Rig Won't Shut Down. This Is A First For Me.

One of my first thoughts…haha!

 

What is the white wire on the coil?
Tach? Remove it and check for power without starting the engine.
Then pull all your fuses and check for power at coil without starting.

 

Ok, so i’m not getting 12v at the coil in the off position any more. Could there have been a charge from the condenser that has now bled off?

 

condenser info, got it.

No voltage at the coil with the wires disconnected or connected.

it does.

 

OK, so...

Let's just say for argument's sake that I've been wanting to rewire this rig since i bought it and the camel has been carrying many straws,
including a no start situation,
many cobbled together wires,
old GM harness parts from the steering column I don't even have any more,
many melted wires from improper mounting near the fenderwell headers, etc.

and I have:

A winch
A 198 V6, but possibly a motor swap in my future
A desire to add a GM 90-amp alternator
A desire to add a hidden USB port for Phone charging
A desire to add a 12v air compressor
A desire to add a rear USB port for kid/device phone charging
A desire to not be chasing random shorts
No desire for originality, but only what is most reliable/easy to troubleshoot
A budget of less than $500

What would you recommend? Walck's stock replacement, KaiserWillys? Painless? EZ wire?

I am NOT going to go wire by wire and replace this wiring harness...lol. This is supposed to be a FUN hobby of mine.

I am very good at installs. I am very meticulous when I have a plan. Wiring does NOT come naturally and I do NOT intuitively understand electrical engineering.

 

Well I would have recommended the wire by wire approach. That’s what I did and it was extremely easy. I actually ordered a painless and then returned it because it looked quite painful. For my brain it was easier to just deal with one circuit at a time vs a whole clump of wires. So I bought wire in a bunch of different colors, a bluesea 12 fuse block, and some connectors and spent a couple evenings wiring everything up.

 

I'm thinking its simple like a bad ignition switch.

 

id do a walcks, or some hot rod generic one. for a couple hundred bucks it will give you more than what you need, and then you can mount the fuse block somewhere more accessible than up under the dashboard.
i bought a painless one, but it was right around your 500.00 dollar budget limit. and ive got so many wire spools left over and ziptied up under my dash from when i did my 1970, its insane.

 

The efi harness I bought was well worth it in materials alone. But call and talk to a person for your mods and they might up the primary and do all the thinking for you. That's how I got the extra idle controls wired in.

X2

 

You have an engine swap, a GM column, and an alternator? I'd question whether the Walck's harness would accommodate all these changes. Something for Walck's to answer. In your case, I would suggest repairing what you have, or use one of the many "universal" hot rod harnesses. As built, the Jeep had no fuse panel as such, and any of the hot rod harnesses would give you that. In either case, you're going to have to do some brain work to get to a finished state where everything works.

I'm not put off by the existing wiring, even if it's all messed up. Some human got it to its current messed up state, and a human can return it to a state of proper order. Have some confidence in your ability to learn and figure things out. Car wiring is really simple in concept and execution, and only seems complicated because there are a lot of circuits side-by-side. Take the circuits one at a time. You don't have to hold the whole thing in your head at once.

The hot rod harness will give you a lot of new wire, and this can be a real advantage. I think they don't provide you with a wiring diagram as such, and the wiring diagram is an important asset for any future maintenance and repair. Instead, if they provide any instructions at all, they give you something like a recipe or list of instructions. You'd need to re-use all the terminations, and it may be worthwhile to eliminate the original plugs and sockets. You could either simply leave them out and wire direct, or replace with a universal connector like a Weatherpack.

 

Test each wire separately, disconnected from the coil. Testing them together does not tell you anything about them separately.

 

if there was somewhere that could make you a custom harness for the amount of money you have available, that'd be cool, but i think it may be out of reach. i'd still give it a try, you may get lucky.

 

Yessir, i did that. I tested the white wire at the coil and traced it back to the key. No 12v

i tested and traced the red wire back to a small post on the starter. again no 12v