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Once again my eagerness outweighs my hands on knowledge...
Tonight's victim is my U Code 442. 455 with distributor converted to Ignitor HEI five years ago. It sat for 18 months - I put new Wide Ovals on it and have been driving it all weekend and today with no issues.
Tonight i decided to get my Rally Pack tach working again. I traced the tan wire and it was electrical taped on the end and tucked in near the coil, presumably from a re-cam and detail project done at the same time as the HEI conversion. I connected the tan wire to the negative post, and then it cranked and cranked but will not fire. Took the tan wire off, tightened everything up and still nothing. Cranks and cranks and that's it. I did a shot of starting fluid just in case it may have not been getting fuel, but the same result. Per my test light, the coil has strong power to the positive side and weaker power to the negative post. I swapped out the coil to distributor wire from my SX to test, and still nothing.
What did I mess up? Thanks in advance for troubleshooting ideas.
If that's the coil your using, you do not have an HEI, you probably have a Pertronix points replacement. Where is the red wire coming from the distributor connected?
Yes, it is a Pertronix Ignitor setup. I'll go downstairs shortly and trace to/from for each wire. It's hooked up just like it has been since 2015. I only added the tan tach wire to the negative post then took it back off when it wouldn't start and tightened everything up. Thanks.
It appears that the pink wire to + goes to the distributor (drops under the front), the black wire from the positive goes to the connector under the relay on the firewall behind the distributor, and the black wire on the - appears to also come from under the distributor (for the Pertronix, I believe). I'm a far better musician than mechanic but I'm always trying to learn. Thanks again.
Terry
Your Pertronix is not wired right. See figure 3 on the right, think of the ballast resistor as the resistance black wire. The red wire (from the distributor) needs a full 12v and needs to go to the IGN terminal at the fuse box. The black resistance wire needs to be in a terminal but at least cut it back and re-strip it before winding it around the coil+ post. Your missing the resistance bypass wire that runs from the starter R terminal to the coil+. It provides a full 12v to the coil during start only. You need to see where that tan wire runs, the stock wire should have metal shielding on it and a fuse.
Wow, great to know. Let me dig into this tomorrow after work, but I swear it's been wired like this all along and worked until something caused it to fail this evening. Maybe that was a mixed blessing. Quick question: would this incorrect wiring cause the battery to overcharge? That's been an issue on a couple longer drives since the conversion. Had been thinking it may be the voltage regulator or the alternator but didn't get to look into that yet. Really appreciate your insights.
Terry
Eric, we finally got this fixed. We checked the wiring, the coil and more and determined that there was no spark. Pulled out the Pertronix setup from the distributor and the module looked like someone had put out a cigar on the side of it. New Ignitor module had it up and running again in no tine Thanks for your input on this.
Terry
