PLEASE HELP for FFO2015 RESOLVED 100%

[4uall]

DISCLAIMER This will be long however, funny, sad and hopefully informative

On Friday I picked up my rims from powder coating, put them on, torqued to spec (65lbs) and headed down to Little Italy for the meet n greet. Fiona looked great and drove fantastic.



Saturday spray washed the car, went to leave when out of nowhere...........she would crank but not turn over This little song and dance went on for about 30 min while I left the hood up in the wash bay to dry it out ( could not find any water on anything ). Then as if nothing happened, VROOM. So I drove down to join my club members for the days festivities.



Had a great meet & greet, the wife & son joined me for the parade and off we went Made it 1 complete lap when all of a sudden.......nothing.........no power. Luckily we were on a side street and there was an empty parking lot to coast into. AriK was behind us and pulled in to see what was going on and we were later joined by spiderdan. We tinkered for a while and Fiona again would crank but not turn over (by this time I would think any possible moisture would have dissipated).

Drove home with the wife & monkey, got everything I could need to attack this undetermined problem, then drove back. As I pulled in a guy was putting this on windshield



$45 ticket FML

Got in Fiona and..................of course she started right up

Then to be sure, I turned her off and tried again.......................nothing.

Made the executive decision to call Hagerty roadside assistance. 30 min later Fiona was on her way home.



Pushed her into the garage, went for a swim, had dinner, watched some tv, went to bed

Got up today, had a Fathers Day breakfast, then got to work on resolving the issue.

Started with the coil and pick up, cleaned everything, upgraded some connections and of course she started right up.











Now here is where it gets weird My understanding is that the pick up coil is supposed to have a magnet, my new one does however, the old one had rubber/soft plastic And the made in Italy stamp is backwards It was torn inside before I removed it so I'm thinking that may have been the issue.

Only time will tell

[AriK]

I would point the fault to the newly powdercoated wheels.

Joking aside, the pickup coil looks pretty old. My spare looks better than that one. The wires can go bad internally despite its insulation remaining intact. Something about it being squished and twirled up inside those confined bowels of the distributor multiplied by the times of heat cycles in its life.

Now get out there and drive, and keep driving in order to prove the gremlins are in fact dead.

Idealy, while you wait for an ignition coil and module from AR, you'll know which parts you can use for spares for future troubleshooting.

If you don't get them in time for FFO, I'll be bringing spare replacements of everything i got with me (except new powder coated wheels nor powertrain ) God forbid we need to fiddle with any kind of shit on any of our cars while others are zipping by us at warp speed, but at least we'll be prepared.

[4uall]

Well, 24 hrs later and now she won't even crank WTF Full power just not cranking

Going to look into it tomorrow after to work

[azruss]

ignition switch, starter solenoid?

[zachmac]

When my 80 fi car started doing exactly what you describe it turned out to be a bad connection on the wire that feeds the fuse box from the starter. NOT the wires to the ignition but the hot lead to the fuse box. Maybe? Check and see if you have hot to the upside of the un-switched fuses?

This definitely reeks of some combination of fuse box / ignition switch circuits.

[4uall]

Thanks Jeff, hopefully that's it. I'll check after work. Of course she started right up this morning twice in a row When you had your issue, did everything else work? I have full power to everything. Debating about ordering a new starter solenoid etc

[AriK]

Dreaded click of death? Total silence?
Disconnect battery and clean those bullet connectors near starter and do a visual on the starter connections. Have a look at engine to body ground.

[toplessexpat]

To wade on with the "when my car did the same" lines.....

I had a weird intermittent dying. Would crank, but no spark. Then a couple of hrs later - vroom!

Finally tracked it down to a slowly failing ignition module. Replaced and all good...

If you're replacing the module - I'd recommend the high performance one ($63@AR)

A

[4uall]

already ordered just in case for the trip etc

You have ordered the following:

Qty Description Unit Amount
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 (IG2-464-OE) Ignition Coil - 1979on - $59.90 $59.90
OEM ORIGINAL

1 (IG3-464) Ignition Control Module $19.90 $19.90

[zachmac]

Thanks Jeff, hopefully that's it. I'll check after work. Of course she started right up this morning twice in a row When you had your issue, did everything else work? I have full power to everything. Debating about ordering a new starter solenoid etc

Mine would go dead for ignition but other circuits would stay live. There are some circuits that the ignition switch completes but gets power from the fuse box hot feed versus the brown wire to the ignition switch, can't remember without looking at Brad's diagrams which items exactly but power to coil was one. My car would actually just go dead driving down the road! Lights and other stuff would work but no ignition. It was basically a high resistance connection at the wire from the starter post to the fuse box hot side. I replaced that and it never happened again.

[4uall]

Mine would go dead for ignition but other circuits would stay live. There are some circuits that the ignition switch completes but gets power from the fuse box hot feed versus the brown wire to the ignition switch, can't remember without looking at Brad's diagrams which items exactly but power to coil was one. My car would actually just go dead driving down the road! Lights and other stuff would work but no ignition. It was basically a high resistance connection at the wire from the starter post to the fuse box hot side. I replaced that and it never happened again.

Replaced a wire or something else? Sorry for all the questions just looking to get this resolved before FFO and get parts in time if needed

[spider2081]

Power from the starter to the ignition switch for "start" and headlight switch is the brown wire the "Start" wire to the starter solenoid from the ignition switch is the red wire shown in the photo. they are located near the back of the alternator. In the wire diagram these single bullet connectors are C6 and C7. both are know to be causes of intermittents

[zachmac]

Replaced a wire or something else? Sorry for all the questions just looking to get this resolved before FFO and get parts in time if needed

I replaced the lead (black wire and connectors on both ends) from the hot post on the starter (the one that the battery cable connects to) to the fuse box (NOT to be confused with the brown wire or red wires going to the ignition switch. This is the feed for all of the un-switched circuits that I think also provides power to other circuits depending on the ignition switch position. Again, I could have this wrong as I don't have wiring diagrams to refer to right now but that is what I replaced and it fixed the intermittent loss of electrical power.

I just looked, it is shown as a feed to fuse #10 on Bradley's wiring diagram #6 for 1979 - 1980 FI cars. That in turn is also the feed to the 30/1 post on the ignition switch. If you don't have power there check the wire I am talking about. It should be hot at all times (at least any time both posts of the battery are connected) and the ignition switch cannot "forward" power that is NOT coming into it. May not be your issue but that was the problem wire / feed for mine.

[spiderdan]

already ordered just in case for the trip etc

You have ordered the following:

Dan Bad

[spider2081]

On my prints and car the black wire feeding fuse 10 originates at the alternator output post. there is another black wire that connects the alternator output post to the battery terminal of the starter solenoid. Electrically its the same point Fuse 10 is connected to the battery and is hot all the time, but physically found in different place. Fuse 10 is internally connected to Fuse 9 in the Fuse box. The unprotected end of fuse 9 powers the the ignition switch section that turns on the ignition, FI, and everything connected to fuse 1.