wiring connections

[jsttry]

Gday guys, Looking to try to identify the wires that go to the starter motor on a V8 County. Just replaced the starter and the motor turns over and starts to fire but as soon as you put the key back to the "on" position the engine dies.

Originally had a small white and a larger red wire connected by a 2 way female spade connector that was attached to the male spade connector on the solenoid. Wiring was brittle so cut them off and joined them both together and connected via a single female spade connector to the solenoid.

Have 4 other wires going to the terminal post on the solenoid (one of which is main battery cable).

There is another male spade connector that nothing is attached to.

Trying to identify what the red and the white wires are and if connecting them how I have is causing the problem.

When the key is "on" I get approx 10V at the coil resistor however if I left it on too long I noticed a faint smell of electrical burning. Car has been sitting for 3 weeks so not sure if its related to the wiring or something else that may have gone wrong.

[DEFENDERZOOK]

there should be two wires to the coil +ve terminal.......

one should have 12v for when cranking.......which will drop due to the starter motor........

the other should have about 7 or 9v with the ignition in the on position......
if there is a resisitor fitted......


also.....if you wiring was brittle like you say.....it may have broken inside the insulation when you were moving things around........

[jsttry]

Do you mean the spade terminal or the actual +ve post that the main battery lead goes to?

[DEFENDERZOOK]

i mean the ignition coil.......

if the starter cranks when you turn the key.....then its obviously working just fine......
and the engine starts......


but as soon as you let go of the key.......it shuts down.......

this tells me that the coil isnt getting an ignition feed.....ie...no power when the key is on reds......

i dont think this has anything to do with the starter wiring....unless one of those wire was from the coil and you have moved it to the starter......



do you have two wires going to the +ve terminal of the ignition coil.....?

[jsttry]

No wires to the coil were touched. There is a small white box (resistor) that feeds to coil. Has 2 green wires on one terminal and one red wire on the other terminal. May help if I get some pics?

[DEFENDERZOOK]

No wires to the coil were touched. There is a small white box (resistor) that feeds to coil. Has 2 green wires on one terminal and one red wire on the other terminal. May help if I get some pics?




ok...thats near enough.......you will notice one of those wires goes direct to the coil.......
the other passes through the resistor first.......


with the ignition on......check the voltages at the resistor.....at both ends of it......

one end should have 12 volts.......and the other should have a few volts less......
if you are getting no volts through the resistor then it may have burnt out and gone open circuit......
if you bridge it and the car starts and runs.....then its the resistor playing up.....and will need replacing.....
do not run the engine too long with resistor bridged out as you may damage the coil......



did you get all that.....?



oh.....ok.....
what i just said was.....join the two terminals on the resistor with a bit of wire.....then start the engine.....
if its still running when you let go of the key.....you need a new resistor......
or a 12v coil......

[jsttry]

Its 10:30pm here but just went out and checked. Get 10.6V on the red resistor terminal that appears to go back to the starter motor.

The other terminal on the resistor (hidden in the picture) has 2 green wires to it, and reads 1-2V. Smoke comes out of this terminal if run for 30sec with key in ON position which is never a good sign.

http://www.mrjj.net/gallery/albums/misc/DSCN8105_001.sized.jpg

Haven't cross a wire across the terminal yet. Need the missus to come give us a hand so I can play in the engine bay and get her to work the ignition key.

[jsttry]

Went to bridge the red and green wires this arvo but stopped after I pulled the orange juice bottle (waterproofing) off the coil and saw several wires so I wasn't too sure which I should be connecting together. This is the wiring diagram I did up. Not sure if the red/green wires go direct to the starter but they go in that direction. There is another little silver cylindrical (resistor) box with just a single black wire going to it that's screwed next to the ignition module.

http://www.mrjj.net/gallery/albums/misc/ignitionwiring.jpg

By the looks of it should I still be attaching the red and green wires and bypassing the white rectangular device which I am assuming is the ballast resistor.

