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Thread: Electrical Gremlin

  1. #11
    SEC Member hollytree's Avatar
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    Re: Electrical Gremlin

    I had a similar problem with mine. 1st time it happened was at IVA. Drove there, drove in, turned off. They did all the other tests and then it would not start even with their big bumper battery. IVA fail! Pushed it out, called AA. Whilst waiting i thought one more try and all OK.

    Was fine a long time and then occasionally happened so I have a 6" piece of wire with a female spade connector on the end. If it wont start, I turn the ignition on, slip the starter solenoid cable off the solenoid, slip the spade on and then touch the bare other end to the battery connection on the starter motor and away we go!.

    After about 12 months I did change the ignition switch as something was clearly wrong in there. The contacts had gone and were not closing to the starter solenoid. That was £75 from Wayne Ellet.

  2. #12
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    Re: Electrical Gremlin

    Guy
    measure the voltage either sid eof the kill switch when you try and start it. If there is a significant difference then it points to the kill switch. Otherwise as your voltmeter shows a big depression if its not the kill switch its either a short somewhere (unlikely without some smoke) or a jammed starter. Had a jammed starter once cause by a leaking exhaust manifold gasket hot gasses caused the problem - all fine when cooled down.

    Peter

  3. #13
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    Re: Electrical Gremlin

    Hi Guy. My car is bad to start when it's warm , slow to turn over. I think my issue is with the cable size to the starter motor and the battery at the front, one day I will try a heavier cable and see if this helps. Bob has also given another starter to try which I have fitted along with a new homemade exhaust system but haven't any tax on the car so can't test it yet.

  4. #14
    SEC Member Guy Mayers's Avatar
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    Re: Electrical Gremlin

    I had hoped to have a go at fixing it before Race Retro but ran out of time. The car got me there and back albeit stalling at the door into the show (pushed in) and wouldn't restart when it was in the garage at home on Sunday. What I could hear was the starter solenoid clicking away though. It'll be a couple of weeks before I can get back to it but first call is going to be the earth strap, drive it until warm and if that's not it, swap out the starter and try again.
    Also found out the dash lights are out (rheostat probably) so that needs sorting before the MOT. Good job the interior light worked or I'd have struggled seeing the speedo and temperature gauges on the way home!
    Thanks for the suggestions - I'm sure there will be news soon!
    Guy

  5. #15
    SEC Member Guy Mayers's Avatar
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    Re: Electrical Gremlin

    Well it was a nice weekend and not working for a change (still pretty knackered though) so I decided to sort out the gremlin. Staring with the lack of dash lights.. The rheostat is buried bottom left and so I slackened off the mounting screws to give me a little more access but nothing doing so I decided sod it, I'll jump it from the clock rheostat instead. Managed that only to find that half the electrics had died... End result, as you can see was dropping the steering column and then dropping the dash to trace the errant connection, or lack thereof. At the same time fix the right rheostat and put it back together. When another issue raised it's head.

    Guy
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails AB57C767-E187-4C96-9B21-040D5502F593.jpg  

  6. #16
    SEC Member Guy Mayers's Avatar
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    Re: Electrical Gremlin

    Having got the dash out I noticed that the speedo was showing a daft mileage, way way over what I know I've done in the last year and, rather than open up the scratch built, calibrated and accurate speedo I thought I'd do the simple thing and add a second one driven off the Halda T piece, or more accurately, just the odometer in a 60mm case. Needless to say that turned out to take a lot longer than I thought it would but after mucking about with a couple of Halda gearboxes to get an inline 1:1 ratio set up and cobble together another that screws on the tail of a Veglia head it's all installed and appears to be working nicely! Plus it's easy to see (pull the top cover off the dash) so the MOT man will be happy!

  7. #17
    SEC Member Guy Mayers's Avatar
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    Re: Electrical Gremlin

    So as I'm putting all that back together there's a funny hissing noise from the engine bay.... looks like I'd inadvertently armed the fire extinguisher and managed to pull off one of the connections to the button next to the speedometer..... and it touched the other connector and fired the system. Oh well, at least I know that's wired right and the nozzles point in the right direction. Refill needed...

    Guy
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails 0D9644A6-009E-4CEB-BA7C-31D377FDABB3.jpg   20812152-9A3F-4FC6-B30B-CF15F1C9815A.jpg  

  8. #18
    SEC Member Guy Mayers's Avatar
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    Re: Electrical Gremlin

    In chasing the non start gremlin I've swapped out the battery master switch but the old one looked just fine. I'll take the car for a run in the next week and see if the hot start issue persists and swap the starter motor next weekend if it does.
    Guy

  9. #19
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    Re: Electrical Gremlin

    Sort of a one step forward one step back etc etc shuffle Guy!

  10. #20
    SEC Member Guy Mayers's Avatar
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    Re: Electrical Gremlin

    Another step forward! The office is back to full staffing at last so, apart from having to do a stocktake on Sunday afternoon after a day out walking in Yorkshire (Malham Cove & Gordale Scar) I got a few hours to work on the car on Sunday morning. Rear clip removed, rear exhaust manifold off (the new system can be dropped off easier than the Stradale one!) and whip out the starter motor. Stores dug through and found the brand new one and slapped it on and everything back together in 90 minutes.

    And tonight I got to take if for a drive. More jobs. Need to put the steering wheel back on straight and have another go at the speedo which has a little rattle - it's the union on too tight, had this before. Put it back in the garage, turned it off. Started it again.

    Hopefully that's the end of that one, looks like it was a failing starter motor.

    Guy
    Last edited by Guy Mayers; 01-04-2019 at 20:34.

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