Did Duraspark, keep burning up modules. Help!!

[The_Dealer]

ok heres the deal. i fixed the brake light issue, on 85's the light green wire in the 2 wire duraspark plug goes to the brake lights. so when i wired it into the red/lt blue wire the brake lights were staying lit up with the ignition on. So i got that fixed, and redid my wiring one more time. everything is correct with my wiring. so now i have a couple questions. im on my third duraspark module. they keep burning up. i also went to summit racing and got their brand canister style coil with ballast resister(oil filled).

so my question is, i dont have alot of options right now with mounting for the module and coil. i have one bolt in the coil holder where the cruise controle thingy was, and i have the old ground wire on the mounting bolt. is this enough to ground the coil? also the way its mounted its kind of at a sideways angle(tilted about 45*), is this bad for the coil?

ok, so why would i keep burning up the modules? i didnt have a ballast resister on the stock coil, and i only have one mounting mounting bolt in the module to ground it out. i also have a ground wire from the mounting bolt to the ground strap going to the block.

next the only thing that looks important is a small(about 14g) wire that is in the loom going from the ground cable on the battery to down by the bottom of the motor on the passenger side. theres a single wire plug that went to about 5 different black wires. what should i have this to? also i have a wire going from the coil + to the starter relay I, ive read that that keeps the module from overheating.

can anyone see what i am doing wrong to where im burning up these modules? i can get it to start once and after that it dies and the module is burnt. this is the last one they will let me swap in, after this i have to start buying em. also i didnt have the harness that plugs into the distributor and duraspark box, so i cut the ends off and wired them up with 14g wire. the guy at advance said thats whats killing them. is he right? so far ive spent about half of my avatar pic on trying to get this thing running, please help!

 

[The_Dealer]

Did Duraspark, keep burnin up modules, Help!!

ok heres the deal. i fixed the brake light issue, on 85's the light green wire in the 2 wire duraspark plug goes to the brake lights. so when i wired it into the red/lt blue wire the brake lights were staying lit up with the ignition on. So i got that fixed, and redid my wiring one more time. everything is correct with my wiring. so now i have a couple questions. im on my third duraspark module. they keep burning up. i also went to summit racing and got their brand canister style coil with ballast resister(oil filled).

so my question is, i dont have alot of options right now with mounting for the module and coil. i have one bolt in the coil holder where the cruise controle thingy was, and i have the old ground wire on the mounting bolt. is this enough to ground the coil? also the way its mounted its kind of at a sideways angle(tilted about 45*), is this bad for the coil?

ok, so why would i keep burning up the modules? i didnt have a ballast resister on the stock coil, and i only have one mounting mounting bolt in the module to ground it out. i also have a ground wire from the mounting bolt to the ground strap going to the block.

next the only thing that looks important is a small(about 14g) wire that is in the loom going from the ground cable on the battery to down by the bottom of the motor on the passenger side. theres a single wire plug that went to about 5 different black wires. what should i have this to? also i have a wire going from the coil + to the starter relay I, ive read that that keeps the module from overheating.

can anyone see what i am doing wrong to where im burning up these modules? i can get it to start once and after that it dies and the module is burnt. this is the last one they will let me swap in, after this i have to start buying em. also i didnt have the harness that plugs into the distributor and duraspark box, so i cut the ends off and wired them up with 14g wire. the guy at advance said thats whats killing them. is he right? so far ive spent about half of my avatar pic on trying to get this thing running, please help!

 

[Jason]

Is this one of those modules that require the heat grease?

 

[kimcrwbr1]

First off where were you told to wire hot to the coil to the starter relay. Wiring the module to the dizzy do you have the wires color to color. I didnt wire any separate ground wire the black wire on the dizzy is ground to the module and screw the module to metal the green wire on the module goes to neg on the coil. red on the module and pos for the coil go to ignition on pos. white on the module goes to the start circuit you can run it from the little wire connector on the starter relay.
RECAP
module wires
green to neg on the coil
black to black on dizzy
orange to orange on dizzy
purple to purple on dizzy
red to pos on coil and key on posative or red/lt green on grey 8 wire connector
white to start circuit either the red /lt blue on the two wire connector or start wire on the start solenoid small connector

 

[The_Dealer]

i saw that on a google search.

ok so is one screw mounting the module ok for the time being? i have it into the metal part of the fender, i just dont have my drill bits, i left em in my buddys garage. so i guess ill unhook the wire going to the relay. i have all the disty wires color to color. i guess when i accidentally wired my brake light wire into it it kept burning up modules

 

[kimcrwbr1]

Yea one screw is all I have holding it on and in reality you dont have to have the white wire connected to the module just the red. The white wire just tells the module to retard the timing for a quick start. just wire it like I said put a plug in the coil wire to the dizzy and set it on a good ground. Turn the key on and take a jumper wire from the neg on the coil and quickly touch it to ground it should spark every time you touch it brite blue. If the coil is good put the plug in and hook the wires up it should start

 

[kimcrwbr1]

Have your timing light ready and with the vacuum advance connected to manifold vacuum the tree set it close to 20 until the engine get up to temp. Disconnect the vacuum and plug it then set the timing at 10 btdc and lock it down. check it again if it is good connect the advance then you can adjust the carb. Make sure the choke is all the way open and turn the idle screws out for the highest rpm then turn the curb idle to around 800 rpm and check the needles again. Turn the engine off and check the idle screws count the turns in then back out they should be within 1/2 turn between them. Once you get the carb right then you can adjust the choke when it is cold. First the timing then the carb then the choke.

 

[kimcrwbr1]

Oh yea if your using the aftermarket coil you may need a resistor if it dont run on battery voltage it will burn up rather fast check you stock coil first if it works you can take the other one back I hope.

 

[Twister]

Dont know if it would help, but you could switch to a Gm HEI 4 pin thing lots of other people use.

 

[kimcrwbr1]

Dont know if it would help, but you could switch to a Gm HEI 4 pin thing lots of other people use.

I did some research the duraspark puts out about 50% more power than the hei so you would need to adjust spark gap and heat range of the plugs especially with a aftermarket coil with a ballast resistor.

 

[Twister]

Oh, well all i have read is that the 4 pin connector is a billion times more reliable.

 

[kimcrwbr1]

Yea I am keepin the door open to it but the duraspark seems to work just fine for me besides the conversion is real easy you can use the duraspark dizzy you just need to wire in a ballast resistor for the coil and put a diode in the start circuit. Pretty easy actually and add a good heat sink for the HEI module.

 

[Shran]

OP - You DO have a ballast resistor built into the vehicle's wiring. The purpose of this is to drop the voltage to the positive side of the coil down to 8-9 volts after the vehicle has been started. That said, the last Duraspark swap I did required another resistor because the wiring was a mess and I couldn't find the factory one. The ballast resistor doesn't have anything to do with the ignition module though...they are powered separately...your Duraspark box should have 12v key on power and the coil has to be powered through the resistor or you will burn through coils.

 

[schmoo]

i have never fried a duraspark module in 30 years.
you have it wired wrong. find the circuit diagram
for an old ford (like a 79 pinto) and follow it.
on some of these rigs, the two wire connector at
the firewall by the steering column reverses the two
colors- don't "fix" that.

 

[dangerranger83]

I have my duraspark box mounted to my inner finder, which is dirrectly on metal with two screws. One thing they warn on is leaving your key on the acessory position for to long as it could do this to your durabox. You might have wired it in such a way that it might be doing this but regarless if your key is in the accessory position.