I am running an orange box ecu with the green wire disabled,are parts house replacement ecu's(autozone,ect)setup the same as the mp box?meaning do they need the green wire enabled to work,or just plug and go?...I am trouble shooting my ignition.Having a hell of a time finding spark from my coil,new engine going on 2 weeks of this without firing and it sucks!Thanks in advance.

if you can get a diff. dist. you can plug it in and spin it to see if it's the pickup.

yes green wire not used on a 4 pin ECU (orange/chrome)/2 terminal (single) type ballast and a $15 dollar parts house 4 pin replacement ECU will work fine (assuming the orange ECU is bad ) and parts houses have a ~$15 5 pin ECU also which requires the 4 terminal ballast (not needed in your app) and that OE type setup uses the green wire to power the 5th ECU pin. Pull the yellow "ign" terminal off of the starter relay to disable the starter (saves the batt/less noise distraction) and have a helper turn the key to "start" & see if the coil positive primary terminal has near batt voltage & if so have him relax for a second & you take the wire(s) off of the coil NEG pri terminal and w a jumper wire w alligator clips on each end ground the terminal (not the wire(s) you removed from this terminal) to ground repeatedly like Morse Code as he turns the key back to/& holds it to "start" & see if that makes the coil secondary wire (the dist end) held 1/4" from a good ground produce a spark & if so the coil/ballast/their supporting wiring is good (though a coil can test OK when cold then act up/erratic when hot) and the prob is the orange box or the dist pickup or either of their supporting wiring. reinstall the wire(s) on the coil neg pri terminal/remove the alligator clip jumper and check the gap in the pickup/ohm it and if you have an extra dist plug it in & spin it by hand & see if you now get a spark from the coil secondary wire w him holding the key to start & need to have a spark w the key in "on" also. Parts houses can test an ECU but it is a cold test & check it's ground & can make sure it's wired good & if the dist pickup is functioning & will not trigger the ECU to open the coil pri then the ECU is bad. Double check/repeat test everything

Thanks for the replies,RapidRobert i feel i have covered the bases you have laid out,no spark out of the coil wire,I will try a new ecu tomorrow and hope for the best.

Just Had my orange box tested at auto zone,came up good,Still have no spark from the coil...totally at a loss.

Unplug dist pick-up coil 2 wire connector at the dist. With the key on scrape the male end of the wire harness dist wire to ground. That should trigger the ECU everytime you touch the male wire to ground. Ron

The quest for my challenger to get spark continues,I Get spark from the coil wire to ground when i ground the male side of the distributor wire (harness side)this rules out what? and what to look for now? does this leave only the pickup? thanks.

Wow a step forward!Yes it sparks from the center coil wire in "run position' while doing the above mentioned procedure only.....now if i pull the distributor and spin by hand i should see a spark from the coil wire to ground?(key in run position? just to double check before i remove/replace pick up.

To pin it to the dist it needs to b sparking per your test in RUN and START & can pull the yellow "sol" wire off of the starter relay for a minute for the START test. yes it does not physically matter how the dist is spun whether you do it or the intergear does it & it self generates a current & doesn't need to b grounded/mounted but do visual check the gap/reluctor for anything not kosher & ohm it if you have a meter b 4 condemning it

4 pin should readily update or replace the 5 pin in a 5 pin system but you can't use a 5 pin in a 4 pin system.

Thanks Robert the problem is my ignition switch is not firing the starter in "start"i have been jumping at the relay in "run".so i can only test in "run"should this make the difference? or do i need to address the ignition switch first?....i need to start this engine!

Yeah we need to confirm that your getting fire to the ECU/coil in start (ign2)when the sw itself is turned to "start" otherwise I'd hate to see the pickup get R&R'd & that not b it esp as there may b a sw/wiring prob since in addition it wont energise the starter relay. If you're wanting to fire it up/break it in ASAP then yes R&R the pickup if it's bad/jump start it at the relay as not likely the "start" side wiring AND the pickup are BOTH bad

Thanks again Robert,i am going to try to Jump the relay,i know it is a half ass approach but this is going on weeks and i feel i just need to start this engine asap, i will check the pickup and take it from there...i will post updates.,

I'm dragging my tail myself on stuff, Holler how it turns out

Yes! Finally Fires and sounds strong....Turns out to be the distributer p/u,wish that would have been the first place i looked,but hey i got there...Again thank's for all the help.

Pumped?oh ya...Funny how things seem so simple in retrospect