how safe is it to run a direct power wire from the battery to the coil? ive been having wiring problems and already ripped apart the whole harness to find the problem but no luck. the coil has no power but the car will crank just not start. so i have a wire hooked up to the coil and an alligator clip to the battery and the car runs fine. ive had it like that for a while but the car has sat for a while so battery is dead. is it safe to keep the coile charged like that all the time or will it just kill the battery when i get a new one?

 

If this is an old style coil ignition I would use at least some kind of switch to kill power when the car is off, or try and find a keyed hot wire that is powered whenever the car is on

 

thats a good idea lol i have to get it running again for my sister and i was going to put a switch but i know she will forget to turn it off lol thanks

 

hook it up to the ignition switch, thats the easiest thing to do.

 

Most likely the ballast resistor or the selinoid. Not sure what car your dealing with. but if its a points distributor you will burn it up cause the points will always be hot.

Since you know it runs trace the wire from the coil back to the starter/ignition depending which way it travels. keep it hot and start searching.