1981 d50 2.6 no start

[mikewarme]

Went to the self service car wash squirted just the firewall corners to get some crap out and washed truck. Would'nt start. Towed home. Power from plus of coil to battery neg. And neg side of coil has nothing from pos battery to it (white wire at coil.) These early trucks are wired a little different than the 83 and up. Can someone help suggest what i am missing? Should'nt there be power with key on at coil between pos and neg ? Everything is original with 55k on the odometer so nothing has been mickey moused. Ran great before this. The fuel cut solenoid even works so I am puzzled. Forgive me as up till recently I only owned diesels! could I have fried the module in the distributor? That still does not explain the power issue at coil unless I have it wrong how it works.......... Robert ?

[pennyman1]

I will look at Geronimo and get back to you - I had that happen once when the fusible link went, but that killed everything. When you say it won't start, you just don't get spark? Check the ballast resistor - they are fragile especially after 34 years. There are also fuse holders wrapped in tape in the harness that can cause trouble. There is a starter relay above the fuse block in the cab, but that should not be the problem. I have also had coils that quit working when wet. Let me know what you find. The wiring is confusing - white to the - side of the coil, black to the ballast resistor and then to the positive side of the coil. I even found a loose connection on my ballast resistor when I went out to look at the wiring - I wouldn't have found that until it quit running otherwise.

[mikewarme]

Well I switched the ignitor module in the distributor and it fired right up. Runs like total crap now. I didn't have any time could I have reversed the module wires and now it runs like crap? Like boggs down when you hit the pedal........ I also noticed a loud exhaust tick from the manifold area. Could a few drops of water while it was hot cracked the manifold????? I hope not as they are impossible to find! Also there are no taped up fuse holders like the 83 and up on the early ones nor does mine have a ballast resistor. No tach either.

[pennyman1]

black and white striped wire from the module goes to negative side of coil, black one goes to positive side with white wire.

[mikewarme]

Seems the distributor on all trucks have a blue wire to minus and a black with white stripe to positive on coil. I replaced the whole distributor and now she's running like new again. I also installed an NOS mitsubishi muffler and tailpipe assembly I bought for $130. Where can you get a muffler and pipe put on for that?? Hey Robert, you wouldn't happen to have any clean early harnesses from trucks with tach would you? I would like to upgrade some day even though my harness is perfect. Was hoping I would not have to run a loose wire for the tach.

[pennyman1]

No I don't have a clean harness for the early trucks - I have a couple of harnesses, but are all cut up. The wire should be in the harness already - just plug in the tach cluster and it should work.