Well, back to the old rabbit. I need to replace the timing belt on my 83 rabbit, so I need to get the 79 Rabbit up and running. Anyway, I was using the Bentley manual to diagnose the problem (no spark in the high tension wire from terminal 4 as measured by timing gun) , and I think I found it. The voltage between terminal 1 and terminal 15 is only 7 volts, and according to the manual, it should be 9.6V or higher. It then goes on to say that the problem may be "poor distributor point contact [unlikely -- they're new and the reading didn't change when I pressed the points together manually], a shorted condenser [maybe, but it's also new, although I DID have the coil from my 83 rabbit installed briefly ...] high resistance in the ignition switch or the wires that connect the switch to the coil. " Unfortunately, it doesn't say how to test these last two items. It DOES give a spec for the resistance wire -- 0.85-0.95 ohms. I do have a meter that could read that, but that seems like it would be hard to get an accurate reading that low anyways. I did the same voltage test with the wires disconnected from the coil and got a reading of 12V. BUT the red wire which attaches to terminal 15 on the coil didn't give me a reading. That is, when I hooked the green wire that goes to terminal 1 to the red wire that goes to 15 (through the meter of course), I got no reading, even with the ignition switch turned on. Could this be the problem? The starter solenoid is putting out 12V, so I'm gessing that's not the problem. Any ideas? And thanks again for all the help you guys gave me with my other rabbit!!!!!
- posted
16 years ago