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Pastelweis Samba Member
Joined: June 02, 2010 Posts: 92 Location: Stockholm / Los Angeles
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Posted: Sun Jan 19, 2020 8:44 am Post subject: Does an 89 Vanagon have an Ignition Coil ballast resistor? |
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Hi there fellow Sambans,
I am having electrical issues with my Vanagon (what’s new eh?). It started out with the engine sudden and randomly dying when driving at around everywhere from 20 to 80 mph, sometimes re-igniting after a couple of tries sometimes not igniting at all and had to be towed.
I took it to a mechanic and he replaced the distributor, sparks and spark plug wires for an arm and a leg. But the problem persisted.
Then I had a bad break in where they completely destroyed the ignition by cracking the aluminum casing open. This has since then been replaced.
After finding this video;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95PkgSavOCo
I briefly thought I had solved it by bypassing the tachometer wire (the double green ones) leading to the ignition coil, since it fired up immediatly stone cold after trying it, boy was I happy, but turned out to be short lived as it died again and wouldn’t re-ignite after just a short drive.
Now for my actual question (realizing my problem could be a bunch of things from a bad ground to the ECU being shot), I want to try out replacing the ignition coil next, as that may be the issue? I am looking at a cheap no-name third party one at a local car parts chain here, and it says;
“High performance Ignition Coil, If the car is already equipped with a resistor, it must be replaced with the supplied ballast resistor.”
Link to part in question; https://www.biltema.se/en-se/car---mc/car-spares/i...2000017985
So, is a 89 Vanagon GL Westfalia equipped with a resistor, and if yes, how do I bypass it? Bonus thanks if one can point to where I can find it and as always, very greatful for any helpful answers ... |
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djkeev Samba Moderator
Joined: September 30, 2007 Posts: 32433 Location: Reading Pennsylvania
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Pastelweis Samba Member
Joined: June 02, 2010 Posts: 92 Location: Stockholm / Los Angeles
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Posted: Tue Jan 21, 2020 4:24 am Post subject: Re: Does an 89 Vanagon have an Ignition Coil ballast resistor? |
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You are probably right, thank you for steering me straight. The thing is I’ve read here that Bosch (expensive) parts aren’t what they used to be, so figured I temporarily get a cheap one to ”trouble shoot” but as they (and I) normally say buying cheap is expensive ... At least I’ll have replaced an expendable part, even if my problem will persist. Probably due anyway ... |
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kamzcab86 Samba Moderator
Joined: July 26, 2008 Posts: 7893 Location: Arizona
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dobryan Samba Member
Joined: March 24, 2006 Posts: 16474 Location: Brookeville, MD
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bobbyblack Samba Member
Joined: May 21, 2015 Posts: 4333 Location: United States, Iowa
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Posted: Tue Jan 21, 2020 8:57 am Post subject: Re: Does an 89 Vanagon have an Ignition Coil ballast resistor? |
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Replace the ignition switch (behind/under the key tumbler on the steering column). Get two when you order, keep the second one for doing it again when the newly replaced one fails after a few years. (or is bad out of the box). They are wear items. Keep keys from hanging from the key in the ignition key tumbler. One key on the ring is best advice regardless of make or model of any vehicle.
But, it sounds more like your Hall wire or unit in the distributor than a coil. _________________ '87 Westy 'Flossie','86 Westy 'R1','86 tintop GL - Subi2.2 'J2','83.5 stock tintop L 'ZoomBus','74 Karmann Ghia, '63 Notch |
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Wildthings Samba Member
Joined: March 13, 2005 Posts: 50261
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Posted: Tue Jan 21, 2020 9:32 am Post subject: Re: Does an 89 Vanagon have an Ignition Coil ballast resistor? |
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You would want a coil that has an internal resistor, or would need to ADD an external one.
Ignition coils will typically either not fire up a cold engine because of the low voltage getting to the coil during cranking, or begin to create a misfire as the coil gets hot.
The relays and ignition switch can cause random cutting out, as can the wiring for the Hall Sender.