[DEFENDERZOOK]

the diagram all looks right......except for the bit that says to starter......

they should be going to ignition somewhere.......or at least the red wire should......the green can go to the starter......



if youve joined the two together that could cause headaches.......




and smoke coming from conections usually indicates bad connections......

[jsttry]

No I haven't joined them as you previously suggested...that's exactly how it was wired previously. I have not changed any wiring during this process other than replacing a 2way female spade connector with a wire joiner that goes onto the male spade terminal on the starter solenoid.

based on that diagram, can I still join the red and green wires together to test bypassing the white rectangular resistor?

I am assuming the white rectangular item is a ballast resistor? Have no idea what the other silver cylindrical item is for...

[DEFENDERZOOK]

No I haven't joined them as you previously suggested...that's exactly how it was wired previously. I have not changed any wiring during this process other than replacing a 2way female spade connector with a wire joiner that goes onto the male spade terminal on the starter solenoid.

based on that diagram, can I still join the red and green wires together to test bypassing the white rectangular resistor?

I am assuming the white rectangular item is a ballast resistor? Have no idea what the other silver cylindrical item is for...



yes you can join them together....only for test purposes.....
yes it is the ballast resistor......
its a condenser.......

[jsttry]

thanks mate, will take another look tomorrow arvo after work and see how I go :) Thanks for your help!!

[jsttry]

Connected the green and red wires together, bypassing the ballast resistor. Turned the key to the ON position and the car would fire and keep running. Strange that I didn't have to turn it to START. Kind of proves that the coil is OK. Will have to go shopping to see if I can find a resistor locally. Fun times ahead trying to get the local shops to match it up :)

http://www.mrjj.net/gallery/albums/misc/DSCN8121.sized.jpg

[jsttry]

Contacted Repco, they have a universal 1.06ohm ballast resistor in stock, $6.50. Will call by this arvo and see if that does the job. No idea what the rating on the original is as there was no writing on it.

[jsttry]

Well the outside of the box said 1.06ohm and the actual resistor says 1.6ohm https://www.aulro.com/afvb/

Put it in and same problem, turn key to START and it fires, turn it back to ON and the engine dies.

Spoke to a mate tonight and he suggested the two way female spade terminal may have been a diode. He's going to see if he has a 12V coil and may simplify the ignition system.

[ladas]

Well the outside of the box said 1.06ohm and the actual resistor says 1.6ohm http://www.darwin4x4.net/forum/images/smiles/icon_rolleyes.gif

Put it in and same problem, turn key to START and it fires, turn it back to ON and the engine dies.

Spoke to a mate tonight and he suggested the two way female spade terminal may have been a diode. He's going to see if he has a 12V coil and may simplify the ignition system.

Not wanting to sound flipant, but if there was/were a diode(s) in place - surely it would be easy and cheap to just replace the diode

It would make sense that there could be a diode stopping voltage travelling back towards the resistor after starting.

[jsttry]

yep, to me it just looked like a 2 way female spade terminal, but maybe the diode was inside the heat shrink. Will check it out tomorrow. You're right, it will be easiest to do that, just if we have the other things handy (he's a auto electrician) will do any easy jobs to upgrade things, well anything to make it a little more water resistant :)

[jsttry]

Found the problem, there was a one way diode hiding in the small length of wire I cut off with the 2 way female spade connector. Just cut the green lead that was going from the starter solenoid spade terminal and it worked fine. Problem was that wire was feeding 6V from the ballast resistor back to the starter solenoid since there was no one way diode.

[ladas]

Found the problem, there was a one way diode hiding in the small length of wire I cut off with the 2 way female spade connector. Just cut the green lead that was going from the starter solenoid spade terminal and it worked fine. Problem was that wire was feeding 6V from the ballast resistor back to the starter solenoid since there was no one way diode.

Great news,

................and I guess is that the feeling 'brittle' part where you cut it off in the first place was also because of the diode.