Sorry for the stupid post, but I am still learning the vette, etc. I am at my parents (700 miles away in the vette which made it home great without any problems) and I had brought some of the more basic manuals with me home but did not bring my detailed wiring harness. I noticed this wire was loose (see pic) under the hood next to the windshield wiper motors and can't figure out where it goes. It is a yellowish insulated wire that comes out of the middle of the very long and large main wiring harness that is attached to the starter and many other things. I have looked everywhere and I can't find where this wire should go to and it is a hot wire as I touched it briefly to a ground and it sparked when the ignition is in the on position.

Thanks....

 

Ignition coil power wire, I believe....Is it starting ok? Are you running an aftermarket ignition system?

 

It certainly looks like the ignition coil power wire and clip. It connects to the positive + terminal of the coil. The coil won't work without it unless another power source is used. Something has been changed in that system.

 

Thanks for the info...okay the next question I guess is where does it go exactly so if you have a pic that would be great.

I am a very new to this stuff and trying my best to learn this car stuff correctly. I had an alarm installed on the car and they did not originally install the ignition kill (don't ask why)....so on Friday on my way up to my parents (700miles away) I stopped at the alarm shop that did all the previous work and asked them to hook up the starter kill. I have not driven it since arriving very late Friday night and have not noticed any new troubles or delay in getting the car to start. Can you tell me more specifically where this wire goes with a pic? That would help out greatly. I will get on the phone with the shop first thing tomorrow morning to find out exactly what they did on Friday. I know at the very least they guy yanked on the harness enough to cause me know more windshield wipers as I could see this that plug/clip was disconnected as well. I know there maybe some frowning upon me for having an alarm installed, but I needed it done for my own piece of mind for various reasons....

Thanks again...

 

It goes to the "+" positive side of the coil, if you have the stock set-up with points etc. Most aftermarket stuff needs 12v to the coil and the wire you're asking about only delivers 5-8v. It's a resistor wire which reduces voltage. I'm betting somebody routed another wire with a full 12v and you have an aftermarket electronic ignition,..Petronix or something.

You might check for voltage from the wire,..turn the ignition key to 'On' and see if it's hot.

Let us know what you find out.

 

I have a stock ignition system with points, etc...no MSD or anything like that I know for certain. The wire is definitely "hot" as I touched it to both the engine and another ground while the ignition was on a got a good solid spark each time. Would the starter kill need this wire disconnected to work properly? The alarm shop did a really good clean job with the power door locks and the rest of the alarm so I am very surprised about this wire being disconnected purporsely and them not capping it off since it is still a live wire.

 

It does go to the positive side of the coil but is not the resistor wire. It is the wire from the starter solenoid that supplies a full +12 volts to the coil while the engine is cranking .
When the solenoid releases, then the coil is being fed through the resistor wire and sees a reduced voltage (On my '72, that one is black with a pink stripe). You could experience hard start conditions with this wire disconnected.

The fact that it is hot with the key turned on might indicate that it is improperly connected at the starter solenoid. It should only be hot when the starter is engaged.

Craig

 

You might invest in an inexpensive voltmeter for checking in the future. One day touching a wire to ground might really doe some damage to the car or you.

 

Sorry for the stupid questions, but can somebody tell me or have a pic to show me what exactly a coil looks like and where this wire should go? I looked every where again this morning and can't find anything that looks like where this wire should be attached. Unfortunately...I really don't have an idea of what a coil looks like. I checked around the distributor (at least I know what that is) but don't know what a coil looks like.

The car started up fine this morning on the first crank as usual without any problems...but I feel something still ain't right.

 

Not trying to be cute with you or anything, but if you really don't know what a coil looks like and your method of testing a wire for voltage is touching it to ground, then you probably are in a bit over your head on this one and should consider taking it to someone who can figure this out. Let me help you with why I say that....

If it's the resistive coil wire which would be hot all the time with the ignition on, then the car would start fine as long as the key is in the start position and the starter solenoid is energized. As VetNut72 said, that is a full 12V but is only applied during the start cycle. As soon as you release the key from the start position to the run position, the engine would die. Since it's not dying, then either someone has messed with the run circuit in the past and your just now seeing it with this wire suddenly appearing (perhaps the alarm installer found it tucked away in the harness and didn't know what to do with it so they left it hanging) or it's not the run circuit. If it's the 12V start circuit from the solenoid, then it should only be hot during the starting process and should go to 0V when you return the key to run. Since that isn't happening either, then that circuit has either been bubba'd or it isn't that wire either.

