Repairing ignition switch question

[burlybryan]

My ignition switch has been fussy and since the car is dry docked for the season, I decided to pull it and perform the Mirafiori repair. There was a bunch of non stock looking electrical tape on the larger harness so I pulled it to investigate. Does anyone know if its normal to have a jumper between the pink and blue/black wires? Seems a little kludgy.

Thanks!

[burlybryan]

Looking at Brads wiring diagram for the ignition, it appears the pink wire goes to the ignition coil and the blue/black splits after the harness connector into a wire going to the light switch and one to the #2 fuse location.

I'm wondering if this jumper was done to overcome a fault in the ignition switch or to get power reliably and in concert with the ignition to the lights.

I'm going out of town tomorrow so I won't be able to take apart the switch until sunday night. Will post what I find.

[giuliot60]

I rebuilt mine and believe that jumper wire was installed to compensate for something. I would think that after rebuilding you shouldn't have an issue, but I'm no expert.

The ignition has been working fine since. I've also bought the ignition relay set up from Auto Ricambi to prevent any future ignition failure issues, but haven't installed them yet.

[JEEPER]

I HAVE A 79 thru 81 FIAT 124 SPIDER NORTH AMERICAN WIRIND DIAGRAMS that I bought from Fiat in 1981. 79/80 look identical,however 81 is totally different. I'd be glad to scan it and email it ,but don't see how to do that through this forum.

[burlybryan]

Thanks for the offer Jeeper. I have the wiring diagrams for my '82.

[velozi]

Could be that the original ignition switch was replaced with one that had one less blade connector. So a jumper was added to feed power to the blank wire.

[giuliot60]

Good point velozi. The Lada ignitions do have one less connection.

[spider2081]

I'm guessing if it were a Lada ignition switch that has one less terminal either the blue/black or the pink wire would not be connected to the back of the switch itself, or if someone knew enough to jump the wires they more than likely would have soldered both wires to the same terminal on the back of the Lada switch. So if all the wires in the plug are connected to the ignition switch I think its a Fiat switch.

The stock Fiat ignition switch Has 3 sections. The black wire feeds power to one section of the ignition switch. When the ignition switch is in the "run or start" position the black wire connects to the pink wire. The brown wire feeds the other 2 sections of the ignition switch. In the "start" position the brown wire connects the red wire. The remaining section is also fed from the brown wire. Again when the switch is in the "start or run" position the brown wire connects to the blue/black wire.
I think someone installed the jumper chasing an intermittent. They connected the 2 outputs of the ignition switch that have power in "start or run" together.

[burlybryan]

Good info guys. For what its worth, the switch is stamped Sipea but no other information. Gonna take it apart tonight.

[burlybryan]

Just to wrap this up, I found a couple of pretty dirty contacts in the switch and one scorched and pitted. All summer I've been having scenarios where turning the key resulted in nothing. Hopefully cleaning this up solves that. I didn't remove the wire jumper, but I'll probably cut it and experiment so that if I have to reconnect, I'll just add a mechanical connector.

Easy fix, but it does help to have a good, adjustable temp soldering iron. Takes a while to flow the original solders.

[giuliot60]

Yes, a good soldering iron is key. I bought a brand new Weller for this job and it made it so quick. The right tool for the job is always important.