Hot on the heels of my intro to the forum last week...ho hum! 2l bay 74 Changed coil and ht leads saturday. Ran well but didnt move it. Went to get xmas tree from flower market sunday. Backfires. ngine out and key not turning at all. Noticed in the back a bit of smoke and from area where a loose female spade connector was spliced into the -ve lead from coil. This wasnt connected when I did the work and I hadnt noticed it. AA man went to ignition barrel and saw it had burnt a bit. He hotwired it on two of the leads and I drove home ok with him riding shotgun behind. Got a new barrel from vw heri. Coming tomorrow who thinks its ok to just put it on and make sure that spade is taped up? Need my van now - I sell rocket stoves and xmas is a busy time as theyre presents....I need to move them about. Its me works van. Heeeelp Cheers stew
Sure the lead wasn't on the +ve side? Shorting this to the engine or ground will reliably burn out your ignition wiring.
Thanks for reply. I havent checked on that +ve side and will tomorrow when its light again. As far as im aware I just put the same wires back in the same places. And new ht leads. If it was the spade splice on the -ve side lightly touching metal what would that do?
Hi again hope ur not bored yet. Just went out with torch. The loose female connector -ve from coil had a small melty bit on the wire under it showing clear copper. Then I found a loose male connector originating from what looks like a pilot jet and cut off valve at bottom of carb I think. It has another wire on it going to the auto choke thing. I only have one middle carb. Should these be attached? Thx
Don't understand your description, but the valve and choke should be connected to the +ve on the coil.
The fuel cutoff and autochoke heater are connected to the coil +ve, so there's your explanation for the burned out switch. The coil +ve supply isn't fused, so shorting it to ground will burn out the loom or ignition switch or both.
Wow. I messed up the wiring. Now I havent a clue what to do. Ive got a coil with the + ve terminal wire going to the dizzy. And another green one going off somewhere. And a blue one on the -ve terminal going off into the wheel arch area with a splice to a black wire and spade which looks like it goes to the shutoff valve. What have I done! Wierd thing is it ran ok for 10 mins when hotwired and driving back yesterday. That made me think its just a loose wire needs a bit of tape. Any pics anywhere of what should be there?
Black wire from loom to coil +ve. Green (likely) wire from breakers to coil -ve. Wire linking cutoff valve and choke to coil +ve. Don't connect the coil +ve line to the dissy in any way - you'll burn out the grounding braid in the distributor.
Many have done the same - easy mistake, mate! There should only be one wire on the coil -ve (to the dissy). The coil +ve has the most wires on...there may be an additional one that goes off (via an inline fuse) to the reversing lights. Shorting the +ve supply to ground is a killer, as is connecting the +ve supply to the same side as the breakers. Oddly, the engine'll still run with the coil +ve and -ve leads reversed.
Oh and just quickly by breakers do you mean the points/dizzy? I think im getting closer to sorting it out.
