Hooking up Battery wrong.

[canada karl]

Seems like I'm getting careless in my old age. Further to post about forgeting the coolant on start up. I just remembered that I also had the Po and Neg hooked up wrong for a few seconds when I installed the battery. Would that fry the points and condensor? That sure would explain the rough running. Where is the best place to buy points and condensor for an E12 these days?

[528i-1981]

Did you turn the key with the battery poles reversed? Without doing so, the ignition circuit remains open so polarity wouldn't matter. Even if closed, I don't think a reversed polarity would permanently damage the coil, points or condenser. I believe that only electronics with diodes are likely to be damaged. The L-Jet ECU has diodes, but I believe it has protection against reversed polarity.

[canada karl]

Here's an update. I pulled the distributor cap and lo and behold the the cap contacts are black with carbon and the rotor dosn't look too good either. Going to install new cap rotor,points,condensor. I'll pull the plugs too. My problem is I have 5 older cars and must have missed the BMW at tune up time.
I'll post an update. Thanks to those who responded.

[Mike W.]

My problem is I have 5 older cars and must have missed the BMW at tune up time.

I don't have a collection like that anymore, but it's why Iog everything in a spreadsheet for the car. I still forget, but at least I've got a record of when things were done.

[canada karl]

Good idea Mike. I'm going to keep a record of maintenance. Do you just have the one E12 now?

[Mike W.]

Good idea Mike. I'm going to keep a record of maintenance. Do you just have the one E12 now?

Yes I do, I sold the '80 a couple of months ago. Nice kid bought it, I need to do a post on the sale.