Finding the ignition wire in a 1984 Vanagon
I think wiring is the scariest part of any engine work. When I replaced the engine in my 1988 Toyota Pickup I spent more time labeling the hell out of everything than actually plucking the motor. There is just nothing more frustrating than trying to track down an electrical problem. My effort paid off when the engine fired up first try.
Finding the ignition wire on my 1984 took a little detective work. Jim's manual currently only deals with later models. I had some ideas from the manual but Jim posted a great diagram on the Bostig forum that showed it pretty clearly. I don't know where he got that but I'd like to find out.
Basically the bus wiring enters the engine compartment in the upper left, directly into a black box. There are a few harnesses that exit the box, but one of them has a black wire that pops out and feeds up to the coil. That's the ignition wire. It's just a matter of finding that one wire out of the spaghetti. The other wires coming out of that box go to brake and tail lights, licence plate lights, etc., so don't go monkeying around in there with clippers. You just need that one wire.
I found and marked the wire and then pulled the coil, idle stabilizer, computer, etc. Once it was all out it was easy to see that the ignition wire is almost the only one that bridges the engine wiring harness with the body wiring harness. Think of the two harnesses as two spaghetti bowls joined by a strand.
Next, I cleaned up the engine compartment. I couldn't see putting a new engine into a dirty compartment. I took some paint thinner, Formula 409 and a roll of paper towels and wiped it all out. I was always inspired by Scotty on Star Trek who was always running around shaking a wrench at his junior engineers and performing the white glove test. Mine will pass for now, but one drive up my dirty gravel road will change all that.
Here is another view of the ignition wire. It's the dangling one with the tape on it. Since I really only need 3 wires (Power, ignition, ground) to get the Zetec going, I'm 1/3 of the way there! Next I'll round up the power, various sensors, etc. and label them so when the engine gets here I can install it quickly.
Finding the ignition wire on my 1984 took a little detective work. Jim's manual currently only deals with later models. I had some ideas from the manual but Jim posted a great diagram on the Bostig forum that showed it pretty clearly. I don't know where he got that but I'd like to find out.
Basically the bus wiring enters the engine compartment in the upper left, directly into a black box. There are a few harnesses that exit the box, but one of them has a black wire that pops out and feeds up to the coil. That's the ignition wire. It's just a matter of finding that one wire out of the spaghetti. The other wires coming out of that box go to brake and tail lights, licence plate lights, etc., so don't go monkeying around in there with clippers. You just need that one wire.
I found and marked the wire and then pulled the coil, idle stabilizer, computer, etc. Once it was all out it was easy to see that the ignition wire is almost the only one that bridges the engine wiring harness with the body wiring harness. Think of the two harnesses as two spaghetti bowls joined by a strand.
Next, I cleaned up the engine compartment. I couldn't see putting a new engine into a dirty compartment. I took some paint thinner, Formula 409 and a roll of paper towels and wiped it all out. I was always inspired by Scotty on Star Trek who was always running around shaking a wrench at his junior engineers and performing the white glove test. Mine will pass for now, but one drive up my dirty gravel road will change all that.
Here is another view of the ignition wire. It's the dangling one with the tape on it. Since I really only need 3 wires (Power, ignition, ground) to get the Zetec going, I'm 1/3 of the way there! Next I'll round up the power, various sensors, etc. and label them so when the engine gets here I can install it quickly.
posted by Skeeter at
Monday, August 28, 2006