Problem is, that in the area where the wire is located, the coil wires are about the only ones which have that 'U' type connector on it so that just makes things really interesting. So I don't think you're dealing with something that can be fixed with a picture of how things should be because it appears as if you are dealing with something non-standard. If you follow what is shown in a picture or diagram and the circuit has been changed from original, then you could be asking for real trouble. You really need to have someone knowledgeable look at this because I've seen a burnt crispy vette before and when they burn, they burn really well. The results ain't pretty.

 

No problem...I totally understand and appreciate your comments. I really need to take a Votech class on basic auto mechanics and will probably do so sometime next year. I now know I am in over my head and need to take the car to a qualified technician. I did figure out that I do have an eletronic ignition system after doing a bunch of on line researching late last night and also looking at my book realizing I don't have a center spark plug looking wire attaching to the center of the distributor. It is still odd (I think) that the older style coil connector would be hot...putting out a spark, but then again maybe the person who had the car before me never properly cut-off the wires and it is just a newly discovered wire that already was loose.

Thanks again for your help and suggestions...I don't take any offense to you all telling me I am in over my head.

 

How about some PIX of the ignition system.....???
With an aftermarket 'electronic iginition', You most likely don't need that wire. It probably was taped off and popped out. DON"T CUT IT just for the sake of cutting it. Tape it off, bury it in a harness, remember where you put it. Check your wiper motor to see if it works...There is a yellow wire that connects to the wiper motor..
Black, green, yellow, blue.. On the motor connections... Drive the car...

 

Here's a coil with a Pertronix wired in.

I don't understand how your car can run if the coil high-tension cable is not plugged into the distributor cap??

 

Let's see.... This is what it sounds like to me.
You can't find your coil and the distributor has no center wire - It looks like someone has installed an HEI distributer in your car . It requires a full +12 volts and would not need the yellow wire from the solenoid. Let's hope that they have a full +12 volts feeding the HEI and are not using the original coil wire.

Craig

 

Sounds like you have an HEI distributor which does not have a coil type wire coming from the center of the dist. The reason for this is that the coil is actually situated in the top of the cap, right in the middle of all the plug wire connections. You probably have one single red wire connection from your wiring harness to the cap. This connection is the one that requires full battery voltage. I did a similar thing in my vette... installed a quality HEI distributor with a completely new 12V feed. I got rid of the old distributor because someone had converted it to a Hayes unit before I bought it. I found out that Hayes was only made for about two years and was fairly unreliable when new....my unit looked very old. The engine was not running when I got the car and I wanted to ensure I wasn't trying to fire a newly rebuilt engine with an old POS ignition system. HEI is a very simple and reliable replacement.

I did the same thing in that I left the original resistive wire in place, just taped it off very well with some rubberized tape, then regular electrical tape, then laced it into the wire looms so it virtually disappears. But if I ever decide to go back to stock, I have the original wire there for use. So, don't cut it out, just make certain it's well protected and you'll always have that stock ignition option too.

 

I think a conversion to an HEI unit on his 1969 is the key to the puzzle. It would be interesting to read how his tach is hooked up (if it is functional).

 

If you post a few pics that are in better focus and pan out a little to include a bit more stuff we will be able to figure it all out for you!

This is one of the great strengths of the forum. It brings together people who know nothing with people who know everything and love to display their knowledge!

 

I always like it when the original poster responds after others take the time to reply. A basic Forum courtesy.

 

Thanks again for the info...I now know from your responses that I must have a HEI setup as I do only have a 3-wire plug and then a single 1 red wire plug that is going to the distributor. I will tape off the old coil wire as you guys say to do so. The tach is hooked up and has always worked fine...it registered correctly as well when we dynoed the car. I will take a pic of the car and post tomorrow.

There are some things that I am pretty good knowing about my car...then there are those huge gaps where it makes one wonder how the heck I got so far on some other projects I have been doing.

Cheers.....

 

Then you must have an HEI distributor with a mechanical (cable) tach drive. Very nice. They run around $300-400.

Good luck with your other projects!