tobjo

With the key in the on position (not start position), should my meter read 12 (actually 11.6) volts on both poles of the coil???

Thanks in advance,

cepx111

The positive side of the coil will be battery voltage ( 12v) at all times with the key in the run and start position, and the negative side will be pulsed battery voltage, for instance when your cranking the engine over, the negative side should blink on and off as the distibutor makes and breaks its signal to the negative side of the coil which fires the secondary (coil wire) if the negative pole is not blinking or staying on all the time While cranking you have a bad module or pickup in the distributor.
Charles.

mcracecars

If you are reading from both terminals of the coil to ground then yes you will see voltage on both terminals.