Real Time Help Needed: Picture of Ignition Coil (1 Viewer)

[DieselFJ]

Sorry about the quality of the first photo. The camera focused on the bolt, rather than the connector, but you can still see what I wanted you to see.

First photo is the back (harness side) of the coil/ignitor connector. One large B/Y wire that runs to the coil + and one small B/Y wire that runs to the ignitor.

The second photo shows the coil side of the connector and the two W/B ground wires that also exit the harness at that point. I don't have the bullet connector shown in your photo, but a set-up like that is typically for a condensor. My truck is early '78, perhaps yours is later and has the condensor connection. My '78 wiring diagram does show a condensor, with a B/Y wire.

Third photo is of the starter connections. Battery + cable, of course, with the quick-disconnect-lugged B/Y wire going to the QD lug on the starter, and the 1-pole connector B/W wire going to the connector on the starter.

Your ignitor is a later model, but that should be OK. I don't know exactly what model without looking up the part number. It doesn't look like your resistor is even hooked up. It looks like you have everything you need to hook your ignition up properly.

So, the Cruiser is an earily '78, but it looks like from the part number the igniter/coil is from a late 8/80 thru 84 with that being said, would the resistor be necessary, or is it integrated into the later model igniter/coils? My wiring diagram does show the resistor in the Canadian models, but the part number only shows the igniter/coil as a N.American part. Could it, or would it hurt to have the resistor inline if the igniter/coil has it integrated?

 

[Pin_Head]

Connect one end of the ballast resistor to the + lug of the coil.
Connect the large B/Y wire to the other end of the resistor.
Connect the power wire for the ignitor to the same end of the resistor as the large B/Y. (I'm not sure what color this is.)
Connect the small B/Y wire from the starter solenoid to the + side of the coil.
Connect ignitor wire to - side of coil. (not sure what color this is)
Connect ignitor to distributor.
Done.

On 79 and up cruisers, the resistor is built in to the large B/Y power wire. The wire says "resistor" on it.

 

[DieselFJ]

Connect one end of the ballast resistor to the + lug of the coil.
Connect the large B/Y wire to the other end of the resistor.
Connect the power wire for the ignitor to the same end of the resistor as the large B/Y. (I'm not sure what color this is.)
Connect the small B/Y wire from the starter solenoid to the + side of the coil.
Connect ignitor wire to - side of coil. (not sure what color this is)
Connect ignitor to distributor.
Done.

On 79 and up cruisers, the resistor is built in to the large B/Y power wire. The wire says "resistor" on it.

Perfect, thanks since it is a early 78 I will assume it is not a resistor wire and run everything though the resistor. I am off to wire, thanks again for the help, I will post the results as soon as I try it out.

 

[DieselFJ]

Connect one end of the ballast resistor to the + lug of the coil.
Connect the large B/Y wire to the other end of the resistor.
Connect the power wire for the ignitor to the same end of the resistor as the large B/Y. (I'm not sure what color this is.)
Connect the small B/Y wire from the starter solenoid to the + side of the coil.
Connect ignitor wire to - side of coil. (not sure what color this is)
Connect ignitor to distributor.
Done.

On 79 and up cruisers, the resistor is built in to the large B/Y power wire. The wire says "resistor" on it.

So, I only have two wires coming from the igniter/coil assembly, one large b/y that goes to the + terminal of the coil, and a small black wire that goes to the igniter. Because of this I am not sure how to follow your instructions since

"Connect the power wire for the ignitor to the same end of the resistor as the large B/Y. (I'm not sure what color this is.)"

I don't have this as an option since the only two commectors from thec assembly are the two I stated above.

"Connect the small B/Y wire from the starter solenoid to the + side of the coil."

Unless I tie the small B/Y and the large B/Y together the only option is to have the small B/Y wire tied to the wire that enters the igniter.

I found the wiring diagram in my Haynes manual that matches the 5 wires from the igniter and the two inputs, but I am not getting spark from the coil.

Still trying to figure it out. I am going to get my meter out to test the coil, does anyone have any info on testing the igniter/coil combo?

