Swapping back to points/condensor

[Bill_H]

As part of troubleshooting my OMC 3.8L Stern Drive (no spark), I'm going to replace the Ignitor module with points/condensor.<br /><br />Now, don't laugh, but where does the lead from the points connect to? Positive or negative on the coil?<br /><br />I've never owned a car or boat with points, so I'm not sure...

 

[John Carpenter]

Re: Swapping back to points/condensor

Best of my memory...which ain't saying much, the negative wire goes to the coil and the positive lead goes to a resistor "block" located next to the distributor.<br />I would check and make sure that the Ignitor was wired correctly first.

 

[gparadiso]

Re: Swapping back to points/condensor

i have an '82 omc 5.0 and just went back to points, the points have one wire(black) that goes to negative side of coil as opposed to ignitor module which had a red wire to positive side of coil and black wire to negative side. resistor wire on my engine comes from main wire harness to positive side of coil, it cuts voltage down from 12 volts to about 9 or 10 so you don't burn points out.

 

[Bill_H]

Re: Swapping back to points/condensor

Thanks Gems,<br /><br />My Ignitor has 2 wires also, one to each terminal of the coil.<br /><br />I read that you can burn out the Ignitor by leaving the ignition on for more than 30 seconds. Unfortunately, I read that after I did just that trouble shooting some electrical problems.<br /><br />I also get 10V to the positive side of the coil, and have the resistance wire too.

 

[desertmariner]

Re: Swapping back to points/condensor

Hi I just rewired two 1987 5.0's and the distributer lead goes to the neg side of the coil. the two purple leads go to the 'Bat"side (plus)side of the coil. When the engine is running the voltage is reduced because of the smaller purple wire to 6.5 volts This way the points don't burn up.<br />In setting up these two engines I had to go buy a dwell meter. Made me feel really old when i went to the Auto Zones and Discounts stores and they told me they were for the Antique car engines. Most didn't even know what a "dwell angle was". Feels like yesterday i was tearing apart my first engine rebuild. Rich