Last night, as I am looking for melted wires, bad fuses etc, ocurring as a result of an alternator gone bad, I find a small white plastic block with slots going through it that resemble the size of a 120v outlet. Going into one side of the block is one black small gage wire with gold dots and coming out the other end is two wires of the same gage. One of the wires is brown and one is brown and white. This whole thing seems to be the power source going to my coil. On the back of this "block" is an electrical diagram showing two wires connecting into one. I have connectivity going through this block. Am I supposed to? Or is this something that builds up a charge and releases it to the coil? Is this the Condenser that I have been reading about? Still struggling these last three weeks to get back into my daily driver! And when it comes to electricity. I definately struggle.....Any help is appreciated!
Loren

sounds like a ballast resistor... do suzukis even have those?

LBS,
The one I took off had the (I believe) suzuki watertight pull-apart- connectors on both ends..... In the process of the attempt to find melted wires/ grounds, I have been taking all of the electrical tape off of ALL of the wires. (LOTS OF TAPE!!!!!) It was then that I discovered/uncovered this thing that still remains a mystery....
Loren

It's your filter:) :

Okie zuk, How does this work and should it have voltage going through it when the vehicle is not running? Please educate me!
Loren

OKIE ZUK,
are these pictures of what you describe? How do I tell if this is broken/if it is working? What does it filter????
Loren
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/ratherbejeeping/detail?.dir=b16b&.dnm=960e.jpg&.src=ph

Trying again at the pics...hope it works!
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/ratherbejeeping/detail?.dir=b16b&.dnm=6169.jpg&.src=ph

it is the tack filter I believe it is needed on efi models but (I think it isnt needed on carb ones) I know that with an aftermarket carb it isnt needed.

have you found melted wires or do you just not have spark?

1st thing to do is pull each fuse and inspect them (pulling the fuses makes shure they are good and also can scrape corosion off the clips that holds the fuses.)

Not sure if a tach filter or not. I have a carbed version. All of my fuses are good except for ignition coil. It blows a fuse every time I turn the key. I have unwrapped nearly every wire on my rig looking for something that makes this happen. So far, no joy and no spark. Found this weird looking component that may have been a contributing factor???? Trying to learn about it, and wires in general, in attempts to make my engine turn over again.

Not exactly sure what it does, but comes in carbed units NOT in the EFI ones. Black wire goes to ground, brown with white tracers goes to negative terminal on coil. The brown one splits off to the dash and the ECM. Since not all Samis came with tachometers, but all are wired for them, one would assume it has something to do with the tachometer. If you look at any installation sheet on installing a tach you'll notice you hook it up the negative side of the coil, with one wire and good engine ground with another wire. I ASSUME this and you know what that could mean. Is there anyone else that can step up and enlighten us here. Robert

Here's a little more info from a Suzuki parts catalog. They're calling it a Filter Assy, noise suppressor. Could it be for filtering out ingition noise for the radio?

Okie Zuk,
I believe you are correct. Where did you get this parts catalog???? Seems it could be VERY helpful! I think the filter has something to do with the radio antenne???? By now, the whole dash has been pulled out. I have gone through the rear lighting harness and will be going back through the rest of the electrical as I can. What continues to happen is that when I turn the key, the ignition coil circuit blowsa fuse. Could my suspect problem be the ignition switch itself being fried and sending current to ground?
Loren

maybe you have a short in your coil or distributor? try disconnecting stuff downstream from the fuse box, and working your way through until you find out which component is shorting out. maybe you have a wire that's rubbing on the body somewhere.

Back at work again where I keep up with the pirate board as much as possible...Little Black Sambo, Great ideas on the trouble shooting methods. I have done what you said and I still have the fuse thing happening. I have inspected nearly every wire on the whole vehicle. Nothing seems out of place with regards to melted/chafed wiring. Still the only thing that seems to be a constant is the ignition switch.....I turn the switch and a fresh fuse blows. I also have the fuel meter, which I believe is switched hot, that isn't working. The wire back to the tank shows good continuity...
I am thinking of pulling the Ignition Switch and testing it....I believe the book tells me how....Could this be my problem???

the fuel sending unit is variable ground. the gauge cluster is switched hot. fuel sending unit varies resistance (ohms) to ground, but i forgot the numbers. they're on here somewhere.
it won't hurt to test the switch. you should try disconnecting all of the large quick disconnects in the harness assembly. instead of spending money on fuses, you can use a self-resetting fuse. (you can even run a 12v bulb in series with it so you can see it). the fuse will click when it overloads, and you can hear it. turn the ignition switch on, and reconnect the quick disconnects one at a time until the fuse trips. that will isolate or eliminate which section of harness the short is in. if the breaker trips without any qd's hooked up, you know the problem is at the root and not the extremeties of your harness. i hope you have a good schematic by now. good luck.

