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Re: A funny thing happened on the way.....
Tesla List wrote:
>
> Original Poster: CTCDW-at-aol-dot-com
>
> Hello, all!
>
> A rather strange thing happened to my coil yesterday, and I'm trying to
> figure it out. I re-installed the cap (plastic capacitors) on the coil, and
> by the time I put the coil in the car, and got to my destination, there was a
> fair amount of oil on the cap, and the base of the coil. This may have been
> something in the back of the car, although I couldn't find anything, but the
> cap does not LOOK like it is leaking....I brought the coil back home, and set
> up to see if the cap was ok. here's where the odd behavior began.
> The coil ran very well for a few seconds, after which time it began to
> "sputter" and the normal 38-42" arcs were reduced to perhaps 10". this lasted
> only for a few seconds, and the coil went back to normal. It went in and out
> of the "sputter" mode.
>
> The other thing was that the character of the arcs is now quite different.
> The usual purple arcs are now very nearly orange, with contacting streamer
> being the normal white.
>
> I guess the question is: IF the cap lost oil, are these symptoms possible?
> I cleaned the spark gap faces, thinking that it may be dirty/oxidized/pitted
> gap faces, but no change in coil behavior...Any thoughts are appreciated!
>
> Thanks!
>
> Chris Walton
Chris,
Since your cap is relatively new, and has now apparently sprung a leak,
I'd give the folks at Plastic Caps a call, tell them about the symptoms,
and ask them if you should return it for repair/replacement. If your cap
is now low on oil, you may start to get internal corona, and the cap may
fail prematurely. Sounds like the case may be cracked or have a
defective seal. Not clear why this should cause a difference in the
color of your streamers though...
-- Bert --