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Well the Pitman arm is finally replaced and I am back on the road. I wanted to install a kill switch to the power wire to my HEI distributor but oddly noticed while tracing the wire tha it showed continuity to ground when the key was off. With the key on it has power obviously. In the pictures anywhere I have the red probe shows continuity on ground, including the ground post on the battery, chassis ground, positive cable to the starter but not the battery and one wire coming into the selenoid has continuity and one post doesnt. In other words with both of the selenoid wires off the left post has continuity but not its wire vice Versace on the other side.
Does this just mean I have a ground fault on that circuit? Appreciate any electrical expert advice on this:-)
Thanks. I should have been more specific. The points in the photo are where the wire which brings power to my distributor shows continuity with my volt meter when the key is off and the wire is not energized. Since it's a wire that has a positive charge I don't think the volt meter should beep when I touch the a ground. Is that a true statement or is there something unique to a distributor circuit that would cause this.
In the pictures, the first pic with the black probe is the positive wire to the distributor and this stayed connected for all the other pictures. The red probe was then touched to the other points and I heard the audible beep on the voltmeter
Depending on the meter, the continuity range can beep at anywhere from a few ohms to 1.5K ohms.
I don't know what the wiring inside the distributor looks like but suspect at some point, it involves a coil of wire used as a pick-up. It's very likely that you are seeing a low resistance through that coil that is triggering the continuity beep on your meter.
A resistance of 1000 ohms to ground at that wire will only draw .012 amps when 12 volts are applied yet could still easily trigger a continuity beep. That and if that wire goes straight to the key, anything else that's powered by the key in run position will be in parallel, reducing the resistance in the circuit even further and making it even more likely that your meter will beep.
I'd not worry about it if it's been running 'till now.
Excellent. Thanks! I once did have the selenoid freeze on me and the starter wouldn't stop until I unhooked the battery. That memory made me think maybe there was a connection to this possibly. I've got lots of old wires in this truck so one of these days a new wire harness is in my future.
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