What I did was wire the large B/Y from the wiring harness to one side of the resistor, then went from the other side of the resistor to the + terminal of the coil. The next thing I did was wire the small B/Y wire from the harness to the wire that entered the igniter. I tested and I didn't get any spark from the coil. I didn't have it bolted down to the body, and didn't have the - battery cable hooked to the body, so this might have caused an issue and I will go and test that now.

Thanks

 

[Pighead]

Anyone????

Funny how the guys without stars are the most impatient.

 

[DieselFJ]

Funny how the guys without stars are the most impatient.

Just trying to help a friend get his daily driver back on the road, it's tough when a person has to borrow a car cause his Cruiser is down.

 

[Shark56]

You shouldn't need that resistor with that ignitor. You should just be able to hook up both B/Y to one of the connectors off the ignitor. I think its the yellow one. The ignitor grounds through the mount so if its not mounted you need to ground it. Did you hook up the connectors to your starter?

 

[Pin_Head]

It is this large B/Y wire that connects to the resistor and the little one connects to the + side of the coil.

The ignitor has to have a power wire that connects to the large B/Y wire above and a wire to the coil - post and wires to the distributor.

It is the coil that determines whether you need a resistor or not.

 

[DieselFJ]

So, got it wired up last night and she fired up. Because the Igniter/Coil was from a 8/80 and later 40 I decided not to use the resistor since both the wiring diagram and the responses here on mud reaffirmed the idea that it is based on coil year. I then verified the igniter/coil unit was well grounded to the fender, and that the fender had the ground bolt securely bolted to it. Once completed I wired the unit based on the cut wires from the coil. The large wire from the coil matched up with the large wire from the loom, and the small wire from the coil to the small wire from the loom. Again, this matched the consensus of the group as well as the wiring diagram.

It was late and I didn't get a picture, but I will get one this afternoon so someone else has this for the future.

Thanks again for all your help in getting this 55 back on the road. Like always i'll do what I can to pay it forward.

Thanks
Scott

 

[spotcruiser]

My '78 has never had a ballast resistor, although the w/d shows one. I've never had a need to take the wiring harness apart, but I may do just that to see if one exists in the harness. I'll measure coil resistances also.

 

[DieselFJ]

My '78 has never had a ballast resistor, although the w/d shows one. I've never had a need to take the wiring harness apart, but I may do just that to see if one exists in the harness. I'll measure coil resistances also.

So in my case I believe the previous owner added the ballast resistor when he removed the semi-electronic ignition system and replaced it with a 60's model distributor, matching coil, and ballast resistor. As Pinhead stated Toyota used wire resistors, but they are marked as such. I noticed the w/d did show the resistor until 8/80 after that it only showed the resistor on Canadian models. I would like to compare the coil resistance between a pre 8/80 and a post 8/80 coil to see what the difference is.

 

[FJ40Jim]

Corrections & clarifications

Thread dredge!
There's some contradictions & assumptions in the posts above. To clear up some things:

78-80 trucks w/ electronic ignition have a ballast (resistor) wire that feeds power to the coil.

78-80 trucks have a separate ignition power wire that feeds full 12V to the iginitor.

78 trucks still use the starter w/ ballast bypass wire off the solenoid. This wire is hot when the starter is cranking and supplies full battery voltage to the coil.

79-80 trucks have a ballast bypass function built in to the emissions computer. When cranking signal hits pin 2, a solid state connection is made inside the computer to apply full battery power to the coil via pin 1.
This means that 79-later trucks can be upgraded to the GR starter with no ill effects.

81-later ignition systems with the finned aluminum ignitor do not use a ballast resistor. There is a single power connector to supply full 12V to the ignitor & coil. The ignitor has variable dwell to maximize spark power at all RPM without the need of a ballast resistor.

The Tach output wire on 79-80 ignitor only supplies tach signal to pin 4 on emission computer.
Tach wire on 81-later goes to emission computer and (where equipped) dash tachometer.

HTH

 

[Xpnsv72fj]

Glad I found this thread after looking through countless wire diagrams! I now believe I have mine hooked up correctly!