b.gregorich Posted March 20 Share Posted March 20 Well my 1981 GL got me through most of this weird rump roast winter with little snow however early last month I was ready to leave work and went to start my car. I’ve had some weird starting issues where if I don’t get it started on the first bout of cranking sometimes it won’t crank again just click. This time it did just that and I usually would just go thow a little jump pack on it for a minute and it’ll crank over again. However this time it blew my fusible links and the fuse in the box under ign & fuel gage. Spent the past month pushing off/ learning about all that crap and now it’s suppose to snow soon so I’ve been rushing trying to fix it. I have cleaned and replaced some grounds, pulled apart that little rat nest of wires around the ignition coil, and tested the relays (to the best of my ability). However I cannot seem to get the coil to get any power beyond .80v (I tested the coil and it has proper resistance). A buddy and I did get it running a couple days ago but, when I turned the keys into start, my stater would engage and the engine would fire however once I would let go and it would flip back to run it would completely cut out. Made a post about the prior problems I had on in a Facebook group and they helped with a little bit of the wiring. One of them also told me to try jumping the positive terminal on the ignition coil to the battery itself and it ended up working flawlessly even my starter cranked instantly which usually takes a second or two to engage. Ofcourse then I went to go turn it off and it wouldn’t until I ripped the extra wire out. Not sure where or how I’m loosing power along the way but when I pulled the circular (I think 6-8pin) plug out from the external voltage regulator and tested the battery side the black with white line wire is only reading around 1.14v and that is also the same wire I have traveling up to my ballast resistor and is what I believe supplies the power to my coil. There is also the black with red stripe that I have attached to the positive terminal of the coil too. I checked the voltage right before and after the new fusible links I’ve put in and they are 12v so I’m not sure how I’m loosing over 11v. I have the Hanes book and have looked at the wiring diagram but I’m just not good with this electrical stuff. I will probably add some more in-depth stuff tomorrow kind of word vomited tonight however I'm beat right now and the snow starts Friday morning so I got 2 more days. 😭 *can add pictures if you think it’ll help.* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
el_freddo Posted March 20 Share Posted March 20 My first thought is what voltage are you getting at the ignition switch when in the “ON” position? By running the wire from the positive of the battery to the coil you’ve effectively bypassed the ON setting of the ignition switch. This to me suggests an issue with the ignition switch. It’s possibly over 40yo so it’s done well! You could do this test twice - once just using the factory wiring as is, if that shows a low voltage reading then hook up that positive wire between the battery and coil then see what the voltage is at the back of the ignition switch, I’d expect it to be back feeding 12v if you got a low reading the first time. Cheers Bennie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
88SubGL Posted March 20 Share Posted March 20 Adding a relay to the ignition circuit may help. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
b.gregorich Posted March 20 Author Share Posted March 20 6 hours ago, 88SubGL said: Adding a relay to the ignition circuit may help. So what kind of size of relay would I need to use for that. Saw a post about it yesterday but didn’t find a size. And this drawing helps a lot too way easier to understand now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
b.gregorich Posted March 20 Author Share Posted March 20 10 hours ago, el_freddo said: My first thought is what voltage are you getting at the ignition switch when in the “ON” position? By running the wire from the positive of the battery to the coil you’ve effectively bypassed the ON setting of the ignition switch. This to me suggests an issue with the ignition switch. It’s possibly over 40yo so it’s done well! You could do this test twice - once just using the factory wiring as is, if that shows a low voltage reading then hook up that positive wire between the battery and coil then see what the voltage is at the back of the ignition switch, I’d expect it to be back feeding 12v if you got a low reading the first time. Cheers Bennie So I ordered a new ignition switch but man how do you even get back there to take the old one off?! There’s no room at all I even started ripping apart the trip pieces around the tachometer and still no room for that upper screw. Would just take that whole ignition switch housing off but there were only two actual screws and the other two are weird rivet looking things. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
el_freddo Posted March 21 Share Posted March 21 Ignition switch should be held in by two Phillips head screw/bolts opposite to the side that the key goes into. You should only need to remove the steering column cowling and maybe drop the steering column off it’s mount bolts to get more access. You don’t have to pull the ignition barrel out to replace the ignition switch! That has the funny looking bolts without a head on them. They’re designed to snap off once torqued up so the ignition barrel can’t be easily removed by thieves. I’m not sure that the starter relay mod will dive this issue since you mentioned it cranks over fine and will run in the start position but die in the ON position. You’d only need a 30a horn relay - same as what you hook driving lights up with. Cheers Bennie 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
b.gregorich Posted March 21 Author Share Posted March 21 7 hours ago, el_freddo said: Ignition switch should be held in by two Phillips head screw/bolts opposite to the side that the key goes into. You should only need to remove the steering column cowling and maybe drop the steering column off it’s mount bolts to get more access. You don’t have to pull the ignition barrel out to replace the ignition switch! That has the funny looking bolts without a head on them. They’re designed to snap off once torqued up so the ignition barrel can’t be easily removed by thieves. I’m not sure that the starter relay mod will dive this issue since you mentioned it cranks over fine and will run in the start position but die in the ON position. You’d only need a 30a horn relay - same as what you hook driving lights up with. Cheers Bennie I didn’t even think about dropping the steering column that would have made it much easier 😂. Just picked up the new ignition switch so let’s hope that’s my problem. If not I have no clue. Will also see about getting a relay for the starter but fixing the switch will Hopfully fix that too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
el_freddo Posted March 22 Share Posted March 22 I hope it’s the fix! Looking forward to hearing how the new ignition switch goes. Cheers Bennie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
b.gregorich Posted March 22 Author Share Posted March 22 4 hours ago, el_freddo said: I hope it’s the fix! Looking forward to hearing how the new ignition switch goes. Cheers Bennie So they sent me the wrong switch (or I just ordered the wrong size) but still plugged in. After that the voltage jumped up to 5v in the ignition coil. Spend some more time messing around and found that the fuses I bought were another problem because they were slightly skinnier and longer than the original ones so replaced that and it would start and run on her own! But I had to jump the starter still. So I replaced the starter to see if that was it and no it wasn’t so then I did the extra relay solution and now it works great. Just in time for the snow we got! Thanks for the help Brennan. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
el_freddo Posted March 22 Share Posted March 22 Well done! Glad it’s sorted and I hope it stays that way for a long time to come! Enjoy the snow. I’m trying to savour what’s left of the relatively wet and cool summer we had down here! Cheers Bennie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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