[T3] 73 sqr, electrical

[Jim Adney]

On 28 Aug 2013 at 18:25, Henry wrote:

> Accidently let throttle body slip and touch elec connection on
> carbs....sparked..engine stopped, then smoke came from area around
> steering wheel...what did I do? 

First of all, you posted your new question at the top of a full 
digest of T3 posts. Please remember to delete material that's not 
relevant to your posts. OTOH, you get extra points for changing the 
subject line.  

When you dropped the throttle body, it touched and stuck to a hot 
wire, which was fed from the ignition switch. That short to ground 
has probably toasted your ignition switch. If you're lucky, the wires 
to it will be okay, but you will probably have to replace the switch. 
Fortunately, the '72.5 and later switches are cheap and readily 
available. I have them here if you can't find one locally.

I'm not sure what you were doing with the throttle body with the 
engine running. This must have been a car converted to carbs, or 
maybe you meant something other than "throttle body." On FI cars, the 
only hot wire back there would be the supply wire to the coil.

For some reason, VW didn't protect the ignition circuit with a fuse. 
Maybe that's standard practice; I don't know. I've always wondered 
about that. 

Next time, you should probably turn the engine off before you start 
to move major parts around back there.

-- 
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Jim Adney, jadney at vwtype3.org
Madison, Wisconsin, USA
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