Piece of **** Mallory Distributor

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dustermaniac

dustermaniac

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So I bought a "remanufactured" Mallory distributor off of E Bay. Just arrived on Thursday and I attempted to install it yesterday/ today. Well this is a nice looking distributor and that's about all it is. I could NOT get this POS to spark no matter what I tried. Connected the Red lead to Coil Positive, the Green to Coil negative, and the Brown to ground. NO Spark. Finally after trying to figure out what the hell was wrong with this piece of **** I just ended up pulling it out and reinstalling the stock distributor. Car fired right up with the stock distributor. So now I am out $200.00 for the distributor, and another $80.00 for the wire set I needed to use on this piece of ****. Oh well, another wasted experience. Not sure if the seller will warranty it.
 
Are you sure you were right on the wire colors?
 
I even went as far as pulling up the PDF on this distributor that lists Red to Coil Positive, Brown to Ground, and Green to Coil Negative. Still no spark.
 
Before you go calling something a "piece of ****" ya might wanna actually ask some intelligent questions:

MY QUESTIONS are:

WHERE did you get the information on wiring the thing?

WHAT model is this distributor?

A clip from a quick Gargol:

http://www.malloryperformance.com/pdf/1214M.pdf

and a snippet from these destructions:

25s3jn5.jpg
 
dustermaniac said:
I even went as far as pulling up the PDF on this distributor that lists Red to Coil Positive, Brown to Ground, and Green to Coil Negative. Still no spark.
Click to expand...

OK so I posted late. I could'ha swore I read you grounded the green
 
67Dart273 said:
Before you go calling something a "piece of ****" ya might wanna actually ask some intelligent questions:

MY QUESTIONS are:

WHERE did you get the information on wiring the thing?

WHAT model is this distributor?

A clip from a quick Gargol:

http://www.malloryperformance.com/pdf/1214M.pdf

and a snippet from these destructions:

25s3jn5.jpg
Click to expand...


Ok, Well I did wire this up according to Mallory's website and downloaded the PDF file and still no spark. As for me calling this a piece of ****, Well I have EVERY right to do so since I am now out almost $300.00 for a part that does not work properly. I did try to wire this up using the ballast resistor method also and still NO Spark!!! Strange thing though, as soon as I pulled this out and put back in my old distributor. I turned the key and the car fired right over. So process of deduction I assumed is that the distributor is at fault.
 
dustermaniac said:
So I bought a "remanufactured" Mallory distributor off of E Bay. Just arrived on Thursday and I attempted to install it yesterday/ today. Well this is a nice looking distributor and that's about all it is. I could NOT get this POS to spark no matter what I tried. Connected the Red lead to Coil Positive, the Green to Coil negative, and the Brown to ground. NO Spark. Finally after trying to figure out what the hell was wrong with this piece of **** I just ended up pulling it out and reinstalling the stock distributor. Car fired right up with the stock distributor. So now I am out $200.00 for the distributor, and another $80.00 for the wire set I needed to use on this piece of ****. Oh well, another wasted experience. Not sure if the seller will warranty it.
Click to expand...


When you said "****" you hit the nail on the head about Mallory . Hate see it happen to ya.... maybe you'll get it straighten out ... for a little while anyways.
 
67Dart273 said:
OK so I posted late. I could'ha swore I read you grounded the green
Click to expand...

Me too. I even went back and was fixin to cop/paste that to him but it was right.....I'm like you I thought he had it worded wrong at first, too.
 
dustermaniac said:
Ok, Well I did wire this up according to Mallory's website and downloaded the PDF file and still no spark. As for me calling this a piece of ****, Well I have EVERY right to do so since I am now out almost $300.00 for a part that does not work properly. I did try to wire this up using the ballast resistor method also and still NO Spark!!! Strange thing though, as soon as I pulled this out and put back in my old distributor. I turned the key and the car fired right over. So process of deduction I assumed is that the distributor is at fault.
Click to expand...

Sounds like a valid assumption. Let us know if dood warrantys it.
 
Is it a unilite setup. If so you need to have slot on rotor's shutter wheel aligned with optical eye of unilite module or it will not fire.

Oldschoolcuda
 
Yes I grounded it to the engine to body ground strap on block. I also am using a Mallory Coil Part # 29440
 
Here are basic mallory unilite installation instructions for optical alignment. Will PM you complete instructions.

Oldschoolcuda

UNILITE® DISTRIBUTOR INSTALLATION
Step 1
Remove the distributor cap from the UNILITE® Distributor.
Step 2
Place the UNILITE® Distributor in the engine. Rotate the UNILITE®
Distributor housing in the opposite direction of rotor rotation until the
nearest slot on the rotor’s shutter wheel is aligned with the optical eye
of the UNILITE® Module. This will generally give timing close enough for
starting purposes. Put the distributor hold down clamp in place and
tighten slightly, leaving it loose enough to turn the UNILITE® Distributor.
Make a mark on the UNILITE® Distributor housing where the rotor points.
Step 3
Install the UNILITE® Distributor cap. Remove the spark plug wire on the
original distributor cap that the engine timing is set from, and install it
onto the UNILITE® Distributor cap post above the mark on the UNILITE®
Distributor housing where the rotor had pointed. Install the remaining
spark plug wires from the original distributor cap to the UNILITE®
Distributor cap in the same sequence.
 
That sorta makes sense. Let us know if it works.
 
I will not get around to doing this until some time next week when I can get a day off. Hopefully the weather will be like it was today - Sunny and in the 60's
 
dustermaniac said:
I will not get around to doing this until some time next week when I can get a day off. Hopefully the weather will be like it was today - Sunny and in the 60's
Click to expand...

Excuses excuses.
 
No excuses, Just have to work tomorrow (Sunday) private job, then back to the grinder on Monday. Wish I could afford to not have to work every day. But I am not complaining, I have a job and a lot of people out here do not.
 
dustermaniac said:
No excuses, Just have to work tomorrow (Sunday) private job, then back to the grinder on Monday. Wish I could afford to not have to work every day. But I am not complaining, I have a job and a lot of people out here do not.
Click to expand...


A smart man.

As for Mallory distributors, I have never had any problens with their products. Then I have not used one in Mopar.
 
I actually have the same POS attitude about Mallory dizzies. They have caused me a lot of extra work over the years. When you get it back in, grab your timing light and put the inductive clamp on the coil wire. It will at least tell you if the distributor is signaling the coil to spark. Great call on the optical window, btw.
 
Are you running a ballast resistor? If so you need to hook up the red wire directly to the same connector where the ignition switch lead hooks up to at the ballast, not the coil +. Otherwise you don't have a full 12 volts to turn the dizzy on. Other wires are like you have. green to coil negative and brown to a good clean ground. I also always check the plug with a multi-meter to make sure all the contacts are good. Been running Mallory for years and never had a hicup.
 
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