While I was moving the engine around my shed it went unnoticed that the wires were pulled away from the ignition switch. The motor must have been a training aid at a TAFE College somewhere as it sits on a hardwood frame.. Whoever wired it up also constructed their own electronic ignition system and they were not worried about following standard Land Rover wiring codes for a 2.6 Litre engine.
So I am left with a ignition switch and five female spade fittings and I am not sure which spade fitting should be located where on the ignition switch. It being an electronic ignition system which would dislike a short circuit is a bit of a worry - so I do not want to whack any old wire anywhere .
The ignition switch has eleven terminals made up of two groups of four joined terminals and 3 single terminals. All the terminals are male.
The left-hand group of 4 terminals has the word ACC written on the Bakelite base.
The right-hand group of 4 terminals has the word IGN written on the Bakelite base
Running in vertical row between the left and right clusters are 3 single terminals. The bottom most terminal has the word BAT written on the Bakelite base
I have chased the 5 loose wires and here is where they terminate:
Yellow wire to left-hand bottom terminal of the starter solenoid
One of the red wires has an inline fuse that is fitted to the centre terminal of the starter solenoid and it is under the wire that forms the positive battery terminal
Another red wire runs around the back of the engine and then connects to a terminal on the Coil
A cloth covered wire with a purple line has a junction: 1 junction goes to the "charge lamp" the other junction runs about a metre and finishes with a round terminal crimp that probably fits onto a bolt somewhere? This end of the wire is totally loose and I have no idea where it would have fitted?
The last red wire goes along with four other wires towards the front of the engine and the red wire is screwed into a terminal block and it is level with the label of "Ignition" The terminal block is mounted on top and integrated into a box of electronic trickery with no obvious manufacturer. I think an auto-electrical TAFE teacher might have home constructed it. However no wires are joined to this red wire.
So which of the five currently loose wires would fit where on which terminal located at the back of the ignition switch.
Please see the attached drawings to hopefully make some sense of my dilemma
Your assistance would be most gratefully appreciated
The things you can find if you take a hunch. I had turned the ignitions switch over and gave it a go over with a wire brush to find any identifying marks - none.
I then looked at the key which I had to drill a new hole into because the key ring hole had broken out. It had the words Pollack USA written on it. I figured this could either be the original key or the name of the replacement key people. I typed in Ignition Pollack USA and the number on the other side of the key 801, into a search engine and it led me to an Australian eBay seller.
Here are some photographs from the seller and they confirm what my ignition is a Pollack and has the same number of terminals
I have arranged Photograph Pollack Ignition - 1.jpg so it is in the same position as the drawing I attached to my original message so you can have some idea of the terminal arrangement.
Well this morning I started out with a partly labelled and unidentified ignition switch.
I now know that it is a Pollak Ignition system from the US of A.
I know from my Land Rover Series III Repair Manual published by Land Rover 1981 that the 2.6 Litre engine has a four groupings of post terminals I also have the circuit diagram for the 2.6 litre on Page 86-2.
After some research I identified the terminal layout of the Pollak Ignition system that has five separate groups of terminal posts that range from single posts to 4 posts. Not all of these 5 clusters of posts get labelled or they wear off over the passing of 36 years.
Through my research I can now identify each of the 5 clusters as:
Start - single post
Battery - single post
Ground - single post
Accessories - four posts
Ignition - 4 posts
There are five unconnected wires with female bayonet fittings.
1 wire goes to the starter solenoid (Start terminal blade)
1 wire goes to the pole that positive battery cable connects to the starter solenoid (Battery terminal blade) It has an inline fuse fitted to it.
1 wire goes to the coil (Ignition terminal blade)
1 wire goes via a junction to the charge light and branches off to reach around to the alternator. (Ignition terminal blade)
1 wire goes to power the electronic ignition system (Ignition terminal blade)
I have attached a copy of the wiring diagram for the 2.6 litre six cylinder Land Rover - Series 3. Within the yellow highlighted section is located the:
Solenoid Starter motor = Number 2
Battery = 22;
Ignition Switch = 23
Now within the Ignition Switch (23) there are numbered points from 1 to 4
By following the circuits I suggest that:
1 = Battery
2 = Ignition
3 = Start
4 = Accessories
Do you think that these number points are correct?
Also that the Battery wire from point 1 in the ignition switch joins up to the same connection as the wire that goes from the Positive battery terminal post to the right hand connection of the starter solenoid. Yes/No
That the Start wire point 3 on the ignition switch joins the starter solenoid seen as the white wire with a red trace (WR) at the centre of the three points on the starter solenoid? Yes/No
I had read the circuit correctly and also the positioning of each wire on the terminals of the US made ignition switch. Whether the switch has a problem, or the Land Rover Series 3 ignition switches are not meant to have a Ground wire installed I have yet to determine.
I re-visited my spares Series 3 collection this morning. I found that one of my Land Rovers had a set of very rusty keys hanging out of a very, very stiff ignition switch. I loosened off the retaining washer and reached far back into the wiring loom and pulled the wires forward. I made absolutely sure that none of the wires came adrift from the ignition terminals. I then sketched which wire went where.
I disconnected the ignition switch and lubricated it. It turns out that it is an original Lucus switch made in 1975. Shame they do not label their terminals though. So I set up a test lamp and I identified which terminals had power for each of the four key positions.
After that I installed the ignition for the test engine and turned the key without any nasty sparks coming out of the wrong places. I had the engine ticking over once again. .
I will hook up the US lock without an earth wire and see if that caused yesterday's problems. Maybe the ignition switch in the Series 3 Land Rover is not meant to be earthed between the switch and an earth wire to the body?
At the moment I will stay with today's success, knowing that I have an engine that turns over and runs whenever I want it to!
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