hutchtoo wrote:
> Tegger's FAQs has references to dwell meters - e.g for testing the coil. I
> have never heard of a dwell meter before and they aren't widely available
> from what I can tell..
>
> Wondering if my digital electric multimeter can do this diagnostic...?
> Starting Problems
> ... is this: Connect a dwell meter to the negative coil terminal and to
> ground.
> Crank the engine: No dwell, bad igniter; Dwell but no spark, bad coil. ...
> www.tegger.com/hondafaq/startproblems.html

unless it's the automotive variety, probably not. but don't worry about
it. if your car has electronic ignition, it's irrelevant because
"dwell" is all determined by the ecu or ignition module. all that
matters is that the igniter switches, that the coil fires, and that the
plugs spark.

use of the word "dwell" is a throwback to the old days of contact
breakers where the contacts had to "dwell" for long enough to energize
the coil. too little dwell, not enough spark energy, especially at high
rpm's. too much, coil ran too hot.