i was setting the timing on my buggy today and got it started. then it just died and will click when i turn the key now. so this is what i got 12v at the battery turn the key on it goes down to 8.5v but when i take the wire off the coil it goes back up to 12v. so is the coil bad or should i look at some other stuff first.

thanks

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My ECOTEC swap http://www.woodsbuggy.com/index.php?option=com_jfusion&Itemid=10&jfile=viewtopic.php&f=23&t=11394

are you saying it clicks and wont crank? or it clicks and cranks over and just wont start?

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NOW GAS IT!!!!!

i just makes a sound no cranking. it seems like the coil is putting a load on the battery. it was running fine before ran for about 15 mins or so

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My ECOTEC swap http://www.woodsbuggy.com/index.php?option=com_jfusion&Itemid=10&jfile=viewtopic.php&f=23&t=11394

check your battery terminals and the connections on your starter sounds like you got a bad ground,clean up the contact points and if they are all tight and clean then your selnoid on your starter may be bad.chad

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NOW GAS IT!!!!!

i looked it over everything looked ok but it was getting dark. but the starter may be some of my prob to bc the guy i got it off of had been starting it with a charger on boost start of 200 amps or something but it just was out of time. when i fix the timing it was turning over good. and looking at the Wiring Diagram on here i really think the wires on the coil was on wrong but i would not think it would start then. when i was looking it over the coil was very HOT. so have to try to look at it this weekend sometime

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My ECOTEC swap http://www.woodsbuggy.com/index.php?option=com_jfusion&Itemid=10&jfile=viewtopic.php&f=23&t=11394

well to start i wouldnt think that a fully charged battery should drop that many volts just turning on switch

so it sounds to me like you have a dead short or a loose or bad connection somewhere for that matter and it could be the coil by it getting unreasonably hot but could also be something else

my best though is either the coil or the battery has just went bad, i had one in my car one day that had never give any sign of going bad and i was backing out of the driveway and the just died and as it turned out the battery just shorted out internally

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Just Stand On It!!!!

Chris

X2...Ive had several batteries develop internal shorts over the years. Clean up all your connections & make sure they are tight. Negative side of coil goes to distributor. This wont cause short but will deliver better spark.

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not trying to dispute your word dbn but it will short out an elctronic or at least ive seen it happen at least twice however it may work either way with points im not sure on that but you are correct that the neg goes to dist. and pos. goes to keyed power source

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Just Stand On It!!!!

Chris

Ive never hooked a coil up backwards on an electronic before so I dont know the consequences. I only tossed that in there since having the coil wired backwards causes very weak spark with points & makes it tough to start with a weak battery. I wonder if having it backwards with an electronic ignition would make the coil heat up like he described?

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the 2 i seenblew the ignition module and we didnt leave it hooked up long enough to see if the coil got hot

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Just Stand On It!!!!

Chris

ok the coil was hooked up backwards would this burn anything up or hurt the coil. and the starter is bad so i need to get one. but is there anything else i should look at.

Also i have a 3rib and autozone online has a bug and bus having the same starter is this right

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My ECOTEC swap http://www.woodsbuggy.com/index.php?option=com_jfusion&Itemid=10&jfile=viewtopic.php&f=23&t=11394

i had it running again today the coil was really hot again so i pulled it it sound like it has air in it. and not sure if the coil being hooked up backwards done it but my battery was bad also.

also so everyone knows it starts alot faster and runs better when the coil is hooked up right

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My ECOTEC swap http://www.woodsbuggy.com/index.php?option=com_jfusion&Itemid=10&jfile=viewtopic.php&f=23&t=11394

From my past experience with round coils, I have seen coils get so hot that the outside shape of itself deformed the where it is not round anymore, it became shaped like and egg from the clamp that holds it, you should be able to see which is positive and which is negative on the top of the coil where the wires hook up to it. I have ran round coils for some time until I went all MSD and never seen my coil get hot again and that is a coil pack that I am running too, if it is hooked up backwards, it should not work at all or in some cases it will provide a very weak spark, but very unusual if it does that, what coil are you running? It sounds like you may need to put a ballast resistor on it to change the resistance of the load on the coil so it will not run hot if it has been hooked up correctly. The system is very simple to hook up if you are running a 009 system, just hook your ignition on directly to your positive on the coil and hook the distributor up to the negative on the coil. I dunno how many wires is coming out of the distributor, if its only one, then that's they way you hook it up.

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"Loud pipes saves lives"

Crap....I forgot about having the wrong coil. Bosch coils work fine but some aftermarket coils need a ballast resistor in the positive lead. It drops voltage going into the coil to 5 volts I think. 3 rib & car starter are the same. Get one for a 74 beetle auto trans. 16300 is part # at Autozone I think.

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