How to Wire a Distributor Ignition
- 1). Raise the hood of the car and use a socket wrench and a spark plug socket to remove the number one spark plug. On four-cylinder engines, the first spark plug, near the front of the engine, is number one. If the engine is a V-8 or V-6, refer to the vehicle manufacturer's specifications to determine the engine firing order and cylinder configuration. Remove the fuel pump fuse from the power center or fuse box.
- 2). Use a screwdriver to remove the distributor cap. The distributor is typically located at the back of the engine, and all of the spark plug wires are fitted in the top of the cap where they plug into individual plugs. In the center of the cap, there may be a central plug, often called a tower, where the coil wire is attached.
- 3). Crank the engine and look at the distributor rotor underneath the distributor cap. As the engine cranks, the rotor will move. Note the direction, either clockwise or counterclockwise. This is the direction the wires will be installed on the cap, starting with the number one cylinder. Hold a finger over the hole that the number one spark plug threads into. Have an assistant quickly turn the ignition key to "Start" then quickly back to the "Off" position. Continue to do this to "bump" the starter until compression is felt as it pops out of the spark plug hole.
- 4). Look at the rotor inside the distributor cap. It should now point to the number one spark plug wire position because the number one cylinder is at the top of the compression stroke. Reinstall the distributor cap and install a spark plug wire from the determined location onto the distributor cap -- where the rotor is pointing -- to the number one spark plug location. Reinstall the number one spark plug and plug in the wire.
- 5). Wire the rest of the engine. Follow the wire guide based on the engine specifications. For example, the popular Chevrolet V-8 is wired: 1, 8, 4, 3, 6, 5, 7, 2. The first wire is always number one. The next wire over, in the rotor direction, is 8, then 4, followed by 3 and so on until the last wire to install is number 2. Be sure to check out the actual way the engine cylinders are numbered. They are not always linear, and on V-8 and V-6 engines, there are two banks of cylinders. One bank may be odd numbers and the other even. These choices are entirely up to the manufacturer. Once this numbering sequence is determined, route the wires from the cap to the designated cylinder.