Testing an ignition coil
 

I have a no spark situation on my B2500 3.0 liter '96. Long story short, I'm testing the coil(s) - I picked up a used one in a junkyard while I was buying a used battery.

I set the coil up with a simple set of wires going to a battery and the coil wire going to a spark plug. When I touch the positive wire to the battery and release, I can not get a spark unless I close the spark plug gap to about the thickness of paper. Even at that, it's a weak spark.

Unless these new fangled coils (I was raised on '60s and '70s cars) do something I don't know about, a nice big spark should jump across that gap even when it is the stock setting of 0.35. - this is a plug for my '71 GTO.

Both of the ignition coils I have do this. The secondary coil resistance of both is is about 10k Ohms. Primary coils are very low - like 1.5 Ohms, just like it should be.