93 fox coil problems

My dad has a 93 fox wolfsburg edition. It will not start. He replaced the
coil, and it ran at an idle for a few minutes then cut out. When he
touched the coil it was very hot, and thinks something may have blown it.
Can anyone information give me any information on what could cause this?

the coil in our beloved VW's rarely go bad. is he sure the first one
was bad or was he just guessing?

one way to find out if either is bad is to check primary and secondary
resistance of the coil with an ohmeter.

let us know

To be honest, he was just guessing...it is how he does most of his
troubleshooting. I will check it with my DMM as soon as I can, but it may
be a bit as the car is about a hundred miles away from me.

Let me give you some background on the situation. My father is an old
school mechanic (did a stint as an aircraft mechanic in the marines in the
around '58) and does not understand much about the electronics in newer
cars. By replacement alone, I think he has ruled out any mechanical
failure in the fuel system.

I on the other hand do computer support for a living and tinker with
electronics as a hobby, and have done a few brake jobs and such with his
guidance. He is living on a limited retirement budget, and is way too proud
to accept a gift from his son like paying to have it fixed (or a new car.)
Now some help, I am sure he would love.

Would an obd-2 scanner be any help in diagnosing a start failure? I have
been considering buying one anyway to keep tabs on my own car. If so, what
is a good package to buy? The hardware interface looks very simple, and I
do not mind paying for a good software that would handle the extended codes
on import cars (specifically VW and Honda,) preferable CE based as I am
planning on purhcasing a pocket PC to use for for GPS navigation. I would
also not be averse to picking up a separate scope (maybe an older tektronix
off ebay?) to view any waveforms necesary.

I wouldn't mind purchasing the electronics because I think they would both
have a lasting value to me. I know I am probably jumping ahead of myself
with the scope there but how should one go about diagnosing this situation?

The 93 Fox is not OBD-2 compliant, only vehicles 1996 manufacturer year
and newer.

The more common no start problem on those vehicles is a bad transfer
fuel pump in the tank....

Paul
'89 Jetta