What color wires go to intake and exhaust coils on a 2.4L engine

[JohnnyRigger]

I'm replacing coils on intake and exhaust coils. I'm showing a "BR" wire and "WL" wire for intake but manual doesn't show which one goes to positive and

which one goes to negative. Same for exhaust coil "BW" and "R" wire but which ones go to positive and which to negative. Please advise. Thanks

[datzenmike]

Unless they have broken or failed I would leave them. Nothing wrong with a stock coil. An after market coil is likely inferior quality.

 

 

I've seen several manuals and I can't figure it out.

 

Get a volt meter or a test lamp. Pull the first fuse on the far left side of the fuse box, this removes power from the exhaust coil wire. Test the wires. The one with power in the intake coil wire. Plug the fuse back in and test the wires. The second wire that now has power is the exhaust coil.

 

With the power wires identified, the other remaining two wires go to the - or negative sides of the coils.

 

Coils are identical, they fire together. Doesn't rally matter if you mix up the coils.

[JohnnyRigger]

15 hours ago, datzenmike said:

Unless they have broken or failed I would leave them. Nothing wrong with a stock coil. An after market coil is likely inferior quality.

 

 

I've seen several manuals and I can't figure it out.

 

Get a volt meter or a test lamp. Pull the first fuse on the far left side of the fuse box, this removes power from the exhaust coil wire. Test the wires. The one with power in the intake coil wire. Plug the fuse back in and test the wires. The second wire that now has power is the exhaust coil.

 

With the power wires identified, the other remaining two wires go to the - or negative sides of the coils.

 

Coils are identical, they fire together. Doesn't rally matter if you mix up the coils.

 

[JohnnyRigger]

Thanks for info on how to check which wire is positive. Replacing because manual says if Ohms are not within certain range replace. Which their not. 

Truck has 275K on it. Trying to get truck running again. Had it running by replacing carb with 32/36 Weber. Ran fine on short trips but after going

60 miles temp gauge went up too almost overheating. Watch you-tube video saying if your oil light flickers you need to replace oil pump which I did.

Engine coffed,sputtered and died. Had everything correct for install. No.1 piston at TDC and pulled plug to check. So then deciced to replace Distributor.

After that same problem. Coff, sputter and die. That's when checked coils. But forgot to label wires first. Why I'm asking here. I swear I got Distributor on

correctly because I labeled those wires going into distributor. Just don't understand why it's not turning over like it should. Any sugestions would be greatly

appreciated. Thanks

[Thomas Perkins]

In my 85.The Nissan FSM manual shows the wiring to the coils.Mine are exactly like it.They are on page EL-37 Also here is a picture of my coils.On the coil with red wire is the exhaust coil,red wire is on negative outlet.The coil with the brown wire is the intake coil.Brown wire is on positive outlet.I also posted the color codes for the coil wires.Here are the positive and negatives on your coils.Intake WL,white wire with blue stripe is -,BR  brown wire is +. On exhaust  coil R red wire is -  BW black with white stripe wire  is +.

 

 

Edited April 26 by Thomas Perkins

[Thomas Perkins]

My 85 Nissan manual I bought from Nissan over 20 years ago.

[datzenmike]

There are two TDCs. You want the compression stroke with both valves closed. If the spindle drive for oil pump/distributor was out you might be 180⁰ out

 

Set properly to TDC compression and check that the number one cylinder valves are both closed. Them pull the distributor out and look in the hole. If correct you should see this...

 

 

Note that there is a large and small half moon. Small to the front.

 

 

Coils don't wear out. If 0.75 to just over 1.0 ohms primary and 8-12 ohms on the secondary it's good enough. If it was running obviously it works.

 

 

The Z24 is known for blowing the head gasket at 100K mile intervals, maybe over due. Add to that over heating!!! Over heating must be avoided at all costs.

 

Flickering oil light might be the sender. I always replace my oil pumps with one from a later KA24E engine. They have a higher output volume .

[JohnnyRigger]

Thanks Thomas I have the exact same manual. Bought it when got the truck. I was looking at the same page you showed where it gives the color codes

on coils. With the BR and Wl on intake and BW and R on exhaust. Just didn't show positive and negative on drawing. Guess the BR would be positive side

the way it shows a curly Q on that side and straight line on negative side of drawing. Thanks for the pics where the wires go. Have to say your manual looks

a little more worn than mine. 

