Rusty105L

Thanks guys! I'll go ahead and order a new one and keep you posted if it works or not. 😄👍

Yes, I assume the coil and ballast are compatible as the ballast was already fitted on the coil when I bought it. This is the coil that I fitted, and the resistances match up to the old coil. https://www.skopart24.com/en-gb/shop/Zündspule-ab-10-79-p234773436 I measured 1.5 ohms on the ballast resistor, 2 ohms between positive and negative LT on the new coil. Just to confirm, you want me to bypass the distributor and connect the negative terminal on the coil to the negative side of the battery? Also, could the condenser be what's causing this? The original condenser terminal at the points had a melted on plastic piece which broke when I tried to separate them. The new one was not supplied with one. Just wanted to confirm if this is an issue or not since it's been on my mind lately...

I suspected over-voltage would be a problem, thanks for confirming. Alright, so by the sound of it there's some significant voltage drop on my system? Do you know what to do to address this? Could it be the capacitor that's affecting this? I'm using the same resistor that came with the new coil, are there other coil variations excluding the early ones without the ballast resistor? The red wire goes to where you stated, it was the one that I had to replace as it was burned to a crisp before acquiring the car.

Yeah, they're pretty simple to work on which is nice. Mine has some ignition trouble as I'm struggling with weak sparking on the HV-line. I've written a thread on it here: I hope to get some proper pictures of it when I get it running. It has a lot of blemishes on the outside, but the interior is near mint! 😄

Hello, I’ve tried to get my ’81 105L to run, and I’m unsure where to go next. Here’s the deal: When I bought the car 2 years ago the red wire from the ignition coil was badly melted, as in the insulation began shedding off the copper conductor. I sheepishly thought that it would be an easy project to just replace the wire and get it up and running as the car allegedly was running fine before this. What I assume happened (I forgot to ask the seller) is that the previous owner overloaded the wire by connecting an aftermarket electrical fuel pump to the positive end of the ignition coil. (I have since ditched it and rebuilt the original pump.) However, after replacing multitudes of ignition-related parts I’m running out of ideas. The coil is getting around 7V when the ignition is on and 8.9V with brief spikes up to ca. 10V even when the battery is fully charged. Is this enough to make a proper spark? The coil has a resistor on it, but isn’t the voltage a bit too low? I measured the resistance on my replacement wire and it’s only a few ohms. I should also note that the other wires in the loom have no visible damages. There may be a few weak sparks when cranking the engine for a while whilst holding the HV lead near the block. Ignition-related parts I’ve replaced with new ones: -Ignition coil -Distributor cap -Sparkplugs -HV-leads -Distributor capacitor -Positive lead from starter motor contactor(?) to coil. -Distributor rotor -I’ve also polished the battery terminals and ignition connectors on the coil and starter. I’ve been told to remove the voltage regulator and run the car without it. I’m skeptical though, since it’s there for a purpose, right? Also, could the ignition key-switch itself be the problem? I should also mention that the engine was swapped from the original 105L engine to a ’86 120GLS engine before my ownership. I have the original engine lying around but it’s been seized for some time now. All in all, I’m stumped… ☹ Thanks in advance for any suggestions on how to fix! And please be kind, I’m new to this stuff. 😅

Hello everybody. I've got a lovely but rusty 1981 Skoda 105L which I adore. What brings me here is the fact that I'm struggling to get it to start. 😞 Looking forward to learning about and discussing these wonderful cars.