i have a dead distributor. i dont know which to change out. which part usually dies out when the distributor goes out? the ignitor or the coil??

why im asking is because i dont want to buy a piece which will tell me that the other piece is the failed one. is there a way to test?

 

get yourself a helms or borrow one. i believe you test for voltage in both of them. i cant remember off the top of my head

 

You can test resistance across the 2 circuits of the coil, but that doesn't tell you if either one is shorting to the case. So if the resistance measures bad, you know the coil is bad. If the resistance measures good, then maybe it's still bad...

The Helm book says something about checking ignitors, but I don't remember how.