TR,

I did the TR upgrade on my Jeep this weekend and I can't get it to work. I have the 258, and I did the cap and rotor and got a coil from a newer F-150(from a junkyard). The problem is I don't have any spark at the coil. So here are my questions..

1) is there anyway to check to see if the coil is working with the a volt-meter? I checked with the ohm meter and it gave me rsistance through the coil, but that means nothing to me


2) I only have one red wire coming into the coil, and I can't find your diagram anywere to see where the other hot wire comes from
I wired the old coil back in to see if it was the new coil but no spark on the old one either

I guess I jsut need it troubleshooted. No need to tie up the board you can email me directly at

[email protected]



I have no fear of falling, I just hate hitting the ground

Have you checked your ground on the starter solenoid?

<font color=red>[img]/wwwthreads_images/icons/cool.gif[/img] '78 CJ7 sold, 94 Cherokee 2WD 6[img]/wwwthreads_images/icons/cool.gif[/img]</font color=red>

I assume you are working on the 83 CJ-7, inline 6 stated in your bio...
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*I did the TR upgrade on my Jeep this weekend and I can't get it to work. I have the 258, and I did the cap and rotor and got a coil from a newer F-150(from a junkyard).

The E-core coil I presume... You didn't tell me what coil you got from the donor...
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*The problem is I don't have any spark at the coil. So here are my questions..*

*1) is there anyway to check to see if the coil is working with the a volt-meter? I checked with the ohm meter and it gave me rsistance through the coil, but that means nothing to me*

There is no way to tell for POSITIVE that a coil is going to work, but what I do is check the primary side (low voltage) for 0.45 Ohms resistance.
If you have somewhere in that neighborhood, the coil should work.

You may also want to check the connector. I've seen lots of "Piece Of Sh*t Coils" that turned out to be the connector...
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*2) I only have one red wire coming into the coil, and I can't find your diagram anywere to see where the other hot wire comes from I wired the old coil back in to see if it was the new coil but no spark on the old one either*

Sounds like more than a coil problem...
Did you do any work on the wiring by any chance, or unplug any of the module or distributor while you were doing the upgrade?

Have you checked the coil wire it's self?
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*I guess I just need it troubleshooted. No need to tie up the board you can email me directly at
[email protected]*

"Tieing up the board" is how a lot of people learn to trouble shoot problems...
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You really didn't give me enough information to go with here...
Did you use the Cap adaptor, Distributor cap, & Rotor from a '82 Ford pickup?
If you don't use the correct rotor, the ignition isn't going to fire correctly.

Did you get the rotor installed correctly?

Are you getting ground to the module?
(Black wire coming from module if you want to splice in a proper ground)

Have you Checked and cleaned the connectors to the coil, the module and the distributor?
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You should check for...
With the starter cable unhooked from the solenoid (leave battery cable hooked up..)
Turn the key to the 'Start' position, and check for 12 volts at the 'I' terminal on the starter solenoid (small terminal, one of two.)
With the key in the 'Start' position, check for voltage at the positive side of the coil, and the white wire of the module.

Let the key go back to 'Run'.
Check to see if you find voltage (between 8 and 12) at the positive side of the coil.
With the key in the 'Run' position, see if you have voltage at the Red wire at the module.

Get back to me with the results...
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See if this is the diagram you need...
This is for a '78-'79, but the basics are the same...







So many cats, so few recipes...

Thanks TR,
I will try all you suggested and let you know how it turns out. The coil is the E-core coil, but my buddy(which already has the TR upgrade) was along with me at the junkyard and he just said "yep, that's the coil you want" so I assumed he knew what he was talking about since his runs fine. The cap, rotor, and adapter are from an 83 F-150, bought new. I'm going to check the ground and make sure it's grounded well. Also, could I have fried the coil by reversing the hot wire? I may have crossed them, but not sure. I just bought the Jeep last week and this is the first I've messed with it, so I personally haven't done any other wire modifications.

thanks again

Jud



I have no fear of falling, I just hate hitting the ground

Reversing polarity to the coil is common... Don't sweat it, besides, you always have your stock coil as a back up...
Doesn't hurt anything but your pride as far as I know...

My guess is the new harness didn't come with the resistor wire, (Check the paperwork that came with it.).
The coil is fine if you can run it off the battery and key switch start circuit.

My guess is you are missing the resistor wire between the 'Run' circuit (Red wire at module) and the coil positive.
Use a resistor wire for this. If you still have your old wiring harness, you can strip out the old positive coil wire back to the splice and reuse that resistor wire again, or you can buy a new one at Auto Zone. (Ignition resistor, '79 Ford F-150 Pick up with 302 V-8 engine) or any 1.35 Ohms resistor will work.

(I personally never run a resistor of any kind, but some people swear by them...)

So many cats, so few recipes...

TR,

well I finally got it, I did reverse the polarity and it fried my ignition module and the magnetic pick-up in the distributor. I replaces them both and now it's running again. I have a few more questions now that it is running;
1) Do I need to time it differently now?
2) I know I was suppose to gap the plugs wider than normal, what is the actual gap length and will I be able to play around with it to "fine tune" it?
3)How much difference is the premium coil compared to the standard coil from the F-150 V-8? Is it a performance difference or is it a reliability issue?

I think that covers it for now, thanks, it's good to have the ol' girl running again

Jud


I have no fear of falling, I just hate hitting the ground

The E-core coil is a big step up in performance. (both canister and E-core are reliable)

Plug gap at about 0.045" now that you have the large cap, good coil and plug wires.