WTH: Headlights gone, dead engine

Gotta love that wiring . . .
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scampbel98
Posts: 304
Joined: Mon Oct 04, 2010 7:45 pm
Your car is a: 1980 Fiat 124 carb
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WTH: Headlights gone, dead engine

Post by scampbel98 »

Driving along tonight having a great night.... no issues... until
coming up on a slight hill , nearly home... I lost everything, no lights, no dash, no radio - no nothin.
Coasted to a stop, called the house and had daughter park car behind me as I was in a bad spot with a black car.

Fiddled around a bit, initially nothing... looked around... tried again... turned over, no sparking.
Had dash lights and radio and such - no spark from coil. Ripped out a piece of wire from previous fog lights and used that to jump from headlight to coil. B+ no joy. tried other side - no joy. back to B+ on coil left lights in parking position. joy!!! engine turned over... turn the lights to headlights... engine dies.. hmmm.. tired again. put headlights in parking position, engine would start (remember jumped from headlights) , turn on headlights... dies..

Al fuses good. a while ago I had an issue with the circuit that is presently my electric choke shorted out and melted in the harness a bit... remnants of that? bad ignition switch? bad headlight switch?

Any ideas appreciated - either way i'm pretty sure i'm going to see the back of the dash and be finishing my headlight relay modification.
AriK
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Posts: 1148
Joined: Sat Apr 02, 2011 7:58 pm
Your car is a: 1979 Fiat Spider
Location: Montreal Canada

Re: WTH: Headlights gone, dead engine

Post by AriK »

I would have a look/swap out the ignition switch and see if there was a short in connector C31 (the pigtail on the switch connecting to the dash harness).
scampbel98
Posts: 304
Joined: Mon Oct 04, 2010 7:45 pm
Your car is a: 1980 Fiat 124 carb
Contact:

Re: WTH: Headlights gone, dead engine

Post by scampbel98 »

Thanks arik. Kinda where I was at too after some reading and review of Brads wiring diagrams.
The PO hacked that harness ..... Badly. And I have a spare ignition switch.
scampbel98
Posts: 304
Joined: Mon Oct 04, 2010 7:45 pm
Your car is a: 1980 Fiat 124 carb
Contact:

Re: WTH: Headlights gone, dead engine

Post by scampbel98 »

Turns out the wire to ignition switch position 15/54 (pink) had come loose. That connector has now been crimped a bit. :D

All systems restored.
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