Do you have Digifant or Digijet? |
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Pastelweis Samba Member
Joined: June 02, 2010 Posts: 92 Location: Stockholm / Los Angeles
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Posted: Sat Jul 04, 2020 3:55 pm Post subject: Re: Does an 89 Vanagon have an Ignition Coil ballast resistor? |
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I have a Digifant since it is an 89. I got a new coil but bus still wouldn’t start, but then as I grounded the new coil properly it started right away and then the next day it didn’t fire. At all.
I then replaced one of the relays in the black plastic box above coil, the left one as in drivers side. Engine has not cut out sine. I ordered a new switch but will only install if the issue occurs again to know the culprit.
Thank you to everyone who weighed in and shared info! |
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DanHoug Samba Member
Joined: December 05, 2016 Posts: 4717 Location: Bemidji, MN
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Posted: Sat Jul 04, 2020 4:32 pm Post subject: Re: Does an 89 Vanagon have an Ignition Coil ballast resistor? |
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ballast resistors were a function of limiting current thru the contact points on Kettering systems. the ballast resistor was bypassed during cranking to give full voltage to the coil but then the resistor was put in line for the "Run" key position to limit points face wear and keep the coil cooler.
the Digifant ECI does the ballast resistor thing automagically to my understanding. _________________ -dan
60% of what you find on the internet is wrong, including this post.
'87 Westy & '89 Westy both 2.1 4spd
Past projects can be found at--
www.thefixitworkshop.com |
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bobbyblack Samba Member
Joined: May 21, 2015 Posts: 4333 Location: United States, Iowa
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Posted: Tue Sep 13, 2022 1:18 pm Post subject: Re: Does an 89 Vanagon have an Ignition Coil ballast resistor? |
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I recently had a coil go bad, and decided I wanted to know a little more about how these things work.
Here is a youtube of a crafty tech. that helps me understand what might be happening. I am not saying this is what happened to my coil, but if it is happening, I sure would want to know about it sooner rather than later.
Link
I don't have access to the kind of equipment that this guy does, so I'd rather like to know how a general knowledge guy like myself could determine if I am getting multi-strike, having too much voltage running into the coil, all that sort of stuff without taking it in for an analysis by a scanner like that.
Is this a 'touch it after its been running a while' kind of thing? If its frickin hot, then put more ballast in the positive side (after letting it get full voltage on the start circuit like in the below explanation of what a ballast resistor is)?
Link
_________________ '87 Westy 'Flossie','86 Westy 'R1','86 tintop GL - Subi2.2 'J2','83.5 stock tintop L 'ZoomBus','74 Karmann Ghia, '63 Notch |
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RawUmber Samba Member
Joined: June 23, 2019 Posts: 223
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Posted: Tue Sep 13, 2022 5:33 pm Post subject: Re: Does an 89 Vanagon have an Ignition Coil ballast resistor? |
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Adding a ballast seems like working around the problem rather than fixing it. I'd suspect the coil or ECU. If it's now reliable and the owner is happy, I suppose that's what counts.
bobbyblack wrote: |
I don't have access to the kind of equipment that this guy does, so I'd rather like to know how a general knowledge guy like myself could determine if I am getting multi-strike, having too much voltage running into the coil, all that sort of stuff without taking it in for an analysis by a scanner like that. |
Judging from the coil signal on his scope during the 'multistrike' phenomenon (~5 extra pulses each time), there is a good chance that it would be visible by the tach pegging much higher than actual, possibly erratically. Then again, it's also possible the tach will filter out pulses above a certain frequency so that it might not be noticeable. Can't say for sure without testing. |
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Wildthings Samba Member
Joined: March 13, 2005 Posts: 50261
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Posted: Tue Sep 13, 2022 7:30 pm Post subject: Re: Does an 89 Vanagon have an Ignition Coil ballast resistor? |
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The normal method is to buy a coil and a matching ballast resister. It one thought that the ECU was causing extra sparking due to not enough resistance, it would be easy enough to buy several different ballast resisters and give each a try starting with the one with the lowest resistance. |
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