of their own products. They actually recommended MSD!!! Thanks all for warning me away from them.

 

[luigisho]

I've seen posts where msd employee recommended accel. If you can get oem use that. especially in coils. cheap out on that and stuff goes bad fast. That's why reman alts and starters are *****. low grade electronics and windings and such

 

[DeepPower]

I've seen posts where msd employee recommended accel. If you can get oem use that. especially in coils. cheap out on that and stuff goes bad fast. That's why reman alts and starters are *****. low grade electronics and windings and such

There's nothing wrong with my existing coil. I thought an Accel coil might show me a performance or gas mileage increase. But from what I've read, in general that may only be true on low performance cars where the stock coil wasn't much to begin with.

 

[Black91SHO]

I'm convinced, I'm returning the Accel coil.

Let see what new platinum plugs and Taylor Vertex 10.4mm wires do instead.

I've never seen plantinum plugs or larger wires (Taylor is one I've tried) increase performance in my car.

OEM Coil, Plugs, & Wires
The OEM coil puts out a ton of spark. And the OEM wires are plenty big enough to fully get that spark to the spark plugs. And the Motorcraft double platinum plugs are very good at delivering the spark. The only advantage I've seen to using non-OEM plugs is that the OEMs seem to last a REALLY long time. That seems to be the advantage of the stock double-platinums. Iridium plugs last a while if they're good quality. I think I have Autolite racing plugs in my car right now. They're not that expensive, and they provide a setup that allows the spark to cover more area so it can burn the fuel more efficiently. I saw no noticeable performance increase out of them, so if there was, it was minimal.

Motorcraft (OEM) builds really good, high-performance, durable parts. In my opinion, and partially from experience with trying out crazy stuff with my own SHOs, the only noticeable power increases come from the following:

Noticeable Increases
If you want some noticeable increases, my suggestion would be big-bore butterflies with port-matching, and/or 2" true dual exhaust, and/or stage 2 cams w/ adjustable sprockets (tuned with computer on dyno). And I always start with suspension, actually, because if the car hooks up, it just feels and responds so much better. I may be forgetting some upgrades, but I remember these things having good, noticeable increases. But there's nothing like a supercharger or turbo setup. That's crazy noticeable...and highly addictive.

Good luck!

 

[DeepPower]

I've never seen plantinum plugs or larger wires (Taylor is one I've tried) increase performance in my car.

It does if you haven't changed them in a few years. I'm not increasing performance so much as I'm restoring performance.

 

[Black91SHO]

It does if you haven't changed them in a few years. I'm not increasing performance so much as I'm restoring performance.

lol I actually originally typed what you just said, but I deleted it to thin down the post.

 

[Racer X]

I'm not increasing performance so much as I'm restoring performance.

I wish more people understood this logic.

Bravo.

 

[DeepPower]

It does if you haven't changed them in a few years. I'm not increasing performance so much as I'm restoring performance.

lol I actually originally typed what you just said, but I deleted it to thin down the post.

LOL! Great minds, etc. :sun:

 

[Black91SHO]

I wish more people understood this logic.

Bravo.

I second that.

 

[adidas_kn]

I've got 2 of these coils in a box. Wonder if they are any good. Any way to test other then swapping it out?

 

[Black91SHO]

Even if they're good, the trend is that they usually don't last long.

 

[loboreno]

I had that coil .. took a while but two of the wires are switched. I worked great for 5 years. Then quit. In our books that give firing order wrong, that is the order they used! If I remember right. Anyways went back to stock. Didn't notice any difference

 

[turbo79]

I've never seen platinum plugs or larger wires (Taylor is one I've tried) increase performance in my car.

The OEM coil puts out a ton of spark.

OEM Coil, yes! I put mine back on, replacing Accel, smoothed out right away, no more flat spot during part-throttle acceleration, no more little 'burp' while accelerating.

And the Motorcraft double platinum plugs are very good at delivering the spark. The only advantage I've seen to using non-OEM plugs is that the OEMs seem to last a REALLY long time.

Plugs: some years ago I picked up - on SHOTIMES - that some brands of aftermarket plugs for the SHO V6 are a tiny bit too long for the plug boots to seat properly because they are not made to ISO specs. It seems that Denso PK16PR-L11 plugs are identical in (ISO) spec to the original rebranded Autolite plugs made by Denso for SHOs as OEM.

 

[Black91SHO]

Plugs: some years ago I picked up - on SHOTIMES - that some brands of aftermarket plugs for the SHO V6 are a tiny bit too long for the plug boots to seat properly because they are not made to ISO specs. It seems that Denso PK16PR-L11 plugs are identical in (ISO) spec to the original rebranded Autolite plugs made by Denso for SHOs as OEM.

I'd forgotten that. Yeah, when I do use aftermarket plugs, it's the Autolites. I think that's what I have on now--the racing plugs with a special angled gap for more spark. So far so good. No problems with them. And, like you said, the boots seal well.