May 31, 2008
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0
Hi guys, Yesterday afternoon I went out and tried to start the car after not driving since that morning (left about 7 hours), Wouldn't start at all, turned over very very slowly. Thought I just had a flat battery, so tried to jump it. that didn't work. Then put the battery on charge for the night. Put the battery back in the morning and tried to start it again. Still turning over very slowly.

Went and bought a new battery and tried that. Did exactly the same thing. turning over a tiny bit faster than before but sill incredibly slow, but this time while i was trying to start i noticed smoke coming from the coil pack. Looked closer and saw that the wire which comes out of the front of the car and connects to the coil pack was smoking. The insulation on the brown wire was completely melted.

I am totally stuck on what to do. Have i bought a duff battery or is it something more sinister?? very confused?! Any help would be greatly appreciated please :)
 
its the coil pack.....you just said it was smoking lol, means its brokeeeeeee lol
get some pics when you can, I think the brown wire is the earth cable from the coil pack
 
try the earth strap on the gearbox as this happened to me on my 1st engine change. i know you had gearbox out too so you would of had to take earth strap off. the coil wires are burning them selfs out. i had to re-wire part of mine!!
 
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ah ok, but would the car still be turning over that slow if its just the coil pack? :) im guessing i need to replace the wires going to it and the pack itself? :) cheers guys
 
try the earth strap on the gearbox as this happened to me on my 1st engine change. i know you had gearbox out too so you would of had to take earth strap off. the coil wires are burning them selfs out. i had to re-wire part of mine!!

Yeah put the earth strap back on, it was the little ring that bolted to the end of another bolt?
 
I'd say it's earthing problems. Clean all the wires that connect to the negative terminal on your battery.

Will do, cheers MIKEH,

Will get a picture of the wire up tomorrow, also forgot to mention. The guy that tried to jump start put the negative end of the cable onto my negative on the battery which I thought was wrong. Am i correct

Also to Suj, the smoke wasn't coming from the coil pack, was coming from that brown wire in the loom :)
 
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It doesnt matter too much but is easier to prevent sparks and touching the leads if you put the negative onto the body somewhere.
 
Probably. Start at your battery terminals and go though making sure all the connections that lead from the big battery wires are nice and clean.
 
Cheers guys :) will do that tomorrow, means I bought a new battery for nothing lol. Hope I can take it back. Guessing I will replace the coil pack and loom aswell then :)
 
what i did was unwrap the loom until i got to the end of the burnt bit, chopped it, then replaced it with part of another loom off another car. make sure the wires are soldered individually and well insulated. AND make sure everything clean and tight on the earth lead to the gearbox.
 
The wire smoking is because it's trying to deliver a hundred or so amps through a wire that's designed for two. The problem is similar to the old ford 'disco lights', when having the indicators on meant the whole rear cluster used to glow. Instead of the current flowing straight down the earth lead, into the chassis and back to the battery, it's finding the next shortest route. Which in your case is the coilpacks, as I seem to remember they are earthed on the far side.

And yes, this weaker earth would cause the car to turn over much slower as well.
 
Cheers for your help guys :) much appreciated. Would i need to insulate each soldered wire or just insulate it after I have soldered everything? Cheers