F'n wiring problems

[jcueckert13]

well one more in a long string of problems. this morning i had one of the wires burn up in the engine compartment. i have no clue why it fryed but it looked like an origional wire coming out of the block on the drivers side of the firewall. the wire went to two yellow wires, one going to the coil and the other going to the starter. after cutting the wire to stop it from burning the truck would no longer start. any idea what this wire is and how how to avoid having it burn up again?

[cdowns]

do you have an original type coil?
the wire you're talking about is the resistor wire for the ignition circuit, iit is designed to work with original oem coils to provide about 9.5 volts to the coil.

[jcueckert13]

its the origional type of coil nothing is aftermarket

[cdowns]

well what you're going to have to do is run a new wire to the coil you can pull the original out of the junctionbox with needle nose pliers then you'll need a new connector,available at napa etc. and you'll also need a new ignition resistor plug the wire in hook up the resistor and it should start right up

i'd also spend some time checking that you have a good ground for you're engine because that what usually causes a failure like this

[jcueckert13]

why dose this wire split off to go the the starter?

[jay6891]

I believe it was to give your coil a jolt of 12 volt when the starter was ingaged to ease starting. The coil won't last long with 12 volts all the time. If I was to guess the wire to the starter probably shorted out on exhaust manafold.

[ChevLoRay]

Your truck is 34 years old. This is the main reason that wires deteriorate. The plastic insulation is subjected to cold, heat, and moisture. Add to that, the flexing that it must do as you travel down the highways of life.

You CAN repair it, as cited above. It is time to consider replacing your wiring harnesses. The wire you mentioned is part of the ENGINE wiring harness. The others (under the hood) are the LIGHTING harness and the A/C harness, if you have air.

Vendors like GMCPaul, sell new harnesses. I bought mine from LMC, before I ever new about the board. I since bought one from www.wiringharness.com, in California. They build the ones that Early Classic Enterprises sells, but they will sell to individuals. Mine was modified for use with an HEI distributor.

You should consider replacing the harness before some more short out and you have a fire that you can't put out. Oh, keep your comprehensive insurance paid, too. If it does burn, your comp coverage will help replace the wiring or the truck, as needed.

[jcueckert13]

thank you for the help. i will just rig it till i can afford the harness since this isnt my daily driver... actually my truck is only used for stump pulling and other odd jobs around my parents business

[jmanz69]

If you try to "rig" by jumping a 12 Volt wire to your coil, you're going to burn up your coil. I may have a used engine harness that you can have cheap ($5). Then either use the wire you need from it, or just replace the whole thing. Might be a better way then the ol rig-job.

[jcueckert13]

jmanz thanks for the offer but i an just going to replace the one wire. i will end up putting in a new harness in about a month so the one wire will just be temporary

[Tx Firefighter]

You can fix it properly for like 5 bucks. You do not need a resistance wire exactly. You can ask the parts guy for a ballast resistor. It's the same thing as the resistance wire.

Screw the ballast resistor to the firewall. Run you original coil wire that you cut to the ballast resistor, then another wire from the other terminal on the resistor to the coil. Now the resistor is on the firewall where it won't overheat and your coil will be happy because it's only getting 6 volts like it wants.

There is also a yellow wire that runs from the little terminal on the starter to the coil. That gives the coil 12 volts straight whenever you're starting the engine. As soon as you start it and release the key, the juice quits flowing and the coil now just gets 6 volts from the resistor wire.

Those two wires will make your truck happy and you should be out less than 5 bucks total.

[Bowtie67]

Replacing or fixing that one wire isn't going to fix the problem, you still have a problem. This wire can also be replace by just installing an HEI ignition with coil in cap in the truck, then all you need is power to the dizzy. shutting off the power then turning it back on isnt going to fix the original problem.

[jcueckert13]

i figured out why the wire went up. the end that was suppost to be attached to the starter was not connected and it like it has just been hangin there for a while. when i was messing around on the motor earlyer that day i must have moved the harness and the wire came in contact with the starter. after i finish checkin for any other place it could have shorted i will be replacing those three wires.