While replacing the ignition wiring harness at the fuse box the other day, I had discovered that the green wire at fuse #6 had disintegrated, basically the insulation had come off, exposing the bare wire. I was able to easily scrape off the insulation with only my fingers.
This is the solid green wire that is piggybacked together with the two other solid green wires into a single female spade connector (unaltered factory wiring setup). The other two wires are connected to a diagnostic port and to an idiot light at the fuel gauge/water temperature instrument cluster. A continuity test confirmed the wire to be the ballast resistor wire. Initially, I saw part of the wiring insulation near the connector had chafed. Upon further investigation, I found about 6 inches of the damaged wire that was not covered by the original factory cloth wiring wrap was totally delaminated from the copper wire. The rest of the green wire was wrapped along with other wires into a bundle towards the back of the bulkhead and part of it into the engine bay, had I dug further in, It would have probably have shown more damaged wire. It seemed that the insulation had melted due to overheating, however it did not showed any arcing or burn damage. The other two piggybacked wires did not showed any deformation. Although the green wire from the ignition switch harness that was connected to fuse #6 (suppose to be attached to Fuse #7 according to factory wiring diagram from repair manual) showed an 1/8" chafe but with no burn marks close to connector at fuse box.
I'm supposing that this problem is related to my ignition coil setup. Whether this is a recent development or something that had been there for awhile is hard to say. Presently, this is my ignition coil setup. Bosch blue coil with no external resistor, prior to this, I'd installed the Bosch red coil with an external 1.8 ohm ballast resistor. When I bought my coupe back in 2002, the car had the original coil and resistor setup.
The reason why I changed the ignition wiring harness was the car intermittently not start after turning off the the ignition after moderate to extended runs. This would happen almost without fail most of the times, the car would start again if I were to wiggle the key a bit or if I were to let the car sit and cool itself down for an extended period, then the car would start right up instantly each and every time, even cold, cold overnight cold starts. Other than this hard starting issue, the coupe ran just perfectly with no other running symptoms or maladies. Although this has been a big headache for me. I suppose this is a blessing in disguise. I probably never would have found this problem otherwise, probably would've found out after a complete meltdown at the fuse box or god forbid, a car fire.
I would appreciate any thoughts or inputs as to what can cause this condition. Am I on base or off base with my supposition or could it be something else altogether entirely? TIA.
Bert
72 3.5 CSi (L-jet, 5 speed conversion)
88 M6
This is the solid green wire that is piggybacked together with the two other solid green wires into a single female spade connector (unaltered factory wiring setup). The other two wires are connected to a diagnostic port and to an idiot light at the fuel gauge/water temperature instrument cluster. A continuity test confirmed the wire to be the ballast resistor wire. Initially, I saw part of the wiring insulation near the connector had chafed. Upon further investigation, I found about 6 inches of the damaged wire that was not covered by the original factory cloth wiring wrap was totally delaminated from the copper wire. The rest of the green wire was wrapped along with other wires into a bundle towards the back of the bulkhead and part of it into the engine bay, had I dug further in, It would have probably have shown more damaged wire. It seemed that the insulation had melted due to overheating, however it did not showed any arcing or burn damage. The other two piggybacked wires did not showed any deformation. Although the green wire from the ignition switch harness that was connected to fuse #6 (suppose to be attached to Fuse #7 according to factory wiring diagram from repair manual) showed an 1/8" chafe but with no burn marks close to connector at fuse box.
I'm supposing that this problem is related to my ignition coil setup. Whether this is a recent development or something that had been there for awhile is hard to say. Presently, this is my ignition coil setup. Bosch blue coil with no external resistor, prior to this, I'd installed the Bosch red coil with an external 1.8 ohm ballast resistor. When I bought my coupe back in 2002, the car had the original coil and resistor setup.
The reason why I changed the ignition wiring harness was the car intermittently not start after turning off the the ignition after moderate to extended runs. This would happen almost without fail most of the times, the car would start again if I were to wiggle the key a bit or if I were to let the car sit and cool itself down for an extended period, then the car would start right up instantly each and every time, even cold, cold overnight cold starts. Other than this hard starting issue, the coupe ran just perfectly with no other running symptoms or maladies. Although this has been a big headache for me. I suppose this is a blessing in disguise. I probably never would have found this problem otherwise, probably would've found out after a complete meltdown at the fuse box or god forbid, a car fire.
I would appreciate any thoughts or inputs as to what can cause this condition. Am I on base or off base with my supposition or could it be something else altogether entirely? TIA.
Bert
72 3.5 CSi (L-jet, 5 speed conversion)
88 M6