I was working on my 58 mk1 today and noticed that even with my key out and the ignition in the off position, my ignition was still on and wouldn’t turn off until I disconnected the battery. If anyone has any solutions or suggestions on a fix that would be greatly appreciated!

 

Broken ignition switch most likely.
It's pretty simply wiring, there isn't much else that can cause that other then a internally broken switch, start with that.
Use a multi meter and check for continuity and non-continuity.

 

Do you know where the ignition switch is located? Also when you connect the battery you hear the middle of the three coils activating by the fuse box, does this change anything or still lead to the switch?

 

I must be missing something...
Your key is in the ignition switch, it turns the car off and on does it not ?
Or in your case, the car does not turn off.
You put the cars key in the ignition switch, turn the car on and the red ignition light should come on and one hears the fuel pump doing it's thing.
You activate the starter with a single push button.

To kill the ignition, you turn the key to the "off" position.

Here it is circled in "GREEN".

It's in the "OFF" position in the photo and in your case the car stays on ???

And when you say coils, I'm assuming that your mean the regulator box for the generator, that's sound like that is working normally, it's just that the ignition switch is faulty and not turning the car off _ check that first.

Do you know what I mean when I say "perform a continuity test on the switch" ?

 

Whats happening with mine is that the moment you connect the battery, the red ignition light on the dash turns on and something starts running. I can still start and stop the engine it’s just that somewhere along the line there must be a fault with something for it to be doing that.

 

Also answering your question I do not know what you mean by a continuity test

 

I'll answer your questions tomorrow, if not me, someone else will.
It's 12:13 in morning here now (B.C. Coast Canada), I'm assuming that you are in the UK, it doesn't say on your page ?

I'm going going to bed now.

EDIT.
I'll have to look at the switch, but from memory, there are three terminals on the back of the switch, one turns on the ignition the other turns the car off.
Check the switch first.
The part of the switch that turns the ignition off is working and the engine stops, but the part of the car that turns the rest of the car off is faulty, or at least that is what it appears to be at this point.

 

Okay thanks for your help, I’m in Illinois and should probably get some sleep also because it’s 2 am here, I’m usually active in here so whenever you get a chance to reply I’ll be here!

 

I think I might have found the cause of the issue but it makes the solution even more puzzling, as I was working on my car my magnetic flashlight fell into the engine bay and hit near the generator, I wonder if it did something to a wire down there?

 

I’m just trying to troubleshoot all the possible causes and faults before I rip apart my dash

 

There are lots of videos about continuity, it's just a way to test you ignition switch.

I can't see dropping your flash light could do what is happening.
It would have to short things out through the generator wiring to keep the car from shutting off.
You would have seen lots sparks and smelled burnt wiring.


If you look at your wiring diagram, you can trace the wires from the ignition switch and trouble shoot from there with a multi meter, at least you can determine the problem with out having to get into the dash.

 

Okay I’ll try a continuity test, if there was a short in the generator what would that entail for a fix?

 

https://redirect.viglink.com/?format...%20MANUALS.rar

Here's a link to your wiring diagram, it's just here on the forum.

You don't have a short in your generator.
You send it out to be tested, same with the regulator, but they are so inexpensive now, I don't think anyone rebuilds them anymore, but you're getting ahead of yourself.

 

Okay I’ll try a continuity test one of these days and see what that says, once I do that I will most likely be back here with some questions. Thanks so much for all your help!

 

Try not to over think it, test the switch and start with eliminating the simplest things that would cause the car to turn off.

 

After doing a continuity test there is continuity and evidence of a possible new ignition switch in the past, which either means they did it wrong (considering how the previous owner got to it its a possibility, or the switch is not the problem. Planning out a next move now with my dad but any suggestions on where to go next would be appreciated.

 

I looked at you ignition switch and it's just a simple off and on switch with two terminals, that's what the wiring diagram shows anyway.
If you expose the switch you can simply disconnect the wires on all the terminals (make sure you mark where the wires go, most are faded and it's hard to see the colours on the cloth casings)
Be sure the disconnected wires are not going to short on something, use some masking tape to keep the wires from shorting.

Connect the battery, the car should not turn on, if it still does, then the problem is else where.
Finding electrical faults is a matter of elimination and logic.
Determine if the switch is at fault, I would have to study the wiring diagram to find the possible problem.
Once the switch has been eliminated, one has to start tracing circuits for the cause and ruling out them out.

 

I'll bet the ignition switch is buggered & shorting.

 

Yes, probably, until he gets in there to eliminate that possibility, there's no going forward.

 

I got in behind the dash to check out the ignition switch and took these pictures, the ignition switch is a little hard to see but I can tell that one of the set screws looks like it might be in wrong, other than that I tried to trace wires through the dash to see what else to look at. It definitely looks like someone has been in here before me because there are some "newer" wires. I tried to see if there was still something on without either of the fuses in the fuse box and when I touched the terminals to the battery it still sparked because the ignition was still stuck on.