Ignition Nightmare

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Sep 8, 2007 | 12:29 PM

300ForMe

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Ignition Nightmare

Hi Folks. We've got a '78 F-150 with a 400M in it. Guy wanted a high performance ignition system. Gave us a Mallory distrbutor, coils, and wires. Called Mallory, hooked it up the way the said to, now nothing works. No starter, no headlights, no clearance lights, no gauges, no dash lights. Well, almost nothing. The radio works, and when you turn on the headlights, the "fasten belts" buzzer sounds (???). The fine folks at Mallory said to deep six the electronic ignition module, as it is not needed with their distributor. I, as well as my fine fellow mechanics, are beginning to think that the ignition module is rather important and can't be removed. Does anyone know what role the module plays? Would it affect the headlight circuit? Could it cause goofy things to happen? The schematics we have are not too good and we can't figure out what the heck is going on. Also, there is absolutely no current or voltage drain on the battery, so I know nothing is shorting out. Don't have the orignial distributor, so I can't put it back to see what's what (fella tossed it because he now had a "high performance" one. Idiot. NEVER throw orignial parts away, because then stuff like this happens and we can't go back to square one!). Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

Sep 8, 2007 | 01:18 PM

blue68f100

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From: Piney Woods of East Texas

I would down load the instruction from Mallory's web site and re check you wiring. In most cases the after market do give you a higher energy system. I run a MSD system so I can't help you on the wiring. And yes in some cases you do not need the factory system.

Make sure your Battery is fully charged. Re-check all connections. If your starter is not working check your wiring on the solenoid, normally near the battery. If you have a 4 post you may have the 2 small wires reversed.

Sep 8, 2007 | 01:23 PM

300ForMe

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I did down load the instructions and we re-checked everything and it all looks OK. The battery is brand new and checks out as good. Never touched the solenoid wiring. The only wiring that got touched was the wires going into and out of the ignition module.

Sep 8, 2007 | 01:44 PM

blue68f100

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From: Piney Woods of East Texas

Check all of your fuses, there should be a fuse for the ignition system.

Does the mallory wiring show re-using the factory module?

Sep 8, 2007 | 01:55 PM

300ForMe

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Fuses are good. Fuse links are good, too. The mallory unit does not show re-wiring with the factory module, and the tech people at Mallory said the distributor won't work with the factory module. I can't find anyone who can explain EXACTLY how the ignition module works. If I knew that, I could probably figure out how to rewire the Mallory unit into it.

Sep 8, 2007 | 02:23 PM

blue68f100

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From: Piney Woods of East Texas

My MSD has it's own module. Dist, Coil, ign module. Requires all 3 for it to work. So if you only have dist & coil, it may wire up like a point system.

If you not using the factory unit, means that you must pick up the power feeding it and route it to the new mallory module.

What are your mallery parts # so I can take a peak at the hookup.

Sep 12, 2007 | 12:18 PM

300ForMe

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HI blue68f100. Sorry, the computer has been offline (internet down). Anyway, did some poking around yesterday and found a ground strap that was broken. Needless to say, it fixed the problem. Thanks for you help though!