Re: '88 Buick - I really messed up...

Hi!

Thanks for the reply.

"Ususally" (stressing the quotes) the yellow and green wires will keep some > sort of position/hold there shape so you can figure out where they need to > be.

I changed the base pack and the wire colors are different. At first I thought "no big deal, I'll just match the wire colors". Well, the wire colors are different. Unlike the old module (which gave extremely obvious clues) this one has nothing in the position of wires that makes things any clearer.

Googling for information didn't turn up much and at Doc's recommendation to another poster, I looked at the AutoZone website. The setup is mentioned there, but it says *nothing* about how to connect the base wires to the upper coil pack part.

If memory serves, you'd have to really do some stretching of the wires > to goof them up bad. You stated "car ran well for a short time and then it > started to miss", how long is a short time?

Ran fine for a couple of minutes, but had a strong gassy odor. Then it started to get the shakes like it had a miss. The severity increased over time.

If you hooked them up incorrectly, it should have ran poor instantly. So > either one of the wires broke or wore through from how you installed it or > your coil could be bad. The Magnovox coils have been bad new in the box at > the dealer I used to work at...

That was my thought...but the car actually ran pretty well for a while. My dad was convinced because of the missing that I had something wrong. He played with the wires and seems to have really messed things up now. I don't recall how I had them set up, but I think that I was correct.

How long does the upper coil pack usually last on a Magnavox system? It's been 10K miles since it was replaced with a brand new aftermarket unit. The base unit is what I just changed.

When it missed originally, did you just do a coil or a full tune up with > plugs and wires as well?? If you didn't do plugs and wires, I'd do those > first.

Pulled the plugs and checked the wires. Both were new 10,000 miles ago and they still look good. I don't see any problems there.

William