Hi Shane!
The resistence of the ballast wire will be about 1.8 ohms.
It's connected to one of the two white wires that come off your
ignition switch connector under the dash. The actual point on the
harness where these two wires are crimped together will probably be
exposed. It may look like a DPO bodge...it's not...it's a Triumph
bodge. :-)
If you were to show up at my doorstep threatening to shoot out my Spit
tires unless I fixed it, here's what I'd try:
1. Disconnect both white with yellow stripe wires at the coil and the
start relay/solenoid. Protect from shorting.
2. Turn ignition to run. Measure disconnected w/y coil wire to
ground. You should see battery voltage here...12 volts or more. If
yes, go to next step...otherwise go to step 6.
3. Reconnect the w/y wire to the start relay/solenoid.
4. Again measure disconnected w/y coil wire to ground. Again look
for >12 volts. If not go to step 7. If yes, proceed.
5. This would be a good time to try a installing a spare ballasted
coil if you have one. Measure the + terminal <with w/y connected this
time> to ground. Ignition key still set to run. Now we should see
something like the 9 volts you mentioned earlier...if the old coil was
bad that is.
6. . Ballast wire circuit. You have some options here...if you've
found the secret crimp connector on the harness where the white wire
and the pink with white are located, you can try to get you meter
probe connected here.
Your reading here to ground should be >12 volts with ignition in run.
If you got it, then I'm gonna say that your ballast wire is fried or
shorting within the harness. Investigate or you might end up with a
nasty fire.
If you *don't* get the full 12 volts here then we're looking at a bad
connection at the ignition switch connector under the dash, or the
ignition switch itself...not real likely though if the ballast wire is
cooking.
7. Start relay/solenoid. Disconnect the w/y wire from the start
relay/solenoid terminal again. Measuring the terminal to ground this
time, ignition switch still in run, look for 0 volts...nada.
Next...set meter to ohms scale. You should read very close to
infinity. If either is wrong then we might be looking at a miswired
or faulty start relay. The long shot is that your seatbelt interlock
has become connected to this point and is miswired also.
Which happens to be exactly what you thought was wrong in the first
place. :-)
Cheers!
Tom O'Malley
'74, '77 Spits
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