Lil Black Sambo, More great advise! Your description helps me to see how to do it! This whole electrical "adventure" has been a definate learning experience. So much harder to work with things you can only see with a meter or some other indicating device than say, welding, which is easy for me. Please tell me more about the reset-able fuses. Where would I get them? Do you have to get house style fuses or is there a auto-equivalent????

Not exactly sure what it does, but comes in carbed units NOT in the EFI ones.


As you found out, yes, it is an RF filter and our efi's do have them as well, they just look different. They are on the firewall to the passenger side of the ignitor, and are part of the coil/ignitor circuit. The efi ones are little black cubes that have "NS" stamped on them and plug in to a white harness connection terminal.


edit: added more info.

dak,
self-resetting fuses are in the electrical section at the auto parts store. sometimes they're called dodge fuses. they have two blades and plug in just like a regular spade fuse, but they are a little bulkier with a metal can in place of the normal plastic fuse body. it will be cheaper and less frustrating in the long run. to make a test light, you will need to make a wire jumper with a spade on one end and a female spade on the other, and a second wire built the same except with some kind of 12v light in between. so one spade connects to one side of the fuse bus, then your self resetting fuse, then the light, and back to the other side of the bus. it's a great troubleshooting tool.
i used to be a bradley fighting vehicle maintenance supervisor... those things have five miles of wire in them. direct command missile guidance electronics, day/night integrated sight units, automatic fire system, nbc filtration system, lights, blinkers, engine electronics, cannon, smoke grenade launchers, gyroscopic stabilization... all that stuff makes a little samurai seem easy. the best way to learn is from experience. print the schematic out as big as you can (kinkos), and start with the battery. get a box of felt tip pens. start with red for constant hot, and from the battery, start lining out that part of the system. then get a different color for switched hot, and line out that part of the system. green your grounds. use a different color for sending unit signals. hilite your quick disconnects. as you do this, you will become intimate with the system, and will have an easier time tracing faults. you will also have an outstanding reference for later issues, as well as any modifications you will be performing. sure, intermittents and shorts can be a bear to track down, but you shouldn't fear electrical, it's not any smarter than you or i.

I have to go be productive so I'll write more on this a little later, but another gizmo to make for your troubleshooting arsenal is a little 12 volt buzzer. Jumper it in place of your fuse and while it is buzzing away start disconnecting and shaking wires to find the short. A hot circuit can be dealt with by putting one of the aforementioned self-resetting fuses in parallel with the buzzer, so it will cycle on and off like a turn signal and you can fish around until it stops buzzing again.

If you're ever fishing around in a junkyard they used to use these self resetting circuit breakers (because that is what they are, rather than fuses) in the headlight systems of US built cars, if you look on the fuse panels you will often see the little rectangular metal cans, just pull one out if you do.

dak,
self-resetting fuses are in the electrical section at the auto parts store. sometimes they're called dodge fuses. they have two blades and plug in just like a regular spade fuse, but they are a little bulkier with a metal can in place of the normal plastic fuse body. it will be cheaper and less frustrating in the long run. to make a test light, you will need to make a wire jumper with a spade on one end and a female spade on the other, and a second wire built the same except with some kind of 12v light in between. so one spade connects to one side of the fuse bus, then your self resetting fuse, then the light, and back to the other side of the bus. it's a great troubleshooting tool.
i used to be a bradley fighting vehicle maintenance supervisor... those things have five miles of wire in them. direct command missile guidance electronics, day/night integrated sight units, automatic fire system, nbc filtration system, lights, blinkers, engine electronics, cannon, smoke grenade launchers, gyroscopic stabilization... all that stuff makes a little samurai seem easy. the best way to learn is from experience. print the schematic out as big as you can (kinkos), and start with the battery. get a box of felt tip pens. start with red for constant hot, and from the battery, start lining out that part of the system. then get a different color for switched hot, and line out that part of the system. green your grounds. use a different color for sending unit signals. hilite your quick disconnects. as you do this, you will become intimate with the system, and will have an easier time tracing faults. you will also have an outstanding reference for later issues, as well as any modifications you will be performing. sure, intermittents and shorts can be a bear to track down, but you shouldn't fear electrical, it's not any smarter than you or i.


Awesome advice:)

here is a quick link as an example of the 12V circuit breakers, about the third item down on the page.

http://www.bussauto.com/products/circprot/

This might be a stupid remark but it is stated that Ignition coil fuse blows....
What happens if you disconnect your Coil?

This nice coil also has an ground connection.....and a "live" wire.

worth trying I think

Regards and greetings from Holland

Auke

WOW!!!! This has been one of the better and more enlightening threads I have been involved in. I love all of the great ticks guys! Maybe my sammi will breathe again soon! I especially like the idea of going to kinkos and geeting things blown up. The buzzer idea as well as where to find the circuit breakers....all very good stuff!!!! Thanks very much guys!!!!!!!