1997 GS, Coil Failures

[wkevinm]

Hi, I have a 1997 GS and have been having issues with 3 coil failures.

Initial failure was after a problem of overheating due to a cooling line coming off of exhaust. Shortly after fixing this problem I had a failure of the original coil. Coil was replaced with an aftermarket coil, which lasted only a couple of runs. When this coil was checked the secondary side was only slightly out of spec so I thought it was possibly my MPEM. Replaced original MPEM with an aftermarket MPEM from e-bay and after recieving it still nothing. A friend checked out the new MPEM on another machine and found it was dead (don't buy cheap MPEM). Same friend checked out my original MPEM, and it was OK and he gave me back my original MPEM and a coil out of another machine, this with my original MPEM started right up and ran well. The machine was taken out of the water and the next day when put back into the water again will not start, I have not checked coil yet but symptoms are the same. I have another new coil but do not want to install until after I explore reasons for coil failures. Any suggestions?

 

[mikidymac]

Over heating didn’t hurt the coil.
It’s not common or anything common that would cause coils to go bad.

Try removing the spark plug caps, trimming 1/4” off the coil wires and reinstalling the caps. They actually screw onto the wires.

 

[POPPS]

When you say coil failure,,,you do not have spark?,,,Do a compression check,,,maybe you squeeked a piston when the cooling line came off,