Pulling hair out

65electra

Member
I have a 65 buick electra convertable with a nail head 401. Was not getting a spark to the coil . Ran a jumper wire to the resistor (12 volt side) to the battery car started right up . Can I leave that wire there or do I need to look for other problem . Thank you in advance for your help ,
 
I have a 65 buick electra convertable with a nail head 401. Was not getting a spark to the coil . Ran a jumper wire to the resistor (12 volt side) to the battery car started right up . Can I leave that wire there or do I need to look for other problem . Thank you in advance for your help ,

I don't think it's a good idea to leave it that way. The coil will fry pretty quickly. Look for a problem in the wire from the coil (+ side) to the starter solenoid (should be a yellow wire according to the diagram.) It could also be a problem in the connection from the ignition switch to the battery (red wire from the switch). The resistor wire is pink from the coil (+ side) and spliced into the WOPCT resistor wire to the block in the firewall, then pink to the ignition switch. Do not replace this wire unless you replace the coil with the proper (8 ohm) ballast resistor. (Which is effectively what you've done by wiring directly to the battery. That delivers a constant 12 - 14 volts directly to the coil which it only needs for starting. Normal operation is stepped down by the resistor wire to about 9v.)
 
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