Looking for suggestions - ignition issue

[catfood]

Hi folks,

I'm hoping someone might be able to suggest where to look first with an igniiton issue I have just encountered.

My BN1 has been converted to negative earth, has an alternator and CSI distributor.

I was tweaking the carbs and everything seemed to be running smoothly at tickover. I switched off the ignition while I looked for my carb balancer. When I restarted it the tickover was really rough and it struggled to keep running. Applying the accelerator had no effect. I switched the ignition off to check everything over and went back to restart it and it was the same. I switched the ignition off and the engine carried on running. I had to block the carbs to stall it. At his point I noticed the ignition light was still on even with the key was removed. I tried turning the power off at the boot (trunk) switch and the ignition light was still on. In the end I had to disconnect the battery to switch it off.

So any one encountered this before. Any suggestions?

Cheers

Steve

 

[NutmegCT]

To what's left of my brain cells, I'm thinking you have a dodgy wiring connection at the ignition switch. One wire just barely making contact, and probably jiggling on and off the point it should be firmly attached to.

Just a thought.
Tom M.

 

[dklawson]

I thought those boot mounted switches removed all power from the car. Are there brown wire circuits that bypass the boot switch?

The charge indicator light remaining on and continued running is typically a symptom of one of two faults. You probably have a bad ignition switch as mentioned above or you have a failure inside the alternator. Most auto parts stores will bench test alternators for free.

 

[steveg]

...Are there brown wire circuits that bypass the boot switch?...

Not in the stock setup.

 

[RAC68]

Hi Steve,

I am really surprised at the number of things you have done to cut power to the ignition. When turning the battery ground switch off, you should be cutting all power to the electrical system in the car. However, if the car is running and the alternator is generating power, you may be pypassing the battery and running on the alternator... especially in the case where you are using the original voltage regulator as a switching point in the conversion and the alternator's regulator to control output power. Your charge light is light glowing inconsistently as an indication of inconsistent power being supplied.

Have you installed any additional fuses (in-line or block)? You may have had a failure in the alternator's regulator that is providing erratic power to your systems. I would pull the alternator and have it checked as this would be the easiest thing to do. Next, I would look to the wires in the start circuit including coil and ignition and starter switch lines.

Hope this helps,
Ray(64BJ8P1)

 

[catfood]

Thanks for all the suggestions however I've (partially) solved the problem. The level of my stupidity sometimes knows no bounds. One thing I didn't mention that I checked when it wouldn't start first time was the fuses. Looking at them again tonight I had put one of the fuses back in the gap between the two fuses hence shorting everything instead of its correct place which seemed to be the cause of the novel ignition issues I had (perhaps I need a visit to the optician). So the car started and ran OK tonight but then exhibited the same restarting issues as before (without the ignition light and fail to stop with the key issue). I'm guessing I have a fuel vapourisation issue or the fuel pump isn't up to the job although I can hear it clicking but thats a job I think for the weekend.

Steve

 

[DerekJ]

Been there, done that, with the fuses.