Hello all, been a while since I've messed with the car. In 2016 I pulled the engine and trans as well as the whole front clip. Sanded, painted and replaced anything in need. I also opted to install a FiTech fuel injection system. Fast forward to now I'm getting ready to wrap up the wiring. I gave the car some juice from the battery and noticed everything turned on BUT the keys were still in my pocket. Car cranks, won't start (reasons unknown currently) but when I take the key out the pink resistor wire stays "hot".... I don't recall it doing this before I pulled the engine. All the diagrams appear to indicate that this is an ignition controlled wire or "Run" wire...

after beating my head against the wall for 2 days I cannot trace the wire back to anything that would cause it to stay live. Additionally it is not being back fed.. I even removed the ignition switch entirely. Still stays live.

Any ideas?? At a loss...

All I can offer is the pink wire feeds the turn signals. It is powered during run and crank even though the wiring diagrams seem to say it is not hot during crank. I use the pink wire for 12 volts to my electronic ignition.

I wonder if something is crossed up at the starter.

Sorry I wasn't very clear. is is the pink wire on the engine side. I think it's grey on the interior. It's the "do not cut" resistor wire that would normally go directly to the points system.. the starter jumper wire has never been on this car. 99% sure this wire should not be hot especially when the whole ignition switch is removed...

I’d check the starter solenoid one of the wires might be touching the battery cable connection. There so close together it might be touching....

It appears to be an orange wire that was on "IGN" on the fuse block. Prior to the car coming down I had, what I thought was a reputable company, do some work on the car in NJ. They were horrible and totally took advantage of our moving situation. It appears they removed my gauge wires to plug this in. Once removed, at least the key controls the ignition again. So many new issues because of them that are unrelated to this thread. That wire being one of them. Now I know why my gauges don't work and why the ignition was acting funny.

Any idea what that orange wire is? It seems it should be receiving or providing power in the run state. Pretty heavy gauge.

I know the console clock on mine uses an orange wire plugged into the fuse box at the "bat" terminal to draw 24/7 +12V and a gray wire plugged into the "lps" for the clock light.

I reviewed both the '67 and '68 wiring diagrams from here:

First Gen Site Library

In both cases, orange wires from the fuse panel provide power for all the lighting, cigar lighter, and the heater controls.

Makes sense. That always has power

Appreciate the input guys. I checked the diagrams but was getting lost at the bulkheads. When I give this wire constant power, I can't turn the car off. It ignores the key off position. have to do some more probing I don't believe the harness that's in the dash is the original one the wire is too clean under the tape

OK, I take it your power wire that goes to you coil + terminal is hot when the key is off. If stock it's pink and black in a 68, I think it's orange and purple or orange and blue in a 67 but not sure. Don't know what the 69 is.

The ignition power at the switch is in a pink wire that goes to the K position at the firewall bulkhead connector, and comes out of the K terminal in a pink and black wire on the engine side of the connector, to the coil. If you disconnect the pink/black wire at the coil, and isolate it, and you still have voltage when the ignition switch is in the off position, you may have a defective ignition switch, or the pink wire is connected to the wrong terminal at the switch.

A lot of other ways the pink wire could be getting juice other than that but the wiring would have to be about as bad as mine was when I bought it.

Now you say when you "give this wire constant power", do you mean when you turn the switch to the start position the car starts but when you turn it off it keeps running? Or are you giving it constant power from somewhere else?

That is not the only wire that goes to the coil + terminal. There is also a yellow wire that goes from the starter to the coil +. That yellow wire should only be hot when the starter is in the engaged mode. When the starter is powered from the purple wire coming from the start position on the ignition switch, it closes the contacts in the starter and the yellow wire is energized via the battery cable. That gives 12 volts to the coil when starting. If the starter is defective, or the starter is incorrectly wired to the electrical system, you may, MAY, be getting 12 volts from the battery cable to the + terminal at the coil. Since the yellow wire and the pink/black are both attached to the same terminal at the coil, that could cause power getting through the pink/black wire in the opposite direction from normal.

Kinda a long shot but a possibility.

Oh yeah, don't think that the wiring is new because it looks real nice under the tape, It's surprising how nice the 50 year old wires look when you unwrap that stuff.

You have a stock starter? Try disconnecting the yellow wire and see if the pink.black wire stays hot.

Oh yeah, I don't know anything about the fuel injection system, would that being wired in have anything to do with screwing up the stock wiring?

Hey guys, the mystery remains orange wire is actually hot all the time. Lights, interior lights, radio... Everything works like it did before I let the car leave my sight. Once I got under the dash I noticed a ton of things that were cut or messed with when they tried to figure out the FiTech stuff. I'm going to safe off that random wire for now as plenty of other things need to be bolted on. Thanks for the sanity check though guys. This forum is great and I'll be posting again for aluminum heads soon!

orange wire is for the lighter ??

Correct. But this was a heavier gauge just putting it off to the side seems to have resolved all my issues. Although I hadn't touched the car in quite a while I knew immediately I didn't put that wire there because I wouldn't have left it with gobbs of tape on it.. now to figure out if I set the msd dizzy correct and why the Fitech system won't fire up the car. Fun stuff!

A common themes. Problem with wiring after numerous people have touched it in fifty years and aftermarket stuff that doesn't work.