Electrical Advice Needed
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I'm telling you, you need my Lucas smoke !
I don't think I can afford it.
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I'm telling you, you need my Lucas smoke !
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Robb, I'm getting old but my eyes are still pretty good. Spent the last 15 minutes looking over wiring diagrams of cars up to 64, I'm not seeing that color combo until 64 up and that's in the instrument light assembly . I've got another book in the basement, just have to find it.
Anyone else seeing or not seeing the white wire w/purple stripe on your diagram ?
I looked at all the diagrams in my Haynes book too until my eyes also hurt. Don't worry about it. Thanks for looking. It looks like it has not been connected for a long time, if ever. =)
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Robb, I'm getting old but my eyes are still pretty good. Spent the last 15 minutes looking over wiring diagrams of cars up to 64, I'm not seeing that color combo until 64 up and that's in the instrument light assembly . I've got another book in the basement, just have to find it.
Anyone else seeing or not seeing the white wire w/purple stripe on your diagram ?
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I removed the wire from the coil to the fuse block, replaced it with a new wire and re-wrapped up the loom. Started on first try!
The existing wire was split and melted in many places, but it didn't seem to damage the other wires. I was surprised the fuse didn't blow.
When extracting the wire from the loom I did find a white wire with purple strip behind my oil cooler near the distributor. Any idea what it is? It appeared to run towards the binnacle.
Thank for the help!
Robb
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Only thing left is you need to buy my NOS 530433 Lucas bottle, comes with instructions .
Now that is funny!
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Unless you mean wire when you write fusible link, there are no fusible links in mini harnesses.
I'm not going to get into a pissing match over this one. Yes, back in 62 there was no fusible link. Some replacement looms had fusible links/improvements over OEM. There was a guy in Canada that made what looked like a factory loom but he added Fusible Links to key areas. He did great work. Others make them also. If you didn't read what I wrote the first time, I won't ask you to reread it.
Only thing left is you need to buy my NOS 530433 Lucas bottle, comes with instructions .
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As Sxsman said, coils are hard to hurt. In this case, a short to either coil terminal is NOT going to have hurt the coil. Based on your comments I am assuming the car has been converted to negative ground. If the dipstick touched coil (+) then all the current went through the dipstick, not the coil. If the dipstick shorted to the low side of the coil, that is equivalent to the points being closed so nothing (not even the wire) would be damaged.
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If the fried wire is wrapped into a bundle (or loom) with others, separate the wrapped section and remove the bad wire. If you saw white smoke chances are the wire got hot enough to damage the insulation on adjacent wires. With a 2-fuse box, a lot of juice can go into a wire before one of theose 35A fuses pops. I helped sort out a similar issue on a friend's MK1 after the instrument light socket from a tach he was installng fell down and shorted, cooking his loom.
Thanks, I will do that and move the coil as SXSMAN suggests.
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If the fried wire is wrapped into a bundle (or loom) with others, separate the wrapped section and remove the bad wire. If you saw white smoke chances are the wire got hot enough to damage the insulation on adjacent wires. With a 2-fuse box, a lot of juice can go into a wire before one of theose 35A fuses pops. I helped sort out a similar issue on a friend's MK1 after the instrument light socket from a tach he was installng fell down and shorted, cooking his loom.
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"Hang on a minute lads....I've got a great idea."
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Except for some of the MPi and SPi mongrels...
Fortunately it is a Mk 1 '62, not a Mk 4/5 '62.
It probably has an Austin America 1275 in it though.
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Except for some of the MPi and SPi mongrels...
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Unless you mean wire when you write fusible link, there are no fusible links in mini harnesses.
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Thanks for the quick answers.
I have 14 gauge black wire, it looks thicker than the original, so I am guessing the original is 16 gauge. What I have is black, so I will probably pick up a roll in 14g white.
The existing wiring looks 'custom', but it could be OEM wrapped in electrical tape.
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Use the same gauge as the existing wire, my guess is 16 gauge. The coil only draws 4 amps max.
The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who have not got it. G.B.S. Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit. Oscar Wilde
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Assuming the wiring harness hasn't been replaced you may be able to replace just the fried wire. If loom has been replaced it may have a section of fusible link wire on the end preventing the entire wire from frying and just a small section where the fusible link is would need replacing. I'm not sure of the gauge though, you don't want to use a too small a gauge and it goes without saying but I guess I'll say it, move the coil so this never happens again.
I wouldn't worry about the coil yet, repair the wire , reroute/relocate/move the coil and start the car, if it seems ok I'd say your done. Coils are hard to hurt.
Now modules for electronic ignition, that's a different story.
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So yesterday, I checked out my 62 Mini, adding air, topping off oil, in anticipation of meeting the San Diego mini club. Went to start the car and it turned over but didn't fire. That was unusual, so after a second I stopped. About then I noticed a puff of white smoke from the engine compartment. Opened the hood and I noticed a wire on the fuseblock had fried.
I didn't have much time, so I disconnected the battery and left. I saw Spank at the meeting and he instantly said I had a short.
When I got home, I noticed the end of oil dipstick was touching the + end of the coil! The wire between the coil and the fuse block (2 fuse type) is fried.
I looked at my wiring diagram and it looks like there is just a direct wire from the + coil to the fuse block.
My questions are:
1. Assuming just the one wire is damaged, what type of wire do I need to replace the one I fried? I have 'automotive' wire, but I don't know what gauge/type the existing is.
2. How do I test to make sure I didn't fry the coil?
3. Is there anything else I should check before I try and reconnect the battery?
Thanks, Robb