ok, so i started vacuuming the car today and noticed a extra key switch on the dash next to the and ;eft of the ebrake. Any idea what that is? it has 2 wires out the back and i think it runs back to fuse box.i was running out of light to know for sure. my next question is about a remote start switch the previous owner installed on car. off the switch which is the first pic, a red wire runs down to something that looks like a coil or something along those lines. Can someone tell me what that is? it's sitting to the right of the valve cover with a brighter red wire going to it. Thanks for any help and sorry about the huge pics...i'm still figuring this out.lol
Wow, that's weird.....initially I thought it may be one of the early car alarms, that had the keyed switch mounted on the outside of any car it was installed on....circa 1970's. Used to see a lot 0f 70's Corvettes with the keyed part on the driver's outside fender....GM option. That plate could very well be a holdover of said car alarm. Having it keyed to an old remote start button makes no sense to me though. Obviously it's your car, but are you sure the two are connected? Standard remote starts attach to battery side, and starter solenoid post. Who knows? Maybe they are both just wired to the starter still.....and that is what you are seeing.....big ole' cluster of stuff.
previous owner butchered up a lot of wiring. the radio is a complete mess. i'm going to see if i can find a wiring diagram online
Have you been able to get the car started and running? If not, I'll bet it's some homebrewed fix for the original ignition switch that went bad. If so, it's probably an attempt at some sort of security system. It definitely looks non-factory. I can't see enough detail of the starter button thingy to hazard a guess.
i have not been able to get the car started. i have no ignition key(this was a barn find). i can crank it over with the remote start switch. but she won't fire over. this guy(previous owner) was really paranoid. the fuel tank has a locking cap(no key),when i cleaned it out -the car had 2 steering wheel locks plus a combo lock on the hood.
My uncle had the same paranoria, with the locking caps, wheel locks, ignition kill, hood locks, etc. No he did not live in a bad area.....I had five driving age cousins. He would do his best to keep 'em all out of his cars. Wreaked havoc more so on my poor aunt then any of them. Never could keep track of all his damn keys.
The coil looking thing is the neutral safety switch.....VERY necessary if he was using a remote starter switch from under the hood...imagine if the car started in gear! If the guy was that paranoid, the extra key switch is probably an extra ignition shut off...or ground to the coil so the car won't start without another key being turned on. My advice...rip all that shit out, and wire it up correctly, with the right ignition switch., you can find wiring diagrams online to help you. Most likely the wires will be in place still. But be sure to eliminate any extra wiring that might short out the ignition coil, or interfere with the hot works to ignition.
The coil thing also serves as a connection for backup lights and brake lights if I remember correctly. I second Chopolds' opinion and would suggest investing in a good aftermarket modern wiring harness. Old brittle wire insulation and worn away cloth insulation is just going to keep you on your toes chasing shorts. If you reuse the connector. Be sure to label it so you know what wire went where. Otherwise, you will have a real fun time with a multimeter or test light later.
ok, so got to work on it a little today. the extra switch he had spliced into the purple solenoid wire. got the switched removed and jimmed the key cylinder to at least turn the motor over. Wasn't getting sparked and noticed a broken wire on the ballast resistor. Does anyone know what the two wires coming off the resistor do? they head back toward the firewall. It's 3 total in the wire loom and i know for a fact one is for the oil pressure sensor.So heading to the parts store to get a new coil, ballast resistor and the coil condensor, rotor and cap.How often do the points go bad? should i do them to? the car has been sitting since 1993....
Sounds like the previous owner knew my ole ex girlfriend. Couldn't trust her as far as I could throw her (not far).
Yes, do the points, condenser and rotor, while you're in there. With a new project, you need to begin with a fresh slate. Getting those parts installed will need to be done, now is a good time to begin.
Just some advice...if you're going to play with old cars, you're going to have to learn how certain systems work. When I started out I bought a book on tuning cars first, it gave all kinds of instruction on how ignition, starter, carburetors systems work, troubleshooting tips and diagrams, etc. I'd buy one if I were you, learn it all so you don't have to depend on internet for advice , sometimes it's not so good! OK...basic ignition. Battery voltage ( positive or +) comes off the battery, goes to the ignition switch. Key ON sends + to the ignition circuit. + to the ballast resistor, which cuts voltage down from 12 to 6 volts, so it doesn't fry the coil. From the resistor it goes to the + side of the coil. Powers it up. Now, this doesn't really do anything YET! The distributor does lots of things. For basic ignition, it has a cam that opens and closes the points. This circuit sends GROUND or - to the coil. The combination of both, build a magnetic field inside the coil. When the ground circuit breaks (points open) the field collapses, and sends a LOT of voltage out the top of the coil. From there it goes to top of the distributor, to the rotor, which distributes the voltage to the spark plug wires, sending it to the appropriate spark plug. this is called the secondary circuit. I gave you this whole scenario so you can trace the voltage with a test lite, or voltmeter, to be sure you have proper voltage everywhere along the line, in case the resistor is not the problem. If not, you can file the points clean, if they are degraded, make sure they are opening and closing when the dist. spins. Make sure they have the correct "gap" when they are wide open. Make sure all wires and things (rotor) along the pathways are clean in contacts, and not broken or have worn insulation which can leak voltage or direct it to ground. There is also a condenser inside the dist. This just absorbs excess voltage when the points open and close, so they don't' burn out. While it seems it doesn't do much, it can also affect the car's running and no start conditions. Good luck.
ok so found a bunch of bad wires (mostly broken). i got a laminated wiring diagram from classiccarwiring.com but it doesn't show detailed wiring off the ballast resistor. it shows a yellow wire coming off the ignition switch and i'm assuming a wire coming off the +coil to the resistor. does the ballast resistor have a pos and negative side?
another update. when i turn the ignition switch on-i get 12v to the yellow wire on the ballast resistor. what shoudl i see on the other side of the ballast? it has two wires coming out of it. one heads to the positive terminal on the coil and the other to a black wire heading toward the firewall. Once again my wiring diagram showing something different-it shows a black wire headed toward the starter. just keep in mind the wiring in this car has been tampered with and i'm trying to clean it up. thanks for all the help
If it was my car I wouldn't replace anything until I checked to see if I had spark. If no spark I would start by cleaning the points and checking over the wiring, then diagnose from there. I hate when someone starts replacing random parts and tearing things up. You never know what they balled up and what the original problem was. MUCH simpler to assume it ran when parked, and diagnose the problems one by one from there.
RustyNYer got it...on many cars, there is a direct, full 12 volts that go to the coil during cranking, to be sure the car starts, it gets extra voltage. Once it fires, then it cuts down voltage to 6 volts or so. The black wire should be connected to the starter on the cranking circuit side. It (the black wire) should not have voltage if the engine is not cranking, you need to disconnect it from the resistor to check it though. If the coil gets full 12 volts even while the engine is running, you'll burn out the coil, points or condenser. Measuring voltage on the resistor, probably should read 12 volts on both sides, when checking it "not running". When the engine starts, it should go down to 6-8 volts. If there is no load on the resistor, it will read 12 volts, when it has load, and heats up, it will drop voltage.
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