ok, i dont know the full story to this, so bare with me a little bit. i guess my brother was driving down the road on his way to school and his truck just died. well they replaced the ignition switch, and the truck runs now but it keeps blowing fuses like hardcore, it keeps blowing the "ignition coil" fuse, any ideas/thoughts of what is the poopatrader to this ordeal? oh yeah, 96 ford ranger 2.3 (i think) 5 spd bare bones, no ac or anything,
thanks in advance!

quack!

 

ok so no1 has any ideas at all??

 

If you have a multitester, unplug the harness from the coil packs, put the negative lead from your meter on the negative post of the battery, and probe each wire at the plug end of the harness for continuity, or if your meter doesn't have that option, set it to its highest resistance range. With the exception of the ground wire, all the other wires should show infinite resistance, which is normal. If any of the wires going to the packs are shorted anywhere, you should get little to zero resistance, or if you're doing a continuity check, a beep may sound. This will indicate a short to ground along that wire.

If that turns up nothing, then it is possible that the resistance in the primary windings of one of the ignition coils is too high, and is drawing too much current and blowing the fuse.

Also, double check the wiring to the ignition switch and check to make sure nothing there is shorting out. In fact, I'd start there first since it was recently replaced.

Bart

 

Bart, I agree the problem is probably a chaffed wire close to the ignition switch that was replaced.

One correction, however. If the primary resistance of the coil pack goes up, the current will drop. If there is a short in the secondary, or primary, the resistance will drop, causing the current to increase

 

Ah, that's right, voltage will increase, but current will indeed drop. Bit of a brain fart...

 

Yes, just remember "OHMS LAW"

current = voltage/resistance I=E/R
voltage = current * resistance E=I*R
resistance = voltage/current R=E/I

 

Unhook connector to the Coil and turn on power, if it dosen't blow that saz the coil and Radio noise filter Cap on the coil are ok.
Dave

 

I believe the 2.3L has dual coil packs, and it will run with just one of them connected. You can try running on one coil pack at a time to see if the fuse stays alive. Just unplug the primary plug to the coil pack....

 

wow thanks i appreciate all of that, im sure my bro will too, i will give him a call and have him try all that stuff, thank you!
quack