I explored my ignition system more today and it is still perplexing. It has been converted to 12v and the previous owner installed a new starter but used the old solenoid which had both an S and R terminal. Unfortunately, it won't engage the flywheel so I installed the new solenoid. It only has an S terminal and one of the housing screws is labeled R. If I run a wire from the R screw to the + on the coil the ballast resistor gets red hot when in the run position. There is also no voltage across the ballast resistor (12.5 on one side and .25 on the other). Thus no voltage is getting to the coil and it won't start.
If I remove the wire between the R screw and coil, the voltage increases across the ballast resistor (12.5 before and 4.6 after). Yet after running for about 20 minutes the coil overheats and it shuts down. (Side note, all voltages taken with the ignition in the run position but without the engine running)
So the old solenoid appears to be wired to work but won't engage (haven't had it running long enough to know) and the new one either overheats the ballast resistor or the coil depending on how it is wired. Any insight would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Last edited by tneely76; 01/23/2017 3:03 AM.
