FBIII

I guess my high horse is a lucky old high horse. On my 6th OB and have never replaced the green wire and I am yet to experience a starting issue or miss related to one.

tailpipe

I have seen some nasty green wires that still work in my days but I agree for the price and simplicity of replacing it. Its like brake pads it just has to be done...

bran3b

Now I am just waiting for delivery. If I had just ordered one day earlier I would have it by now!!! UPS says that it is in town but won't be here till Tuesday. I just want to hear the car run on it's own.

J1720

Not to sound ignorant, but what's the green wire?

depami

Item 27. Does not exist on 32 valve engines.

dr bob

It's used to carry the timimg signal from an inductive pickup in the distributor to the spark control unit. Last I looked, it's a twin-axial cable with shield. Think "shielded twisted pair". Testing starts with a basic Ohm meter to verify continuity, and ends with a good TDR (time domain reflectometer) to see impedance irregularities along its length. Deteriorated inner insulation, excessive twisting or kinks in any of the conductors will affect its ability to accurately carry the signal.

I think I shipped a few lengths of some good industrial twin-ax to users a decade or so ago, to try and come up with a work-around for the cable problems.

If I had a car that used this cable, I'd be all over it with shrink boots and sheathing, maybe metallic, to try and save it from the hostile heat and petro exposure in the engine bay.

Does anybody know if Bosch supplied a similar system on Benz or BMW cars from the same era? They might have a similar cable, perhaps a little longer or shorter, that would fit the requirement.

J1720

Thanks for the info!

anakilat

I think what irks a good many of us is that the green wire looks to be made with $3.00 worth of components and 30 seconds of labor. We all wonder if the copper wire is infused with unobtainium or there is some magical assembly process to account for the high price for such a simple product. There just doesn't seem to be a $100 worth of value in the part - unless your car won't start. Then it's worth twice the asking price.

bran3b

In this case, more than the cost is the fact that I have been waiting for delivery for almost a week for a component that MIGHT fix the problem. For better or worse, I hate replacing a part without knowing that it is bad. With a fuel pump you can test pressure, no pressure = bad pump, with an alternator low voltage = bad alt., with a radiator coolant on the ground = bad radiator... I am just wired to test first, replace second. This time the wire will either fix the problem or I will have a spare for testing next time.

depami

I don't have experience with green wire failure but I would think one could perform some crude checks to see if the green wire is the cause of no start.

The way I understand, the green wire is simply a coax with "hard to find" connector.

What you can check: Continuity of both conductors. No continuity between conductors.

What you likely can't check: Integrity of shielding which is important for clean signal but I'm not sure if it could cause no start. Cracks in insulation that could allow moisture shorting.

Mrmerlin

Denny, Dr Bob gives a good description about this Green wire, see post 21
usually the damage to it is not on the outside

dr bob

Following up on my own question in post 21, Mercedes did use a similar system, but has a two-piece wire with no connector at the distro end. Meanwhile, 80's 911 cars have a very one, maybe six inches long.

lonnie77

Could it be a SWR effect like a CB radio antenna?

dr bob

Yes, sort of the same idea. At the antenna, you test for the correct electrical location of the end of the radiator(s). For the cable, you are looking for "false ends", impedance irregularities caused by damage along the length of the cable. Cheaper to replace than to test.

soltino

^short


tino