Update on my Ignition Module failure!

[MikeB]

Hemmings Motor recently had an article on HEI distributors. They stated that the red rust colored dust we see on the advance weights and surrounding areas, is from mis-placed electrical sparks. The article is available on their website.

https://www.hemmings.com/stories/tech-101-how-to-cure-the-hei-mystery-misfire/

Good info. I had never heard of the problem and would have guessed that if the coil secondary winding (output) was open due to a bad or missing plug wire, then there would be 12 volts on the primary winding, but none transferred to the secondary winding when the primary winding "collapsed" to zero volts. In other words, no path for current. But I can see how the secondary might find one, even if it had to arc.

Amazing to me that with all the potential HEI problems, many of us have never experienced any, at least not any that killed a module.

 

[hack_man]

So what's the safest way to disable ignition if you want to crank the engine without it starting? Pull the electrical connector plug on the side of the distributor?

 

[Ricko1966]

So what's the safest way to disable ignition if you want to crank the engine without it starting? Pull the electrical connector plug on the side of the distributor?

Yes