Hello I'm new here and also new owner of my first 1981 Fiat Spider 2000. It's drivable but does need a lot of work. My recent issue is this:
Driving the car home on a hot evening, (91ish), the ignition started sparking like fireworks! I pulled over, switched it off, and disconnected the battery then let everything cool down for nearly 2 hrs. My key was attached to many other keys and the rubber on one of the other keys actually melted a bit. The actual "spark time" was around 10 seconds before I pulled over and shut everything down. Keeping in mind that it always starts just fine and 2 hrs later a drove it home (about 6 miles) parked it and disconnected the battery again. This car does have a good amount of strange wiring issues so I'm hoping a bad ground and the other keys rubbing on the metal around the ignition could have something to do with it? Any ideas?
Sparky Ignition
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TulsaSpider
- Posts: 1547
- Joined: Tue Apr 29, 2008 7:33 pm
- Your car is a: 1978 Spyder 124 2L
- Location: Tulsa, Ok
Re: Sparky Ignition
Ok what exactly was sparking? The wires that go into the cap are prone to fraying. The issue with the ignition getting hot is probably a loose connection and may or may not be related, anyone else have ideas? I would just inspect everything closely
1978 Spyder 1800 make that 2L! Finally making real progress!
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axllebeer
Re: Sparky Ignition
The sparks were coming from around what looked like the surface for the ignition's keyhole. But it could've also been just below it where my other keys were rubbing the lower part of that area.
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Zippy
- Posts: 585
- Joined: Mon May 25, 2009 10:06 pm
- Your car is a: 1978 Fiat
- Location: Real Close to Milton, WA
Re: Sparky Ignition
I've never had the ignition switch out of my car to look at it but if you think it might be because the other keys were grounding out on the surrounding metal you migh have a short inside the ignition switch which is making the metal around the ignition key "hot" Try taking a DC voltmeter and check between the body of the key in the ignition and a nearby grounded metal part. If there is power there then there is a short circuit inside the ignition switch.
More than likely though is as you are driving and the ignition switch heats up from the load on it, the wires inside are moving a little and grounding out on the case or between each other. It may just be small frayed wires that are barely touching though because if it were a hard short it would blow the fuse. Think of the small frayed wires like a welding rod that burns away as the current is passed through it, causing the sparks.
You said it was in the evening, did you have your headlights on? There is an issue with some Fiats wiring not being adequate for the load and a repair called the "brown wire fix" Not sure if this would apply to your car or not.
In any event there must be something wrong with your ignition switch and I wouildn't drive the car until you get it resolved. You don't want it to catch fire. Get a good ABC rated fire extinguisher and keep it handy, especially while you are troubleshooting this problem. Open the trunk and be prepared to disconnect your battery in case the fuse doesn't blow.
Be sure to let us know what you find.
More than likely though is as you are driving and the ignition switch heats up from the load on it, the wires inside are moving a little and grounding out on the case or between each other. It may just be small frayed wires that are barely touching though because if it were a hard short it would blow the fuse. Think of the small frayed wires like a welding rod that burns away as the current is passed through it, causing the sparks.
You said it was in the evening, did you have your headlights on? There is an issue with some Fiats wiring not being adequate for the load and a repair called the "brown wire fix" Not sure if this would apply to your car or not.
In any event there must be something wrong with your ignition switch and I wouildn't drive the car until you get it resolved. You don't want it to catch fire. Get a good ABC rated fire extinguisher and keep it handy, especially while you are troubleshooting this problem. Open the trunk and be prepared to disconnect your battery in case the fuse doesn't blow.
Be sure to let us know what you find.
1978 Spider