Duraspark II problems...HELP!!!

Discussion in 'Technical' started by brackenan, Nov 26, 2007.

  1. brackenan

    brackenan Mr. Geek

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    Ok, I got my 302 installed in my car...finally. Everythings hooked up. I asked my brother how to install the Duraspark II ignition system. He told me how to hook it up and I did it how he said. Well, I went to start the motor... nothin. Didn't even fart. Checked for gas, definitely getting gas, definitely has clear exhaust, but I checked to see if it was getting spark...nothin:mad:. So my question is, which wires hook up where on the plug from the switched positive? Also, which is the best wire from the ignition to do so?:huh: Please help me!! I'm so excited to hear this motor run, and I'm completely stumped on this one. :(

    Thanks,
     
  2. Jamie Miles

    Jamie Miles the road warrior

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    Orange, Black, and Purple wires from the module should match the same color wires on the distributor. The Green wire goes to the negative side of the coil. The red wire from the module and positive side of the coil should be on a switched power source. The white wire can stay disconnected. Should run.
     
  3. brackenan

    brackenan Mr. Geek

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    okay, I hooked it up like you said, Jamie. Again nothing. So i thought, wait, maybe it's the ignition? So I hooked to up direct to the battery and lo and behold it actually farted!! The timing was a bit off, but was able to get it to run for a few seconds.

    Anyone know which wire on the firewall is a switched power source from the ignition?
     
  4. brackenan

    brackenan Mr. Geek

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    I don't think its so much the ignition now as I think there's too much branching off it for my radio, tach, etc. Hell, I'm actually thinking about doing the redneck thing and put in a toggle switch!!:rofl2:
     
  5. Jamie Miles

    Jamie Miles the road warrior

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    There should be a harness in the engine bay that has a plug similar to one like you would use for trailer lights, and has three wires out of it it, it will be located somewhere in the general area of where the drivers side shock tower brace bolts to the cowl. One of those three wires is what originally went to the coil, and is a switched power source. You will need a test light or volt meter to figure out which wire it is (all I can tell you is that the wire will be red, but there may be more then one red wire there). What I did (before I had a MSD 6AL box) was get a universal relay and wire it so that the coil and ignition module pulled power directly from the battery, and that original coil wire was used to turn the relay on.
     
    Last edited: Nov 26, 2007
  6. ratio411

    ratio411 Member

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    On my 72, there were 2 wires coming off the firewall that were red with light green stripes. They were run to the harness plug as 2 wires, but came out the other side of the plug as one wire.
    One of them gets hot with the key on, the other does absolutely nothing that I can see. I just abandon the one that did nothing and used the one with heat to power the red wire on the box.
    The white wire on the box should go to the wire on the start solenoid that only gets hot when the starter is energized. Goes to the post that is marked "S".
    You don't need to run the wire all the way over there though. With a test light and a helper, you can find that wire in the harness by the firewall.
    Hooking that wire makes starting easier.

    At the distributor, you cannot just hook up the harness and not check the wires.
    The placement of the wires in the harness changed from year to year, so you must make sure the wire colors line up. If the distributor and harness definately came from the same donor car, you are safe... but a quick look doesn't hurt.

    The same keyed hot on the firewall should feed the positive side of the coil, and green wire from the box feeds the negative.

    If you find the car starting then dying right away, make sure you don't have the start hot wire mixed up with the key hot wire. I did that once... couldn't keep the car running for more than 3 seconds at a time.;) Once the start hot goes cold, car dies.

    Also, are you using a DS coil?
    Points coil is a different and much weaker animal.
    They are not interchangeable.
     
  7. ratio411

    ratio411 Member

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    There are these wires on a 72:

    Red with white stripe= water temp sender
    White with red stripe= oil press sender
    Red with green stripe (2)= one is key hot, other does nothing (used the functional one for my box hot)
    brown= haven't figured that out, does nothing that I can find
    solid red= key hot (used this for my coil hot)

    I checked the voltage of the key hots and they all matched my battery voltage. So if there are resistor wires, they are apparently in the engine harness, or after the firewall.

    Edit:
    Want to make it clear that I used NONE of the engine harness this weekend when doing my DS install. I made a complete new engine harness because the original was badly damaged from a carb fire.
    There is said to be a resistor wire that lowers voltage in there somewhere. So if you reuse your engine harness, you may not get full voltage to your coil or box. Check it out with a volt meter and run new wire to the firewall (at least for the key hots) if this is the case.
     
    Last edited: Nov 26, 2007
  8. brackenan

    brackenan Mr. Geek

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    ratio411, thanks for the guidance, the motor started right up and ran like a top! Had to adjust the timing a bit, then ran great! Thanks guys for your advice and guidance!

    Thanks again,
     
  9. 71gold

    71gold Frank Cooper Supporting Member

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    Andrew,
    sounds like you are comming along good with your car...:thumbs2:

    how is the ...stock driveshaft...working with the...AOD..?

    ...:Handshake
     
  10. Jamie Miles

    Jamie Miles the road warrior

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    I know what the wires do, I just didn't remember what the exact colors were for each thing since it's been quite a while since I have used any of that harness, took it off my car a long time ago. I used a relay because none of the wires on my '72 had 12 volts, only one had power, and it was 8.45 volts. Never was any other harness on my car, just that one hanging down that had 4 wires going in one side and three coming out the other.
     
  11. ratio411

    ratio411 Member

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    I know that you know your stuff Jamie...;)
    Just putting it out there while it was fresh in my mind, hoping to help someone...

    A week from now, I won't even remember what I did.
    Gotta get the info from me while it's fresh!:D
     
  12. Octavio

    Octavio Member

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    I have some little trouble as you, I have a brown cable with a light brown stripe , I think must be connected to the regulator but I don`t know where, the problem is that if I let this cable unconnected, the battery becomes discharged but if I connect the wire to the 12v. the engine continues runnig even if I quit the key, when I connect the wire to 12v, something like a relay sounds in the electronic ignition module, may you help me???

    Octavio
    ofsalcido@gmail.com
     

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