The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Electrical Bay It's hot

Just got my 55 2nd series done last month, engine rebuilt, new wire ,new distributor, rebuilt carb, it's a 265. It stopped last weekend had to pull it home next day got it started, not running great! I even think I may have sucked up varish from the tank. But I have noticed that the coil gets very hot while I'm work on the engine, maybe I have something wired wrong. I looked at the diagram, It never starts with the switch in start, you have to let it go, so that is probably not a good thing. Help Thank !!!

you're missing the ignition resistor, or it's bad, or has loose/wrong connections - coil can't take straight 12V all the time, so gets hot - current wiring on the ign sw is such you're not getting power to the coil in the start position, just in the run position - should be a line direct to the coil from the start position, thru the resistor in the run position

Bill

thanks I have a resistor, and a new one at that, but the old one was good checked it with an ohm meter. I've got a wire wrong some place, is there just one wire on the + side of the coil?

Ted,

A traditional method is to use the 'R' terminal on the starter solenoid to supply full power to the coil during a START. That bypass wire could either be attached to the coil + or it could be piggybacked on the coil side of the ballast resistor.

When the key flops back to RUN from START, it now supplies the coil through the resistor.

I would take a little voltage tester and make darn sure there was NO voltage to the coil when the key was OFF. Cooked points can make a car run poorly...maybe that's what going on with your rig. Check the points for any color change and take a look at the point surfaces..they should be smooth and shiny.

It almost sounds like your ignition switch is wired wrong and you have no coil power during START, but when it flops back to RUN it is powered. Powering the coil through the solenoid bypass (R) terminal would take care of that.

Stuart

Thanks Bill and Stuart well I did some checking and with the key on and both wires disconnect from the resistor and the + wire off the coil with a volt meter I have 12 volts on each wire, I'm surprized this thing ran,I had juice going to the coil and had juice on both sides of the resistor!!!!! I wondered about the R terminal on the starter solenoid but didn't see it that way on a wire diagram. I think I'll run a wire from the R to the bottom side of the resistor and just jump one from that down to the coil, and install a new set of points and condenser. Thanks again guys !!!!1

Ted - the R terminal isn't usually used with the key start V8, the ign sw does the trick of providing full 12V when in start position and reduced voltage via the resistor when in run - if you have the correct original color coded wires, here's the connections

Bill

The only time you'll see a voltage drop on the downstream side of the resistor will be with all the wires connected, AND THE POINTS CLOSED! As soon as you disconnect any wires, or open the points, the voltage will jump up to 12V everywhere. In order for the resistor to work, you need a complete circuit from the battery, to the ignition switch, the resistor, coil, points, and ground. You should see about a 2.5-3 volt drop across the resistor when it's flowing current- - - -key on, and points closed. The "R" terminal on the starter provides full battery voltage to the coil + terminal as long as the starter is running, bypassing the resistor. You can either connect it to the downstream side of the resistor, or the coil + terminal. It works the same either way.
Jerry

Bill,

The wiring diagram for a '55 truck shows the bypass terminal being used during START to feed the ignition switch START terminal which in turn feeds the coil side of the ballast resistor. Too complicated for me..I'll stick with the old AD stuff.

Stuart

the main wiring diagram for 55 2nd is for the 6cyl foot start - yer right, confusing with the V8 key start there's a slightly better wire schematic in the assembly manual specifically for the V8, although it's labeled for the 5000 series cuz originally the V8 was intended for the big trucks

Ted is saying he'll bypass the switch by running R direct to the resistor output, not the way to do it

Bill

Bill thanks again , I'm still confused I do have an orginal hardness, and on the switch I have the two green wires next to the violet going to the soleniod, and with the key on they are both hot one went to the coil and one to the resistor, but I also had the brown that also went to other side on the resistor, but my problem was they are all hot with the key on, so for now I'm going to try the bypass from the R terminal unplug the green from the switch and run a wire from the resistor to the coil, I understand when the engine is cranking I will get juice from the R terminal, question??? after it starts I will be sending juice from the bottom side of the resistor back to the R terminal,is that o.k. ?????????

Ted,

Once the solenoid drops, out the bypass terminal(contacts) opens. All the wiring on the coil/resistor side are on the dead side of the open contact...it's fine!

If you draw a little cartoon of your wiring and switches it's easier to visualize what is going on.

Stuart

the R terminal is only hot when the solenoid is activated, that should be the violet wire if I remember rightly, and the solenoid terminal toward the pass side

one of the grn wires should go to the coil and one to the resistor, and the brown to the other side of the resistor - the correct connections re the resistor and coil are so there can't be any power to the coil [engine can't be started] unless it comes via the switch in start or run

key in run should have power on both green [to-coil and from-resistor], brown feeds the resistor, the resistor green is feeding the coil green - in start the coil green is being fed by the violet, from the solenoid

maybe you need to skip the voltage checks, use an ohmmeter to check the switch functions and be sure the terminals are as given in the diagram, repro switches may have changed things, I have seen a couple different configurations of terminals

Bill

Bill I think your'll right got the switch from chevy duty, or classic parts I guess it is. I think the terminals on the back of the switch may differ yes I need to check with ohm meter because I had it hocked up by the book but had the wrong terminal,I guess anyway thanks for your help I really appreciated the help, I ran a wire from R to the resistor and a wire from the resistor to the coil and installed a new set of points and condenser, hit the key,dam that was nice it started in start, which sounds a little funny to most people, it runs great again, I'm still going to try and sort out the problem, but I needed to hear it run again, you know it was a piece of mind thing. Now I can sleep tonight.....Thanks...Ted