Orange ignition control box

In the past I heard how bad the Orange control boxes are. Mine just went out. Are they offering any warranty or returns .who do I send it to

I know that there was a lot of problems with the Orange boxes. Is there any warranty on them and who do I send it to

I believe the orange boxes were "race parts" which carried no warranty because of their intended use. If there was warranty, it would have been pretty short, like 30 or 90 days, but I've never heard of anyone getting a replacement without having to buying another one. It would have had to go back to the point of purchase.

I believe you are now the proud owner of a junk orange control box. Welcome to the collective. Gene

Before you replace the ignition module, do one thing: Disconnect the distributor magnetic pickup connector and reconnect it. This connector can be the source of some very elusive intermittent no-starts that people blame on the control box. The connector is poorly designed. The female portion is simply a round tube with no tangs to positively connect to the male portion. The quick fix is to carefully and gently squeeze the female portion with pliers to crush it slightly and create a better interference fit.

yep and make sure your box is still grounded

iirc Nacho said the transistor has a habit of going out (the big one on top I was assuming). He posted a brand/part # of a better one. I have it wrote down somewhere. might be worth a shot.

Be sure that the box/motor/chassis grounds are all perfect, and find out what the ohms resistance is supposed to be for the coil and ballast, and make sure they are all least as much resistance as the original design of the system. Any less resistance puts a heavy load on the box and can fry it. That is the info I got, but I chickened out and bought an MSD Streetfire for my street Dart for peace of mind But the thing runs now with a good, fat spark!

Just get a stock unit for a 85-up Dodge truck van with 4 pin's they are reliable and will rev just as high as you would ever want to go. Or the smart move put in a Pertronix and forget it

If you have that part number/mfg, send me a PM.. I'm a Product Manager for a semiconductor manufacturer. The transistor you're referring to in the front of the orange box (silver, somewhat football shaped base with a round cap.. This is a TO-3 package which we make many parts in this package. I don't know what the actual device number is or if we definitely make, but if we do have an equivalent, I can get a couple and send to the OP to try out.

Bob

Made almost two passes with a new conversion kit from Chrysler with an orange box. The orange box failed new on the first pass and I returned it to Mancini at the track and took another orange box and I almost got to the end of the second pass with new orange box and it failed. Walked over and paid 10 more dollars I believe and got the chrome box in exchange and it has been in my street-strip car for 30 years no problems. It would be nice to have an easy repair to all these failed orange boxes that every one has. I just gave up and moved on to the Chrome box.

The Chrysler transistor ignition systems were the hot setup when they first came out 40+ years ago, but there are a lot better options now. Including converting to the GM HEI control module and an E-coil, which I am doing for the Ramcharger. I have never seen a GM HEI module fail.

I converted the Lean Burn system (another loser) on my '87 truck to a seriously overkill system for a mild 318 and I would never bother with one of the old systems again.

I think about 15-years ago the Mopar electronic conversions may have changed manufacturers as it seems most of the newer kits have had a lot of problems. I had used several old kits from the 1980' through early 1990's and never had a problem.
They are subject to grounding issues, and as mentioned, the primary resistance (Ballast + coil) needs to be about near the same as stock. A low resistance coil or removing the ballast can overheat the output transistor.
There is really nothing special about the Orange control box. Most parts store replacements are just as good, or bad depending on how you look at them? I like the multi-spark CD ignition boxed like the MSD 6AL and Crane HI-6. These will work with any distributor and I have not had any problems with these. I have had Mallory Unilite and Accel all-in one distributors that were decent, but the built-in modules did fail after several years.
I have a friend with the MSD all-in-one dist, and so far no problems (only been a few years), but those are expensive.
I hear good about Pertronix, but never used one or know anyone who has one?
All these units specify an ignition coil to use, so make sure the coil is compatible with the system you are using.

Are you being serious? Hasn't MP been out of business now for a while? Even then good luck with that.

I have found from experience that any control box with work and you can't tell one from the other for the most part. I'm sure someone will say otherwise. I don't know for sure other than my own testing I did.

I have tried quite a few on my 340 challenger. Just a couple years ago I tested about 8 of them, mostly stockers that I got off cars years ago I had stacked in the basement for 25 years. I tried one at a time and drove my car for at least a week with each box. They all worked except for one. I left the last stocker on the car and it's been on there ever since. My chrome one is in my glove compartment.

When I was 16 in 1976 my 72 340 challenger broke down, sat in my parents driveway for a month or 2 because I didn't have any money for mechanic.

Eventually my uncle came over and swapped his box off his dodge van and my car fired up!! Yea!! I honestly saved up to buy a new box from the local auto parts place, took some time. It was like 80 bucks or something. Lot's of money in those days.

2 days after I got it running I totaled the car. I took the box back to the store and tried to return it. The counter guy said we don't take electronics stuff back plus I can see by the mounting holes you used it.
Then he says but I heard you wrecked your car and I'm sorry for you and will take it back and he did. I became a life long customer of that store, never forget it. All over a electronic ignition box, what a ordeal at the time.

