Mallory unilite dist.
 

Freind of mine stopped today with a 70 cobra torino with a 351 cleveland. He was complaining of a stumble, and engine breaks up above 3200 RPM. He's had the carb rebuilt put Mallory Unilte dist. and an MSD Blaster coil new plugsand wires on it chasing this issue. We checked the timing, made sure advance worked all looked good there, then just for grins I checked voltage at Dist. pos. wire which is connnected to Ign. switched power at one side of ballast resistor, other side of resistor goes to coil +. I'm getting 4.5 volts to the dist. so I unhook the dist. and have 12.5 volts on Ign. switched power. Soon as I hook up the dist power wire voltage goes back to 4.5 volts, I'm not familiar with these dist. I know they have the module and pickup in the dist. but am baffled why it drops the voltage so low when I hook up the dist. red power wire. I can;t believe it runs but it does, however I'm thinking this strange voltage reading and the fact that it seems to break up above 3200 are connected. Anyone fooled much with the Mallory Unilite that can give me some feedback? Thanks Joe

Re: Mallory unilite dist.
 

The power wire for a Unilite (the red wire) is never supposed to have less than 7 volts nor more than 9 volts with the engine running.

Re: Mallory unilite dist.
 

Well that follows, only have a cheap meter at home (very slow response) voltage seems to fluctuate 7-9 volts is about what I was seeing. What the heck are they doing in the dist. to cause this voltage fluctuation, never really looked for it before, it just seems odd.

Re: Mallory unilite dist.
 

I suppose it is the LED driving the module. I'm not a fan of the Unilite, never have been, never will be. For every person you talk to that has run one for any real length of time with little or no problems, you'll find a 1/2 dozen who have had nothing but trouble.

Re: Mallory unilite dist.
 

Joe, call me at the shop tomorrow. 219-861-1214

I have work on or repaired more Unilite's than I care to remember.