TheSamba.com :: View topic

Mon Mar 22, 2010 9:30 am

yep that's how my cousin ran it for almost 6 months. The coil was always connected straight to the battery. Ill be rerunning the wiring today through a switch and fuse.

Mon Mar 22, 2010 4:21 pm

What did you do to shut down the engine?

Tue Mar 23, 2010 12:58 pm

just called him. he said he used a household light flip switch lol.

Tue Mar 23, 2010 1:17 pm

cdxanti wrote: just called him. he said he used a household light flip switch lol.

So maybe it's time to actually hook it up like it's supposed to be, with power to the ignition switch, ignition switch powers the coil, turn the engine off, coil turns off.

Tue Mar 23, 2010 4:35 pm

^ Yep doing that right now

Wed Mar 24, 2010 10:19 am

do the electronic points still have the same problems?

Wed Mar 24, 2010 1:03 pm

would putting a ballast keep the points from frying themselves immediately.

Wed Mar 24, 2010 8:52 pm

cdxanti wrote: would putting a ballast keep the points from frying themselves immediately.
Ballast is only for coils marked "for use with external ballast" VW never used one. THey use a 12v coil. Wire it properly and use the proper coil.

Thu Mar 25, 2010 12:43 pm

Quote: Not a good sign. This means the short was THRU the coil and all wiring between the battery and the points heated up and melted. There's a chance the coil primary wiring may have been damaged as well.

But wait wouldn't that mean that mean that the coil shorted itself. It has happened 2 out of the 3 times I've tried start the motor since its been back in the car. the time it started I was using a completely different battery than the starter was using. This is the 3rd time I've done wiring for it. I'm using 12 gauge wire.

Fri Mar 26, 2010 1:57 am

With the battery disconnected, would you check the resistance between the coil's battery connection (from the battery terminal) and the case? Disconnect the other coil connections leaving just the points/condensor.
This should give you the total resistance of the circuit as seen from the battery.
Ideally, this should be the same or higher than your 4.0ohms you measured thru the coil. If it is less, you have a short somewhere. Try removing the condensor from the distributor. This is another path to ground.

Also confirm the voltage from the - terminal of the coil and at the points with battery connected. They should be the same. Are you reading less than 12v?

If the black ignition wire to the coil is melted, it needs to be replaced.

You mentioned the one time the points didn't melt was when you used a different battery to power the coil than the one for the starter.
How did you have the battery(s) connected for these two different scenarios.

Wed Mar 31, 2010 8:00 pm

Got it sorted out. I still have no idea why it fries the points, all I know is that the carb is grounding somehow cause i unplugged all the wires to the carb and it starts right up.
Thanks for the tips on the fuse's and switches. Saved me from buying another set.

Thu Apr 01, 2010 6:23 am

Sounds like you had the carb wires going to the neg side of the coil.

Thu Apr 01, 2010 10:01 am

nah they were going to the positive side im sure. But I didnt think it would start without the choke, etc attached?