Trying to sort out my electrical issues- plz help Options

[tornik550]

I have been having various electrical issues. I am completely going through my system to make sure nothing is wrong. I have found a few issues. Please give me your thoughts-

basic car electrical info-(all parts are close to new)
Optima Yellow Battery
Mallory Unilite dizzy
MSD Blaster 2 coil
Magnecor wires
No alternator (until I get the bugs worked out)
Dual Carbs
Very little electrical items on the car. Setup for auto x. Stripped. Only basic gauges, ignition and safety lights.

Issues-
-The voltage at the battery was 12.8. The voltage at the +post of the coil was 9.0. I unplugged the distributor and the voltage went up to 12.4 or so. I assume this is not normal. Any ideas?

-When I turn off my car, I hear a single slight arcing type noise coming from my coil. I moved my coil and retried many times to make sure it was coming from the coil. I checked many times, from many angles in the pitch black to see if I could see any arcing- none- just a noise. Sounds like it may be coming from inside the coil. Any ideas?

[Mike Bellis]

Maybe a bad coil? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/confused24.gif)

Does your system require the use of a ballast resistor? If so, you may have ruined the coil without it.

You should hear nothing when you turn off the car. If you coil is "arcing" you still have current flowing or your coil is NFG.

[FourBlades]

Maybe your key switch is bad. It may still be contacting with the key in the off position. I would check this.

Your coil and distributor should be getting 0 volts with the key off.

You may have another short somewhere else, maybe a connector from a
component you removed is grounding somewhere, like something which
would have power when the key is off? Not sure what that covers.

John

[Tom]

tornik550,
As to the voltage at the distributor, that may very well be normal for your electrical system.
The distributor is the "load" for that circuit. With no load applied to the circuit, you should be getting almost the supply voltage at the end of the circuit. With a load applied, the voltage at the end of the circuit at the load will be determined by the resistance of the load, the size of wire feeding the load, and cleanliness of all connections between the load and the power supply.
From your previous posts it seems you don't have a great understanding of electrical systems and it would be a good idea to get someone near you to come over and go through your system with you.
Have you read this? http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?showtopic=53850
Excellent info there.
Tom

[tornik550]

Maybe your key switch is bad. It may still be contacting with the key in the off position. I would check this.

Your coil and distributor should be getting 0 volts with the key off.

You may have another short somewhere else, maybe a connector from a
component you removed is grounding somewhere, like something which
would have power when the key is off? Not sure what that covers.

John

Sorry, I do not think my opening post was clear. I am not getting any power when the ignition is turned off. I only hear a slight snap or arcing noise from the coil the exact second I turn the ignition off.

[tornik550]

tornik550,
As to the voltage at the distributor, that may very well be normal for your electrical system.
The distributor is the "load" for that circuit. With no load applied to the circuit, you should be getting almost the supply voltage at the end of the circuit. With a load applied, the voltage at the end of the circuit at the load will be determined by the resistance of the load, the size of wire feeding the load, and cleanliness of all connections between the load and the power supply.
From your previous posts it seems you don't have a great understanding of electrical systems and it would be a good idea to get someone near you to come over and go through your system with you.
Have you read this? http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?showtopic=53850
Excellent info there.
Tom

I definitely do not have a good understanding of the electrical system. The problem is that I live in an area where there are not many 914 guys and I just like figuring everything out. Everything runs well on my car as long as I don't have my alternator hooked up. Just trying to make sure that everything else is ok before getting back to my alternator issue. I will check out the link. One thing that really stinks about my alternator issue was that I didn't thoroughly inspect my original alt to start wire before throwing it away. My second wire could have simply just been too small of gauge wire. Now I just want to make sure everything is ok prior to driving the car around.

[Tom]

Try this to see if the snap from the coil area continues. With the key to on, disconnect the distributor wire from the negative side of the coil, turn off the switch. Snap still? If the points are closed when you turn off the key switch, you are collapsing the field in the coil and that causes the high voltage to discharge. With a non stock coil, this may be normal.?
This would not be consistant, it would only happen when the points are closed and you turn off the key. The distributor isn't that far away, could it be the high voltage arcing the contacts in the cap of the dist? If so you may have other issues with plugs or plug wires. Higher voltage ignitions need better components ( caps, wires,etc.)to operate correctly.
Tom

[Mike Bellis]

Try this to see if the snap from the coil area continues. With the key to on, disconnect the distributor wire from the negative side of the coil, turn off the switch. Snap still? If the points are closed when you turn off the key switch, you are collapsing the field in the coil and that causes the high voltage to discharge. With a non stock coil, this may be normal.?
This would not be consistant, it would only happen when the points are closed and you turn off the key. The distributor isn't that far away, could it be the high voltage arcing the contacts in the cap of the dist? If so you may have other issues with plugs or plug wires. Higher voltage ignitions need better components ( caps, wires,etc.)to operate correctly.
Tom

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/agree.gif)
Except it's a Malory Unilite. I suspect the module is sinking to ground as it's turned off, thus causing a final spark. I'm not sure if this is a problem or not. This is not the cause of your other electrical problems. How old is the Unilite module in the dizzy? It may be time for a new one.

[john rogers]

If I remember correctly, the MSD coil only works well with their MSD box and the same with the wires. When we redid the ignition system on the race car many years ago, the MSD tech said over the phone for a Porsche engine either 4 or 6, the stock system was okay for normal use, but if you upgrade then do everything; I.E. the coil, 9mm wires, distributor(or points elimination) and a MSD 6 or similar ignition box. He noted the Blaster coil only works well with the 200v that the MSD 6 send it and anything else will give poor performance.

As noted, the ignition switch might be fried due to high current flow through it. I finally replaced mine with a racing 50amp kill switch and push button starter switch as it failed.

[tornik550]

Quick update- I had another coil laying around. I hooked it up and I no longer have the snapping/arcing noise.

[tornik550]

I was actually using a MSD 6al however Dr Evil was living in my basement a few months ago. He had a fit when he saw wires running all over the rear trunk so we removed the MSD 6al however the Blaster 2 remained. I do have to admit that my engine looked very clean after Mike raided it.

[tornik550]

Just found something new- on the 14 pin plug going into the relay- I just found that the wire going to pin 14 was split right near the pin and it wasn't touching the pin.

(I have 0 knowledge of relays)- could the above issue cause my alt to starter wire to fry?

[Dr Evil]

Time to look at the schematic in the book and see where that goes to. It could be the starter signal.