Funky problems swith the 76 2002

[redbmwr80st]

Hello all,

I hope someone can help me. I live in Northern New England and as you may know we have had the wettest summer on record here. My 1976 2002, Anna,has been parked in the barn for the past month waiting for drier weather. She would not start however, I was getting a weak spark at the plugs and she was due for a tune-up. Yesterday, I replaced the coil ( new blue coil from Bavarian Auto) , new points , Dizzy cap and rotor and condenser. Plugs were cclean and looked good. She started up after after a feww coughs and was running smooth . Today, I went to start her and absolutley nothing happened when she turned over. The starter just cranks over but she didnt fire at all. After checking, I have no spark at the points and when I started to troubleshoot her, I noticed that my # 8 fuse was blown. I replaced the fuse and it blew again immediately. I have yet to start looking for a short, but noticed that when I turn Anna over, the tach needle jumps up and down, which I have not noticed before. Is the number eight fuse (which controls the right parking lights and the instrument panel) the culprit to my not having power going to the points. WTF? Do I have a broken wire or shorted wire going from the ingnition switch to the coil?How do I test this without ripping things apart? Any suggestions how to approach this problem? All input is welcome.

What fuse if any controls the ingition coil ?

Thanks everyone!

Steve V. in Vermont

[Guest Anonymous]

http://home.comcast.net/~randymolson/02wiringdiagram-76.pdf

[PatAllen]

hummm, fuse # 8 is for parking light iirc.

if its a 76 i think there was no fuse for the coil itself but rather just a resistive wire/link otherwise fuse #12 also powers up important items under the hood. ive seen a lot of variant for this circuit so i cant tell...

try to rotate all of them in their sockets, its a common problem with theses fuses to not conduct anymore because of some corosion on the contact.

hth

[redbmwr80st]

Thanks to both of you for responding. The problem(s) has been solved.

The previous owner had de-smogged the car so the wiring harness was a little modified. I traced the power wire on the coil back to the problem. The coil wire had been spilt and the wire re-connected with a full nelson twist and a piece of friction tape. Sheesh, when will people learn how to solder and shrink-tube splices? The short on the right side was a result of the Seattle like weather the Northeast has had this year. Somehow, water had dripped down the side of the inside of the trunk by the fuel filler pipe and the connecter to the taillamp was damp and touching the bumper mount bolt. Dried it off and Shazam, problem solved. Now to fix the small leak in the barn roof.

When we have electrical problems with these cars, just keep on tracing and you will find the problem eventually. God I love this forum . Thanks again. Until next time ( which will happen)

Steve in Vermont