This orange box you see on the firewall of my 63 is still on the car and working good. I bought it around 1999 and its been working fine ever since then and is still on my 63. It has run 10's using that box and the ign never misses a beat. But it seems that I got one when they were using a company that made good ones as I here many complain of problems that have bought orange boxes within the last 5 years or so. When did you buy your orange ECU box ? I mean if your car is just a stock driver then I would just buy a stock replacement ECU box from a parts store. If its for your performance car then I would either get a chrome Mopar ECU box or go with another type like MSD or any good brand name ign. I actually plan to change mine over to MSD one day even though I dont think it will go any faster but I like the MSD multi-spark as it helps keep the plugs cleaner. But this orange unit keeps working so good I just have not got around to changing it yet. Ron

Our electronics guru Nacho in South America posted some info on iirc that the transistor (on top) has a tendency to go out (cuz it is a cheap one) & to open up the goo on the back & something about reestablish the ground??? of this one circuit (the transistor maybe). he posted transistor numbers to use & if you can retrieve his posts you might be able to save it. it'd just b e your labor & transistors cant be that much plus the satisfaction of bringing a known offender back from the dead

I believe it was 1986 when I had the trouble with two orange boxes. It was at the first or second Mopar Nationals at Columbus, Ohio and I was drag racing the car. It was not much fun that year having the car run and then not at all with 97 Degree weather sitting in the pits for ever and waiting to making a pass and the cars orange box fails and you got the full suit on with that temperature. Lucky I had some help that day with the car both making it run and helping it back to the pits. Once the Chrome box went in place of the orange box there were no problems making the car run. There are a lot of superior ignition units over mopars unit out there for the performance minded people and their cars.

You have had good luck with the Orange Box and I had good luck with the same coil (Accel) that you are still running on your inner fender in my '68 Coronet that I raced with a Mallory dual point distributor 30 years ago, but I would not even consider using it now. Times change.

I will check my short stack of notes but I think it is buried in my main stack of random papers which is 2 ft foot high (at least). I emailed him but he ain't been around in quite awhile but I used his email rather than a PM so we'll see if I get an answer. one of his recommendations was a Motorola iirc but we would need a part #. I also asked him about checking the ground (which circuit) that he talked about.

Times might change but just because that coil worked 30 years ago dont mean it cant work good now because it works great for me. I have been using this Accel coil since 1997 and it never misses a beat for me. Good strong spark and when we took it off my sons Dart and put MSD ign on his car it went no faster and ran the same. It still works and gives a strong spark so I see no reason not to use it. Ron

Nacho just got back to me. http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php?topic=92253.0

Carve the goo and most of the circuitboard out of the Orange box and install a GM HEI module in it.
No one will know the difference.

I've converted my daily '73 Dart to a DynoMod HEI-module and a MSD SS Blaster E-coil. Better spark than with the stock ignition, and no more mix and match ballast resistors with the coils.

was that the speedwaymotors dynamod HEI module?

Don't know to be honest.
I got from Summit just browsing their options.

"Davis Unified Ignition Dyna-Modules"

the speedway calls theirs a "dynamod" so it would be different.

DynaMod is what's printed on the module.

And that is exactly what speedway sells

I've always considered the module just an on/off switch & as long as it dont pull (retard) the timing then they should be about the same but in real life it ain't like that. I think the HEI's are a killer setup, just be sure to mount it on a flat piece of aluminum & use Radio Shack heat sink paste between the two. & I like the no ballast & use an E coil

A short trip to this link:
http://performancedistributors.com/product-category/performance-accessories/modules/
will show that the Davis Unified Distributor's high performance module (Dyna Mod) is the one pictured and it is sold by many different auto parts houses.

This company has really come to life.

An interesting picture on the page linked is what looks like a Mopar ignition box. It's mislabeled as a Ford Duraspark but the two are nowhere near the same.

R.

Okay. Sorry for the delay in responding.. According to what "Nacho" said in his post, the device is a Motorola MJ10005. This is a 25A, 400V Darlington Transistor. The current is a little out of our range, but I'm going to take a look today to see what we can offer as a drop-in equivalent.

There's a distributor, Newark Electronics that does have these in stock and they're about $10.00 each. Here's the link..

http://www.newark.com/multicomp/mj10005/bipolar-transistor-npn-400v-to/dp/01H0845

I will respond in the next day or so and let everyone know if I have an equivalent. If I have a close equivalent that's not exact, I'm not going to offer as I don't know the circuit and could potentially create more problems for you.

Best,
Bob

Okay.. After reviewing the specs, The closest equivalent I can offer is our MJ10012. It's is somewhat lower current, but does meet the 400V.

Note-400V is very high for this type of transistor and this particular device (MJ10005) was designed into this circuit because of the high voltage which gets stepped up by the coil to 10KV+. This device also has fast rise and fall time which makes it very suitable for this application.

If you would like, send me your email address and I can send data sheets for both parts for comparison. The device we have as I mentioned has the high voltage, but the current is a little low. This will not damage the unit, but the unit may not function correctly, or could solve the problem.

If anyone wants to play around with a sample, send me you address, etc. and I will be happy to send you one at no charge.

If you want the actual replacement, I would suggest Newark Electronics from the link I provided in my last post

Best, Bob

Very righteous offer Bob & I'm sure there are some dead orange boxes around if they didn't get tossed