Electronic Distributor

[Nevyn]

I finally found an electronic distributor for me 1987 Pathfinder. The problem I see though is the wiring coming off it, 2 wires, 1 red 1 blue...with the old points dizzy it was 2 wires from the wiring harness that went to the dizzy, 1 of them cliped onto the wire coming from a capacitor that was screwed to the side of the dizzy body....

Can anyone help me with how these wires connect up?

Cheers

Nev

[Slartibartfast]

The US Pathfinders were all computer controlled, so you might not find many people on here who've worked with the mechanism you're dealing with, at least not on a Pathy. That said, an electronic dizzy with just two wires sounds like the Pertronix my dad and I put in our snowplow to replace the original points/condenser. This might give you some idea of what you're working with, assuming it's a similar system. I would guess that red goes to coil +, blue goes to coil -, and you don't need the condenser anymore, but I'd want to verify that before hooking stuff up and turning the key. I fried the first Pertronix on the plow by hooking it up backwards.

[Nevyn]

Sounds good and very similar to what I was told this arvo....the condenser you mention the the ceramic fuse you find beside the coil?

[Slartibartfast]

The condenser is the capacitor you saw on the side of the dizzy. It suppresses arcing to make the points last longer. When you replace points/condenser you do them as a set, because apparently the points often fail because the condenser quit. The ceramic thing is probably the ballast resistor. When you're starting the engine, it's bypassed to compensate for the battery voltage sagging under the load of the starter, and it reduces current through the points and coil the rest of the time. I think it's supposed to keep the coil from burning out if you leave the ignition on for a while with the engine off and the points happen to be closed. We rigged the plow with no ballast resistor (because the stock one was pretty knackered) and it runs great, but the one time we somehow left it with the key on, it did indeed run down the battery and fry the coil... so probably not a bad idea to keep that piece around!

[Nevyn]

After reading the link you included I am thinking the same about keeping the resistor.....

Thanks for all your help and explanations

[Slartibartfast]

No worries, hopefully the new dizzy works out for you.

[Nevyn]

Thanks Slartibartfast for the help. I ended up taking the resistor out and just wired the dizzy straight to the coil.....all working fine :-)