[JohnnyRigger]

19 hours ago, datzenmike said:

There are two TDCs. You want the compression stroke with both valves closed. If the spindle drive for oil pump/distributor was out you might be 180⁰ out

 

Set properly to TDC compression and check that the number one cylinder valves are both closed. Them pull the distributor out and look in the hole. If correct you should see this...

 

 

Note that there is a large and small half moon. Small to the front.

 

 

Coils don't wear out. If 0.75 to just over 1.0 ohms primary and 8-12 ohms on the secondary it's good enough. If it was running obviously it works.

 

 

The Z24 is known for blowing the head gasket at 100K mile intervals, maybe over due. Add to that over heating!!! Over heating must be avoided at all costs.

 

Flickering oil light might be the sender. I always replace my oil pumps with one from a later KA24E engine. They have a higher output volume .

Well Datzen Mike "YOUR GODDAMN RIGHT" I'm 180 degrees out from your picture. Thanks for the heads up. But how do you check that both valves are closed?

 

[JohnnyRigger]

Well Datzen Mike "YOUR GODDAMN RIGHT" I'm 180 degrees out from your picture. Thanks for the heads up. But how do you check that both valves are closed?

[datzenmike]

Take the valve cover off the cam lobes will be at a downward angle. The first one the exhaust at about 8 o'clock and the intake at about 4 as viewed from the front. You should be able to wiggle the rocker as the valves are closed and there is clearance. If this was a four plug distributor I would just move (rotate) the wires two positions to right or left but with 8 and all marked on the cap, better to set TDC, drop the oil pump the drive spindle and reset like the picture I posted.

[Thomas Perkins]

8 hours ago, JohnnyRigger said:

Thanks Thomas I have the exact same manual. Bought it when got the truck. I was looking at the same page you showed where it gives the color codes

on coils. With the BR and Wl on intake and BW and R on exhaust. Just didn't show positive and negative on drawing. Guess the BR would be positive side

the way it shows a curly Q on that side and straight line on negative side of drawing. Thanks for the pics where the wires go. Have to say your manual looks

a little more worn than mine. It Doesn't show anywhere in the manual about positive or negative on the coils.This is what mine were on when I bought it.It probably doesn't matter cause It doesn't show anywhere and if you look at the picture and it shows the inside of coils which to me means,it doesn't matter.I have been using  Auto Zone coils,lifetime warranty,you can take them back anytime,they don't test them like a starter or alternator.Just the out side front of my manual is worn.

 

[Thomas Perkins]

The color code wires is at the beginning of EL.

[JohnnyRigger]

7 hours ago, datzenmike said:

Take the valve cover off the cam lobes will be at a downward angle. The first one the exhaust at about 8 o'clock and the intake at about 4 as viewed from the front. You should be able to wiggle the rocker as the valves are closed and there is clearance. If this was a four plug distributor I would just move (rotate) the wires two positions to right or left but with 8 and all marked on the cap, better to set TDC, drop the oil pump the drive spindle and reset like the picture I posted.

Thanks datzenmike! 

[JohnnyRigger]

On 4/26/2024 at 3:29 PM, datzenmike said:

There are two TDCs. You want the compression stroke with both valves closed. If the spindle drive for oil pump/distributor was out you might be 180⁰ out

 

Set properly to TDC compression and check that the number one cylinder valves are both closed. Them pull the distributor out and look in the hole. If correct you should see this...

 

 

Note that there is a large and small half moon. Small to the front.

 

 

Coils don't wear out. If 0.75 to just over 1.0 ohms primary and 8-12 ohms on the secondary it's good enough. If it was running obviously it works.

 

 

The Z24 is known for blowing the head gasket at 100K mile intervals, maybe over due. Add to that over heating!!! Over heating must be avoided at all costs.

 

Flickering oil light might be the sender. I always replace my oil pumps with one from a later KA24E engine. They have a higher output volume .

