Cleanup turns to mess up. Need some help troubleshooting.

YoungDart75 said
The drop im seeing isn't at the firewall its at the connector right under the steering column. I'm going to try and clean that thing up today because it is literally dropping a volt and a half once that connector is connected(12.2 by itself and 10.5 after its connected). I will be looking at everything else on that connector to see if maybe something else may be causing the drop but it just doesn't seem normal to me to drop 1.5 volts at a connection.

I do have a question though. What is the standard reading at the coil with the ignition in the on position? I'm getting right at 4.8volts at the positive connection on the coil.

What is going on is there is no current through the IGN1 position of the ignition switch when nothing is connected. So there will be no drop at that contact or its connectors and the drop to 12.2 volts inside the ignition switch is due to other drops. Once you make the connection, then the current draw on that line causes added voltage drop in the IGN1 contact inside the switch and that shows up in the lower voltage. In fact the extra current will cause added voltage drop at ANY poor contact or connections between the battery and that point. This is because voltage drop in wires, switches, connections, etc., usually ONLY occurs when there is current flow. If you want to isolate the drop location precisely, keep the connection connected. BTW, it may be tempting to not replace the ignition switch, but IMHO you are just causing more extended pain for yourself....each connection and wire and switch contact from the battery to the coil+ is a suspect until proven otherwise.

Standard reading at the coil + is 8-9-10 volts cold and lowers to 5-6-7 volts when the ballast warms up (takes 20-30 seconds), assuming the correct ballast value/type is being used.