Recently, I found a puddle of oil laying in the intake of my SX and was wondering how it got there. It was directly under the coil. I was swapping out my carburetor today and happened to pull the coil wire out of the coil and it was damp with oil. Is there oil in the coil, and if so, could it leak out and still function?

 

Yes to both of your questions, there is oil in the coil case and yes it can eventually leak. Replace it as it will more than likely fail soon.

 

X2 with the above. It will fail very soon.

 

I agree with both of the above posters, BUT:

The oil in the coil is there for cooling purposes, and if you have not lost a lot of oil, the coil may last for some time.

I was a Mopar tech back in the '70's-'80's, and it was VERY common for Mopar coils to leak, but we always took a #2 Phillips screwdriver, and tightened the screw in the tower under the coil wire, and this would usually stop the leak.......but, I'm not sure Delco has the same assembly system???

 

I agree with all above: the coil will work fine without the oil UNTIL it generates a certain amount of heat, and can't properly dissipate it without the help of the oil, at which point it will fail.

I'd toss a spare in the trunk and do the experiment. If it's still in the trunk when the next owner takes possession, then there was no need to waste your time changing it now.
On the other hand, if it does fail, it will be at night in the pouring rain...

- Eric

 

I would change it and keep the old working one as the spare. With new parts and my luck, the old one would fail and when I put the new one in on the side of the road it would be bad.

 

Thanks for confirming my suspicions about the oil, although I didn't know it's purpose. I don't drive the car too much, so I haven't experienced any symptoms as of yet. I do believe I have a spare in my inventory of parts.
This clears up for me the puddle of oil I found laying in the intake. I suppose mounting it horizontally doesn't help the situation any.
Thanks again for the replies.