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Hey all,
Had a question hopefully someone can assist. I seen that my ignition coil is the two wires to the coil and then the third wire to the capacitor, I believe is the name of that piece. Anyway, I was thinking of buying a new wire and harness that groups all three wires and plugs directly into the ignition coil. Does anyone have any experience or could foresee any issues that would come up? And I’m not looking to splice wires, I’m looking for a direct replacement that would replace the entire original wire. Thank you.
Hey OTown. I'd welcome you to the forum, but you've been here six days already!
Sorry you haven't gotten an answer yet, and I don't necessarily have one either. But I'll try.
First, what year is your truck? What model and what engine? This may not matter, but it might very well.
Can you post up a picture of what you have now, and why you need to change it out? Are you saying that your wires are connected independently to the coil terminals without any kind of "strain relief" or other contraption? If so, then yeah, I'd guess it's been messed with in the past.
For years Ford used what we called the "horseshoe connector" that integrated those wires you speak of, and you simply slipped it over the top of the coil. Those coils have a very Ford specific terminal though, which was shaped basically like a "T" on each side of the coil. The main connector just slid on and the wire contact points just slipped over the two terminals. Does your coil have thread-on terminals with nuts holding the wires? If so, then someone changed out to a non-Ford type coil and either tossed the old horseshoe connector, or it was trashed anyway and they needed a coil right away.
I don't know when they stopped using that design (started in about '74-ish or so), but that's one of the reasons I asked what year your truck is.
And yes, it's a capacitor by definition, but this particular one (as well as a similar one on the older alternator regulators) is more commonly referred to as a "radio noise suppressor" (or "thingy" as I like to refer to them) and they look just like an old points distributor's "condenser' too. In fact, all three are identical in manufacturer, and are rated in micro-farads whatever those are. They just do different things in their different capacities. So you were basically on the money with that.
Anyway, hope you got some action at your end and have found what you need. But I'm not sure anyone has a replacement harness anymore. Perhaps Scott Drake, Dennis Carpenter, Jeff's Bronco Graveyard or similar might have one, but the only ones I know of that are commonly available are more of a universal style that won't have the specific connector at the opposite end. They look like this: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Dorman-Cond...xaAhTf&vxp=mtr
So you'd have to do what you said you don't want to, and that's splicing in the new to the old.
The originals were often gray or white, and aftermarket black, but the function is the same. Minus the noise suppressor wire it looks like. Might have to find another brand.
Thank you for the response. I have a 94 F150 5.8L XLT. I do no have a picture at this time, but yes to answer you, the wires just slide right on to the ignition coil. There is no adapater. I figured something was off, just because I used to own a 92 F150 and I remember there being a harness on the ignition coil. So on this, it’s the OE style ignition coil, just no harness. If they sell just the horseshoe piece that I could snap the wires into, that would be the fix.
For a '94 would it still have the canister coil? I don't think so now knowing what year you have. The engine should be fully EFI and computer controlled, and should have a squarish e-core coil instead. I bet they still sell the connector though.
I'll pop the hood on a neighbor's F150 parked next to my house and snap a quick pic of his coil. Then you can compare it to what you have.
Yess that looks correct. So for whatever reason, mine does not have the actual connector, like I said the wires literally are just slide right on to the parts inside the ignition coil. So, if I use that connector and do the splice. Do I attach the 2 green wires on that connector to the left wire and then the red connector on the right wire. Then the connector to the radio silencer I can just leave that alone?
Maybe the old one overheated and melted. That or the PO just messed up when servicing it at some point and busted it up too much to re-use. Or perhaps even used a non-stock coil.
Either way, I would not expect to find an entire plug-n-play harness that runs all the way up to some other connector. Probably doesn't exist in the easy-to-source world.
May not even exist because the OE's and Ford in particular do not like to use more connectors than they need to. More failure points and more money. So we get "pigtails" to use.
But at least it looks easy enough to splice right there at the coil. And yes, match the colors and positions. If the Green color doesn't match yours (like it would not on the one in my pic) then just go by position.
You "can" leave the noise suppressor thingy off, but I would take the extra couple of minutes to put it back unless you don't ever listen to the radio. Especially AM stations. Give it a try I suppose, the engine will run without the noise suppressor capacitor.
But if you notice more radio interference, connect it back up.
For reference, the wire on the driver's side is the 12v when the key is in RUN power. The left wire is the trigger wire from the distributor, or in your case the computer/ECM.
The third wire for the capacitor is spliced into the 12v power circuit, which is where the noise for the radio would emanate.
Sorry, I think I misspoke.
Your capacitor wire doesn't even need to come off. Just leave it as is, since it's not physically attached to the coil.
The second Green wire in the replacement is probably for a tachometer feed in non-computer controlled vehicles.
I knew something looked funky with 2-wires on the wrong side. Likely that's the reason.
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