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Enjoy.
re ignition switch
- Thread starter JonPiz
- Start date
Jon. Do you have your alternator/generator warning light wired?
If your engine continues running with the ignition switch off after connecting the white alternator exciter wire to the ignition switch, you may need to add a device in the white wire to prevent a backflow of power from the alternator to the ignition switch. This can be a diode or a resistor or indicator light which is a form of resistor. I prefer the indicator light, as it gives a visual indication of power getting to the alternator exciter circuit and a replacement is avalible at any hardware/auto parts/farm store or gas station. A two wire gen or oil light from a junked car or the front side marker lamp socket from a 70's Ford works well. Just connect the two socket wires to the two cut off ends of the white wire somewhere between the ignition switch and alternator. This little light will prevent backfeed from the alternator reaching the ignition coil and causing it to run with the ignition switch off.
The light will also indicate alternator condition. With the ignition on but engine not started, the glowing light indicates that the alternator exciter circuit is getting power as it should. If the light glows with the engine running fast, then it indicates a problem with the alternator.
If your engine continues running with the ignition switch off after connecting the white alternator exciter wire to the ignition switch, you may need to add a device in the white wire to prevent a backflow of power from the alternator to the ignition switch. This can be a diode or a resistor or indicator light which is a form of resistor. I prefer the indicator light, as it gives a visual indication of power getting to the alternator exciter circuit and a replacement is avalible at any hardware/auto parts/farm store or gas station. A two wire gen or oil light from a junked car or the front side marker lamp socket from a 70's Ford works well. Just connect the two socket wires to the two cut off ends of the white wire somewhere between the ignition switch and alternator. This little light will prevent backfeed from the alternator reaching the ignition coil and causing it to run with the ignition switch off.
The light will also indicate alternator condition. With the ignition on but engine not started, the glowing light indicates that the alternator exciter circuit is getting power as it should. If the light glows with the engine running fast, then it indicates a problem with the alternator.
You can test the function of the switch by removing the wires from it and connecting a multimeter to two terminals. Set the meter to continuity and as the switch is operated it should show the meter giving a reading, or an audible alarm will indicate that the circuit is complete. Then test the other positions of the switch.
Once you are satisfied that the switch either turns on a circuit, or turns it off, it can be reinstalled if functioning correctly.
Alternatively, the wire from the switch to the coil may have been installed on the live side of the switch by mistake, meaning that the power to the coil is on all of the time,
Cheers Charlie
Once you are satisfied that the switch either turns on a circuit, or turns it off, it can be reinstalled if functioning correctly.
Alternatively, the wire from the switch to the coil may have been installed on the live side of the switch by mistake, meaning that the power to the coil is on all of the time,
Cheers Charlie
SRQJeff
Bronze Level Sponsor
wiring
I don't know if this is relevant, but it may help someone. After installing the wiring kit on my SV, the starter engaged when I just turned the key to the "on" position. After screwing around with it for a couple days, I discovered that although there is a purple wire marked "tach" and a pink one marked "coil," this is misleading, because it looks like you should run one to the tach and the other to the coil. But in fact there is just one circuit that goes from the iggy switch through the little C clip on the tach and then to the coil. It does not power the tach. It just allows the tach to sense what the distributor is doing so it can tell you how many rpm you are turning.
I don't know if this is relevant, but it may help someone. After installing the wiring kit on my SV, the starter engaged when I just turned the key to the "on" position. After screwing around with it for a couple days, I discovered that although there is a purple wire marked "tach" and a pink one marked "coil," this is misleading, because it looks like you should run one to the tach and the other to the coil. But in fact there is just one circuit that goes from the iggy switch through the little C clip on the tach and then to the coil. It does not power the tach. It just allows the tach to sense what the distributor is doing so it can tell you how many rpm you are turning.
Nickodell
Donation Time
This may or may not be relevant, and it's a stretch.
Back in England in the mid-60s I got a new company car, a Ford Cortina. After a couple of weeks I found the same thing; I could turn the ignition off and pocket the key, and the engine would continue to run. I had to place it in top gear and let in the clutch to stall it. I then found that the engine would stop when I turned the lights off. Duh?
I called the local Ford dealership and spoke to the service manager, who told me that it was impossible. "OK," I said between gritted teeth, "I'll drive it down and you look at it." Which I did, causing consternation in the service department, with everyone from the old hands to just-trained apprentices shaking their heads and muttering "impossible." They replaced the ignition and light switches - no help.
Then the dealer management got in a tizzy and called Ford in Dagenham, as it might have been a design fault in the ignition switch (the opposite of what's happening at GM.)
They gave me a loaner, and called one of their electrical experts in from London, who spotted the problem at once. During assembly (as you may remember, English mass production cars like British Leyland and Ford were put together by gorillas hating their jobs and looking for a chance to strike) someone had managed to cross wires in a rear light cluster, and left too much bare uninsulated wire, so that the rear and brake lights finally touched.
Unknown to me the brake lights had been coming on whenever I turned the main lights on; I couldn't know because I couldn't see them. Now the brake light switch was only supposed to be "hot" when the ignition was on, so when the lights were on the current back-flowed at the crossed wires, through the brake light circuit and through the "ignition only" terminal into the coil.
Back in England in the mid-60s I got a new company car, a Ford Cortina. After a couple of weeks I found the same thing; I could turn the ignition off and pocket the key, and the engine would continue to run. I had to place it in top gear and let in the clutch to stall it. I then found that the engine would stop when I turned the lights off. Duh?
I called the local Ford dealership and spoke to the service manager, who told me that it was impossible. "OK," I said between gritted teeth, "I'll drive it down and you look at it." Which I did, causing consternation in the service department, with everyone from the old hands to just-trained apprentices shaking their heads and muttering "impossible." They replaced the ignition and light switches - no help.
Then the dealer management got in a tizzy and called Ford in Dagenham, as it might have been a design fault in the ignition switch (the opposite of what's happening at GM.)
They gave me a loaner, and called one of their electrical experts in from London, who spotted the problem at once. During assembly (as you may remember, English mass production cars like British Leyland and Ford were put together by gorillas hating their jobs and looking for a chance to strike) someone had managed to cross wires in a rear light cluster, and left too much bare uninsulated wire, so that the rear and brake lights finally touched.
Unknown to me the brake lights had been coming on whenever I turned the main lights on; I couldn't know because I couldn't see them. Now the brake light switch was only supposed to be "hot" when the ignition was on, so when the lights were on the current back-flowed at the crossed wires, through the brake light circuit and through the "ignition only" terminal into the coil.