Escort Mk1 Ballast resistor problem

[fomoco80]

I am experience a strange problem. I do have a rev counter in my 6 dash and autometer rev counter too in my escort mk1. Everything was working fine, but I needed to bypass the ballast from wiring as I had engine start problem. I ran a wire from ignition to +coil (where there were already 2 wires coming from loom in 1 spade to the coil). I added these 3 wires, engine starts very good...... but the rev counter of 6 dial dash wont work....When I remove the new wire which I ran, rev counter works fine...but problem with start up engine...What you think please?

The thing intend to do was to get a 12v instead of ballast 9v....Or maybe someone will let me know how to do it please? I do not know where is the ballast resistor located in the loom, so this is why I ran a new wire from ignition to +coil

Regards

[droopsnoot]

Have you changed the coil as well? If the coil was intended to run with a ballast resistor you could shorten its life by running it from 12v all the time. On my Firenza the 12v supply comes from the starter cranking terminal, so it gets 12v while the starter is turning and drops back to the ballasted supply once it's running, though it's more like 9-10v while cranking and 6v when running.

On my car the ballast is done by a resistance wire in the loom which I bypassed to aviod it getting warm, and installed a separate ballast resistor alongside the coil. I moved the coil supply to a switched 12v line, connected that to the ballast, and the ballast to the coil. I then ran a separate wire from the starter to the coil for that boost during starting. I didn't have any trouble with the rev counter at any point, but then I think that's on the negative side of the coil, and all the changes I made are on the positive supply side. I think.

[BigBob]

Reaching a looongg way back into my memory banks - I'm almost sure the Ballast is a length of Pink coloured resistance wire in the loom just before the coil.

HTH

BB

[V8forweekends]

BigBob said:

Reaching a looongg way back into my memory banks - I'm almost sure the Ballast is a length of Pink coloured resistance wire in the loom just before the coil.

HTH

BB

Agreed - it's not a separate componet - it's a bit of resistance wire running to the +ve terminal on the coil. If you follow it back from the coil there's a moulded bullet connector where the resistance wire ends.