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OverlandMan
06-01-2014, 08:09 PM
Before I start to explain things, I want to warn that this thread has a good chance to become lengthy... so apologies ahead of time.

BACKGROUND
I've had my car for about 2 years. To the best of my knowledge it's a stock setup (original motor w/ K-Jet, ect.) Last September I had a 20-30 second spot fire in the proximity of cylinder 4 on top of the cylinder head (under the ISM and around the #4 injector and #4 plug + wire. Just prior to the fire, the car was mis-firing and running like crap, which it had never done before.

Over the winter and spring, I replaced the following:

Plugs & plug wires
Distributor cap & rotor
All fuel lines
Banjo bolts and copper washers
Mixture unit seal
Injector seals and clips


CURRENT STATUS & PROBLEM

Last weekend I finally had enough time to get the final fuel return line connected (the PIA one with the compression fitting that sends fuel back to the accumulator and/or tank). I tried to flow test all the injectors but my battery was dead from sitting over the winter and wouldn't take a charge.

This weekend I picked up a new battery and tried to resume the flow testing. That's when I noticed the following problems:

The ballast resistor is so hot that I burned my finger on it.
I noticed a spade w/o a connector on the ballast resistor (see pic)
There's another component (pictured) that appears to be a vacuum switch or something that is also warm but not scalding like the ballast resistor
The Idle Speed Motor was buzzing/humming and vibrating
The ignition coil was warm but not hot or scalding
The ECU was not warm or hot but there are some interesting connections or lack there of (PO hack wiring or stock? --> see pic)


It should be noted that I had the ignition key switched to the run position when this occurred. I also had the RPM relay jumped (between 30 and 87) using a toggle switch. Even with the jumper switch off the ISM was still humming and vibrating. First thing I did was disconnect the battery and shut off the ignition key. Then I read my technical service manual and took some pictures. Now that I'm thinking through this, it makes a little sense in that with regards to the spot fire last September, I only cured one problem... the fuel leak. I never found out what sparked it but I'm starting to guess it was one of these components. I figured I'd get the community's input here as I'm not sure where to start. Any help would be appreciated. Here are the pics for reference.

277712777227773

DMCMW Dave
06-01-2014, 08:28 PM
CURRENT STATUS & PROBLEM

This weekend I picked up a new battery and tried to resume the flow testing. That's when I noticed the following problems:

The ballast resistor is so hot that I burned my finger on it.
I noticed a spade w/o a connector on the ballast resistor (see pic)
There's another component (pictured) that appears to be a vacuum switch or something that is also warm but not scalding like the ballast resistor
The Idle Speed Motor was buzzing/humming and vibrating
The ignition coil was warm but not hot or scalding
The ECU was not warm or hot but there are some interesting connections or lack there of (PO hack wiring or stock? --> see pic)

]

Everything listed is Normal. The wiring in the third pic is the factory power antenna, which looks remarkably as it would if installed by WalMart.

D Knight
06-01-2014, 08:57 PM
The first pic looks like there are too many wires on your resistor. I only have 3 on mine. Looks like you have 2 wires on the upper right spade. 27774 what is the other one for, Dave?


-D Knight-

OverlandMan
06-01-2014, 09:51 PM
Everything listed is Normal. The wiring in the third pic is the factory power antenna, which looks remarkably as it would if installed by WalMart.

Really? Wow! I know resistors get warm w/ resistance heating and all but I thought it was a red flag that it was this hot.

As for the wiring in the third pic, can you tell me why there are 3 disconnected wires? One is red with a glass inline fuse. The other two come off that little transparent relay looking component. One is yellow and the other is white-yellow I believe.



D Knight

The first pic looks like there are too many wires on your resistor. I only have 3 on mine. Looks like you have 2 wires on the upper right spade. Attachment 27774 what is the other one for, Dave?


The upper-right side with the double-connector I traced back. It looks like one goes to the ignition coil while the other goes to the little gold relay mounted on the metal frame where engine cover light momentary switch is mounted. Not sure what that relay does.

Flicky
06-01-2014, 11:28 PM
My 81 has that same double hook up on the top right. Here is a pic.