Today I had a BC 8'er trailer his J-spec 850 from Vancouver Island to the mainland as he had a serious problem with smoke coming from under the hood and from the E-box on the passenger side of the car. The car had gone into LHM when he noticed the smoke. Investigation revealed this:

http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u305/Wuffer44/Coil1.jpg

http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u305/Wuffer44/Coil2.jpg

Which in turn, led to this...

http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u305/Wuffer44/DME1.jpg

http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u305/Wuffer44/DME2.jpg

Amazing what a failed coil can do....
Had him up and running in 20 minutes after replacing the bad coil and DME. Not cheap but a whole lot less expensive than what the Dealer would have charged for diagnosis and repair. May just be worthwhile changing out your coils as a precautionary measure. The car only had 39K kms on it but is still 17 years old. I have replaced the coils on my #1 car as I felt they may have lost something with age. Am glad I did now....

Tom,

I remember a guy from RF get nology ignition wires made for his M70 motor, what options do we have from after market vendors that make upgrade ignition systems, is there a better coil out there for the V12?

Is there a MSD style ignition booster set up?

WOW! very fortunate fellow. Could have been worse (so they say...)

That's more than enough reason to convince me to replace 'em, thanks Tom.

Scary! Seem there more a Preventive Maintenance item, Thanks for sharing Tom.

Another thing to look forward to. Just when I thought I was about there...

..you will NEVER be just about there...

:lol Thanks, Tx