Mystery loss of electrics

Gotta love that wiring . . .
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70spider
Posts: 676
Joined: Fri Mar 14, 2014 3:05 pm
Your car is a: 1970 Fiat spider
Location: N.E. New Mexico

Mystery loss of electrics

Post by 70spider »

Hello,
Ok here is the run down. Yesterday everything was going fine then all of a sudden I lose power and the car dies. It cranks but a weird thing happens I have electrics for about a second or two and I hear what sounds like a relay switching behind the dash click then everything cuts out. I have an electric fuel pump so no electrics no go. I repeat it and the same thing, power click no power. Could it be the ignition switch? No fuses blow. If I turn the key back to the off position and try again it repeats. It acts like a circuit breaker, pops then resets with no power. Mystery.
I'll study the wiring diagram to see if there are any factory relays there. Well at least I got about 200 miles out of him before he broke down again, making progress.
1970 Fiat Spider 124 Sport aka "Pesto"
2002 Mazda Protege5
2013 Buddy 170i
User avatar
70spider
Posts: 676
Joined: Fri Mar 14, 2014 3:05 pm
Your car is a: 1970 Fiat spider
Location: N.E. New Mexico

Re: Mystery loss of electrics

Post by 70spider »

Update:
The click I hear is the gauge. So I tested the wires for power and there no power to the coil yet I have 12V at the alternator and the starter. From older posts on ignition switches it seems to be pointing me in that direction.
1970 Fiat Spider 124 Sport aka "Pesto"
2002 Mazda Protege5
2013 Buddy 170i
markintheair
Posts: 56
Joined: Fri Oct 12, 2012 7:44 am
Your car is a: Fiat 124 Spider 81 FI - Corsa Rosso
Location: The Netherlands

Re: Mystery loss of electrics

Post by markintheair »

Maybe you can check the brown wire going from the starter solenoid through the firewall. This wire goes through a white connector somewhere around the steering column area to the ignition switch. This is often a point of corrosion/malfunction. You can either take the wire apart and clean everything up properly, preferably removing the connector and making a new (better) connection between the two wires. Or you can run an extra #10 length of wire from the starter stud to the ignition and connect it to the #30 terminal. This takes a lot of load away from the ignition switch.
Only the fool looks at a finger that points at the sky.
'81 FI Spider 2000
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