ignition power keeps dropping out as im driving?

ok i have a wierd problem with my baja.

it started about a week ago and seems to be happening more often now.

basically the car will start fine, everything is normal it will idle and drive. but then while driving at random the ignition power will cut to the engine as though the ignition switch was turned off. once rolling to the side of the road though ive always got igntion power once i turn they key again. sometimes if the car loses power at speed it will cut back in again a second later and the car just roll starts itself again.

ive swapped the coil for another. ive run different coil power wires and a different tacho wire (as i thought this might be earthing)

the leads are brand new, dissy cap is fine, points are fine.

my only two guesses at this stage are the igntion barrel itself? loose contacts perhaps?

or the condensor perhaps?

any advice is greatly appriciated.

Nicko

I'd say you've got a loose wire some where Nick. Start at the easiest place to check and that would probably be at the ignition switch itself.

Has some one put a fuse in the +ve to the coil

these are normally unfused - and quite often PO's put an inline fuse there

And these get hot and shrink/hot joint and drop out

Because it is not in the "wiring diagram" can be a prick to find

Ask me why i know about this 😬

😀

do you have a reverse light switch ?

Do you have a BIG bunch of keys attached to the ignition key

when your driving do u have 20 or more keys on the bunch ????

It may be turning itself off under the weight and the bouncing around of the keys especially if its a really old worn ignition switch and key

what do your dash warning lights tell you? As it rolls but no pwr to coil, is the gen light glowing?

yeah i do have a big bunch of keys, only 8 or so though.

there used to be a fuse barry and i removed in a while ago for that exact problem.

when the power drops out it normally instantaneously recovers so its hard to find anything out from the dash lights.

i might try hot wiring it and see if it still happens.

could it be the condensor?

Try looking at the wires inside the distributor - insulation cracks, the points body/connections could be earthing, also check the braided wire incase its partly broken (I had this problem on the buggy and it drove me nuts to find, when the advance cut in it was partly disconnecting the wires at the solder joint).

Condensor - usually it will run rough before cutting out.

Hot wiring the igniton is worth a try. You could also rock the key up and down with the car running to check for play in the barrel contacts.

what year is your car if its pre 67 then you probally have loose wire or BIg key syndrome

If its post 68 then its prob the ignition Plastic elect contact bit that goes under the key barrel

when its stop check out if the ignition lights are still on before you touch anything if there off tehn its turning itself off if tehre on then its a loose wire or similar in the ignition switch

disconect the tacko for a bit they do short out at a pin point rev

Usualy the ignition switch contacts,they tend to do stuff like this particularly when you have a few keys hanging off the ring.

Hi

I had a similar problem on a 72 Superbug, it was a loose spade terminal on the back of the fuse box, check to see if nay of them have discolouring on the brass, this would indicate bad connection and would result in heating of the terminal.

Steve

1303Steve wrote:Hi

I had a similar problem on a 72 Superbug, it was a loose spade terminal on the back of the fuse box, check to see if nay of them have discolouring on the brass, this would indicate bad connection and would result in heating of the terminal.

Steve

If You have anything that can move the wires on the fusebox... I have that problem until I replace My fusebox..

loose wire on the coil will do it... also had that one... lol

also- the electrical part of the key switch is probably badly burnt and corroded... causing an intermittant open circuit.
using a relay under the rear seat will maybe fix the problem
it fixed mine... lol

I saw a girl in KFC yesterday and she had half of Her worldly goods attached to the car key...
I don't know how She actually found the car key.... lol

to fix the problem in the short term -
connect a wire from the + terminal on the battery to the + on the coil... You will have to disconnect the wire from the coil to stop the engine....

LEE

Sounds like what I have gone through lately....Have you checked that little pin hasn't came out of the fuel pump...as I was losing power when driving also....& thats what we found was the problem....appartantly I am told its a common problem....(& my fuel pump was brand new)....just an idea...hope you sort it out quickly...Judy

So have you solved the problem

what year is yr car again and what ignition switch do you have

I had this problem once not a vw though. The lug attached to the coil had the wire broken off. The plastic insulation on the lug was holding the wire in against the lug but occassionaly it would open circuit. I found it by accident by pulling on the wire. The wire came out of the lug.

Well Nick, did you sort the problem? BTW Happy Christmas👍