Red wire green wire.
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Post Fiend
Joined: Jan 2003
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From: Montana Territory
Red wire green wire.
I couldn't really title this thread and get the point across and still keep my blood pressure down.
I have a 79 F150. It has a red wire, 12V switched + and a green/yellow wire that does something. Rght now the two are connected to my mallory unilite distributor and my coil. They worked fine for a couple of weeks. Tonight I go to hit the key and it starts and runs for a couple seconds and dies. I couldn't get my buddy to hold on to a spark plug wire so I hooked up my timing light. It didn't flash, so I've got no spark. What I really need to know is, can these two wires be hooked to my distributor and coil in series. They work that way, but I'm afraid I've either burned up the module or coil. I was too frustrated to check them with a voltmeter. I looked at another truck with a similar setup, only it had a CDI unit and it had a ceramic resistor in one of the wires. I'm not an electrical genius so its probably a bad connection somewhere, but if I'm going to fight with this thing, I'd like it done right. I just have a generic Accel super coil with the terminals instead of the goofy horseshoe clip the duraspark system uses.
I have a 79 F150. It has a red wire, 12V switched + and a green/yellow wire that does something. Rght now the two are connected to my mallory unilite distributor and my coil. They worked fine for a couple of weeks. Tonight I go to hit the key and it starts and runs for a couple seconds and dies. I couldn't get my buddy to hold on to a spark plug wire so I hooked up my timing light. It didn't flash, so I've got no spark. What I really need to know is, can these two wires be hooked to my distributor and coil in series. They work that way, but I'm afraid I've either burned up the module or coil. I was too frustrated to check them with a voltmeter. I looked at another truck with a similar setup, only it had a CDI unit and it had a ceramic resistor in one of the wires. I'm not an electrical genius so its probably a bad connection somewhere, but if I'm going to fight with this thing, I'd like it done right. I just have a generic Accel super coil with the terminals instead of the goofy horseshoe clip the duraspark system uses.
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Joined: Jan 2001
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From: Virginia
Here is a diagram of the original set-up.
http://www.autozone.com/images/cds/g...3d800ce988.gif
Look in the lower middle of the diagram at the coil. The red/green is the hot wire from the keyswitch, and the green/yellow is the trigger for the coil negative.
Since you have an aftermarket system now, I am not sure what's going on. Does the unilite trigger the coil by itself? In other words it has a module inside and the factory one on the fender is not used? If that is the case, then you need the + 12 to the coil + terminal(make sure you have voltage there with the key on) and you also need 12 volts to power the module inside the distributor.
Then you need another wire from the distributor to the negative of the coil. This is what fires the coil.
If you have voltage at the coil + with the key on, then take the meter or testlight and hook the + lead to the negative of the coil, and hook the negative lead to the engine block. Crank the engine. The testlight should blink or the meter needle should flicker back and forth. This tells you the module is turning the coil on and off.
http://www.autozone.com/images/cds/g...3d800ce988.gif
Look in the lower middle of the diagram at the coil. The red/green is the hot wire from the keyswitch, and the green/yellow is the trigger for the coil negative.
Since you have an aftermarket system now, I am not sure what's going on. Does the unilite trigger the coil by itself? In other words it has a module inside and the factory one on the fender is not used? If that is the case, then you need the + 12 to the coil + terminal(make sure you have voltage there with the key on) and you also need 12 volts to power the module inside the distributor.
Then you need another wire from the distributor to the negative of the coil. This is what fires the coil.
If you have voltage at the coil + with the key on, then take the meter or testlight and hook the + lead to the negative of the coil, and hook the negative lead to the engine block. Crank the engine. The testlight should blink or the meter needle should flicker back and forth. This tells you the module is turning the coil on and off.
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Post Fiend
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 10,323
Likes: 2
From: Montana Territory
The unilite is completely self contained. I have the two factory wires, one red, one green/yellow. The red wire I have running to the distributor, coil and the electric choke on the carb. The green/yellow I have hooked up to the distributor, tach and coil. The distributor only has a red, green and brown wire. The brown is a ground wire. The coil still has the factory resistor bracket mounted to it, and I have that connected to the + terminal.
I went and checked out my connections and one was pretty loose so I crimped it again and sealed the heat shrink covers. I couldn't test it because the battery was drawn down so I put it on the charger.
I went and checked out my connections and one was pretty loose so I crimped it again and sealed the heat shrink covers. I couldn't test it because the battery was drawn down so I put it on the charger.
Thread Starter
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Post Fiend
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 10,323
Likes: 2
From: Montana Territory
Well, I got frustrated and pulled the distributor out. The roll pin holding the gear had sheared off and thats what was causing my problems. I threw some extra roll pins in the glove box.
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