Well I took valve cover off found TDC but when I inserted oil pump into engine I kept Getting tang to be at 12:00 o'clock position instead of

11:25 as shown in your picture. Now when I turn engine over I'm not getting sparks to plugs. Cranks but does not fire. Would being off that

little bit cause sparks not to fire. I couldn't get the 11:25 position because when you line up the oil hole to small pin hole on side of shaft it needs

to be in a straight line and when I put pump into engine it kept hitting the 12:00 o'clock spot. Would that keep the engine from not firing? The distributor

is brand new along with spark plug wires, coils, plugs. Any ideas whats happening?

[datzenmike]

Well the lining up of the holes is for the similar L series engines and maybe that changed for the Z series. Do what ever it takes to get the spindle in the position shown in the picture. Might help to have someone watching from above to let you know which way to turn it.

 

Checking the cam lobe position is just to confirm that you are on the compression stroke. Accurate TDC must be set using the timing mark on the crankshaft pulley and the timing scale near it on the timing cover.

 

[JohnnyRigger]

Thanks will do. Is that the reason not getting sparks to engine? Like the rotor missing its mark where it needs to fire?

[datzenmike]

The coil will be firing but the rotor is between wires on the cap or firing the wrong plugs.

 

Years ago I pulled a KA high volume oil pump from a wrecking yard and was so hot to install it I did it in the parking lot. Forgot to set TDC which isn't a problem if the spindle doesn't fall out. It fell out. Had to go through everything you are. Had to pull the distributor to see where the spindle was, check the cam lobes, put it in almost a dozen times, kept turning it the wrong way. Eventually it lined up, varoom!

[JohnnyRigger]

Hi Datzen Mike Well I finally got the engine to turn over by positioning the tang on pump just like your picture shows. Couldn't believe it started

because didn't think I was off very much. I had been trying to keep engine at TDC and install the pump. Decide to just rotate the tang using a wrench

on pulley and ignore the TDC mark. But now I'm back to square one and still have the overheating problem. I've got the RPM right, air fuel mixture right

and timing right but starts to overheat again. Everytime I come to a stop the oil lamp comes on. Doesn't just flicker it's full on. Is that why you put a full volume 

KA oil pump on your truck? Having similar issues. Can you tell me which one you used? Thanks for your help and any advise on why truck is overheating.

[datzenmike]

Not really. My oil pressure an a very worn L20B was 17 PSI at hot idle. Installing the KA oil pump it rose to 28 PSI. If you replace the pump it won't fix a bad sender. If there was no oil pressure this much of the time you'd know it.

 

I think for $8 just replace the oil pressure sender.  It's most likely not right.

[JohnnyRigger]

Thanks allot Mike. Now I see what you meant by sending unit. Didn't even know I had a sending unit. 

Shows you how much I know. I'm doing all this myself because no auto shop doesn't want to work on

these old carburated vehicles anymore. If your car doesn't have a diagnostic reader they don't want to

mess with it. And the one that did made it worse than before. So this whole repair fix is thru watching

YouTube videos and searching on web for answers. Glad I found you and Ratzen.net Kiddos to you and

all who keep this website going.

[datzenmike]

The oil sender is just a pressure switch to ground set for around 8 PSI. When you turn on the ignition look for the oil light to come on to show that the bulb is good. I find a few cranks of the starter (without starting) is enough to turn the light off, but of course the pressure drops quickly and it comes on again. 

 

I can't see any reason for the oil pressure to actually be that low that the light comes on.

 

You oil level is on the full mark, right?

[JohnnyRigger]

Yes the oil level is right below the high mark on the stick. So think the sender is working correctly. And the light is full on red when I'm at

a full stop. Like at stop sign. Does the oil hole on the shaft of oil pump need to be lined up with, what looks like a pin hole on pump itself. 

Watched video where man said you needed to get the oil hole and pin hole lined up. Didn't say why. Maybe it has something to do with 

flow rate of pump. Guess I'll try to check that next. Truck does seem to get hot quickly. Had to turn around within half a mile to keep truck

from over heating. Thanks for your reply.

[datzenmike]

Hang on. If full of oil but the oil light comes on at idle then the sender is probably bad.

[ElliotV]

1 hour ago, datzenmike said:

Hang on. If full of oil but the oil light comes on at idle then the sender is probably bad.

sender would probably be easiest fix if the truck doesnt have the gauge and just has a dummy light but if it has a gauge the sender was 50 bucks when I did mine and took some effort to remove but I am guessing since Johnny hasn't mentioned actual pressure numbers best bet would probably be the sender is bad.