Cowboi

my brothers mk3 golf had a weird problem soon after he bought it. it wouldnt start. it turned over but didnt start.
i check to see if it had a spark, it didnt. i check to see if it had a spark straight from the coil incase it was the distributer or rotor arm. it had nothing.

i didnt think of checking the voltage going to the coil and we just changed it.
still the 1.4 beast didnt rumble into life.

then my sisters boyfriend got his hands on it when i was out once and decided to wack 12 volts from the battery straight onto one of the wires going to the coil pack.
apparently it kinda started once but it didnt but it didnt fix it.

i was a bit confused. my dad then came round one weekend. he knows a thing or 2 about cars (he should as he built 2 of them).
he checked the voltage at the coil, found 12 volts and tried to start it.
it started. and it started every time since then untill last week.
the only other thing that was done on the car was the thermostat housing was changed which is under the distributer.
so something could of been knocked while changing it that somehow fixed the problem.

so last week. my brother got pissed off with the crappy battery terminals that was on his battery as they just wernt secure. so he bought some new ones and changed them.
now the car wont start again.
It still turns over fine, but wont fire. its getting petrol as u can smell it after cranking.

But he has also lost the lights on the dash.
things in the car still work like the blowers and the lights. it hasnt lost the ignition live as with out turning the key u only get side lights, but when u turn the key the dipped head lights come on.

i thought it sounded like a relay, but didnt want to go buying new ones untill someone else thought the same thing.


there are 3 wires going to the coil. i think its a black, green and brown.
does anyone know what the wires are? i though black was live, and brown earth.
is the earth to a coil switched? and this is was callaspes the field to produce the high voltage that goes to the distributor?

any thoughts would be appreciated. and if you can tell me things to test i'll do it asap and post up the results.

i really want to get it running for him so he can get out and have some fun in his first car. but he is just getting depressed about having a car that he has paid for but cant drive.

cheers in advance guys. maybe u can help me cheer my lil bro up!

James

iirc one is a live, one a earth and the other is either a cranking live or a pulsed cranking live, i can't remember which.

If he's changed the battery terminals i'll bet ya he's left a wire off/put it on the wrong terminal.

Cowboi

i checked around the battery. there was no wires hanging about that looked like they should be on the battery.

he assures me that he done them one at a time. and connected everything back up before starting the next terminal. i'll have another check tomorrow and make sure that there isnt a wire on the neg that should be on the pos.

if he is that stupid he will be getting a slap

Cowboi

just checked the battery, other than the large red and blacks there is only 1 smaller red on the positive side and a similar size brown on the neg side

i'm pretty sure that browns meant to be on the neg side

Anonymous

u could always trace the brown wire back to be sure where it goes to

Cowboi

does anyone else think it could be a relay if it definately isnt a cable on the wrong side of the battery?

James

deffo try tracing the brown cable.

i've had something very similair on a vw caddy, which turned out to be one one on the wrong side of the battery.

Cowboi

ok i havnt actually traced the brown cable but i took it off the cable the terminal. and is was a dead short with earth.

ive traced the cables going to the coil pack.
brown is an earth, green goes to the ecu and the black goes to the fuse board.
but there is no 12v supply at the fuse board for the coil.

im guessing that where ever the coil gets its feed from also feeds the dash lights.
i just need to find where its ment to be fed from and go from there.

James

do a continuity check between the missing live at the coil and the spare cable on the battery.

Cowboi

will do mate. i'm off on holiday tomorrow but i'll try and do it before i go.

cheers