Ballast / ignition coil connections

[Alan73Charger]

Hey Guys,

I know I should of taken pictures before I started but didn't and now with my no spark issues second guessing my connections at the new coil.  I've included a picture that should show everything pretty well.  Things to note - the drivers side of the ballast has just the two wires, one going to bottom and a black one going to the top and bottom connection.  It has the open end. The passenger side has a couple green ones on bottom, one that goes to that part right under the resistor that I'm not sure what it is.  And a couple orange/red ones on top, which one of those appears to go to the positive coil but its hard to tell since they all sorta disappear into the wiring harness.  I was sure this was correct till I looked at the one on page 259 of the service manual.  It shows the resistor flipped with the open notch on the passenger side.  Of course adding to my confusion I have a 4 pin EIC and the service manual shows a 5 pin.

To the coil...  the one that bothers me the most is a black wire that runs directly to and through the firewall.  It's connected to negative side on coil.  The positive side has one of the before mentioned orange/red wires connected to it.  The only other wire connected is to the negative side.  Black with some yellow in it.  Hard to tell where it goes but is similar to one of the wires connecting to the pick up coil wire.  Speaking of that pick up coil, can it be replaced without pulling the distributor??

If you guys could chime in and verify these connections I could cross one thing off my list.  I was getting spark from the coil with the spark tester but not from the wire at the distributor end.  New wires will be here tomorrow.  Thanks for your time.

[nascarxx29]

https://www.google.com/search?redir_esc=&client=tablet-android-sprint-us&hl=en-US&safe=images&oe=utf-8&q=mymopar&source=android-browser-suggest&qsubts=1444362112837#hl=en-US&q=72+mopar+electronic+ignition+diagram

[Pete in NH]

Hi Alan,

From your photo it looks like the ballast resistor is in correctly. The notch side should have the two connectors with the short jumper wire. That notch is there so with the original connector it will only go on one side.

Don't worry about a 4 or 5 pin control box the 4 pin will work in place of a 5 pin, just not the other way around.

Chrysler had an Ignition 1 and Ignition 2 wiring scheme that bypassed the ballast resistor when cranking the engine. Your wiring appears original and is likely correct.

The pick up coil in the distributor can be removed in the car but on a 318 it's in a very difficult position to reach and I would rather pull the distributor than risk dropping a screw down into the distributor. Just make sure the rotor position is the same when you re-install the distributor.

[Alan73Charger]

https://www.google.com/search?redir_esc=&client=tablet-android-sprint-us&hl=en-US&safe=images&oe=utf-8&q=mymopar&source=android-browser-suggest&qsubts=1444362112837#hl=en-US&q=72+mopar+electronic+ignition+diagram

Mines a 73 but I get the point, search 73 wiring diagrams and figure it out!!  That one wire going to the negative was my main concern but now I'm pretty sure its coming from the aftermarket tach not the ignition so I think all is good on the wiring. 

[Alan73Charger]

Hi Alan,

From your photo it looks like the ballast resistor is in correctly. The notch side should have the two connectors with the short jumper wire. That notch is there so with the original connector it will only go on one side.

Don't worry about a 4 or 5 pin control box the 4 pin will work in place of a 5 pin, just not the other way around.

Chrysler had an Ignition 1 and Ignition 2 wiring scheme that bypassed the ballast resistor when cranking the engine. Your wiring appears original and is likely correct.

The pick up coil in the distributor can be removed in the car but on a 318 it's in a very difficult position to reach and I would rather pull the distributor than risk dropping a screw down into the distributor. Just make sure the rotor position is the same when you re-install the distributor.

Hey thanks Pete.  I did notice that some pics just have the ballast flipped but still have the same plug with that short jumper wire in the notch side.  I guess its just a preference rather u want that on the drivers or passenger side.  That pick up coil looked easy to get to but I think I'm just seeing the adjustment screw and theres a lot more to it to get it out.  I'm not even sure at this point if I need one, was just wondering if I had to pull the distributor to replace it.  That sounds like the right thing to do.  Have a good weekend!