Are coils worth upgrading if the bike runs fine?

[Corkus]

For no reason I'm feeling a bad coil maybe about to appear. Or maybe I want to upgrade the stock coils just because it is the next thing I can think of. I don't know anything about coils except what I read on this forum and it seems there are better coils out there but the perfect plug and play replacement coil hasn't been found yet.

How do you know when you have a bad coil? Or how do you know your coils are good? Do coils degrade slowly and show signs they are getting weak? Is there a way to test for a weak coil? Are 10 year old stock coils with 19,000 miles worth upgrading if the bike runs fine?

Advice is appreciated as always... Thanks.

[MartDude]

As my grandfather used to say - don't trouble trouble, till trouble troubles you. Might be worth investing in some spares, though, just in case

[ktmrider]

A spark is a spark! As long as a stock coil is working properly there is no difference in performance. I did alot of drag racing over the years and looking for ever 1/10th of a second. We did dyno testing and proved beyond a doubt that we could make the same HP with a "GOOD properly setup" points distributor and stock Mopar coil as we could with a very expensive digital multi spark YADA YADA YADA top shelf ignition system.


A good spark is a good spark.... End of story and I wish I could have all the money I wasted on ignition systems...LOL

[deefred]

It´s worth checking that all coils are functioning as it is not always a code is set when a coil dies.

I disconnect the low tension connector from a coil and then start the engine.
If the engine still runs on both cylinders in means the other coil on the same cylinder you disconnected one coil from is functioning.
Repeat this for all coils.

[meanstrk]

As my grandfather used to say - don't trouble trouble, till trouble troubles you. Might be worth investing in some spares, though, just in case

This

"Don't fix it till it's broke" is my motto, but then, I do like to keep spares on hand. You know, just in case. It's like having insurance. Just having those parts laying around means you will most likely never need em!