TR2/3/3A First drive of spring - I hate electricity!!!

[jfarris]

I had my first drive of 2022 today, that's pretty bad for lower mid south. I spent the winter chasing electrical gremlins in my headlights, turn signals, and dash lights. I know, "real gentlemen don;t drive at night!" Several years ago, I replaced the headlights, brake lights, and turn signals with LEDs. Randall, RIP, provided a schematic to divide the rear lights, brakes, and turn signals and include my original center only brake light - thank you BCF! Turns out, most of my issues were grounds, loose wiring, and broken screw-in receptacles. I got all of that corrected and the turn signal indicator wouldn't work. I needed a new flasher, last one lasted only 1.5 yrs. I finally finished everything and drove the car today - yea! But, the horn doesn't work. How hard can this be, one power source, two horns, and one switch leading to a ground - what the heck was Ben Franklin thinking?
Happy Motoring!

 

[CJD]

Yeah, my horn acts up occasionally. My problem is always the bullet connectors behind the left horn. I think they draw too much for those connectors, so they lose the connection. Of course, if you installed a new, repro trafficator, then they always fail when the horn contactor ring comes off. It has to be roughed and epoxied back on permanently.

 

[Sarastro]

I don't think you can blame Ben F., but you certainly can blame Lucas. Or, maybe not--these cars are now 50-70 years old, with wiring intended to last maybe 10 years. It's going to require some care to keep it all working.

I have regularly recommended replacing those bullet connectors with something more modern and reliable, and grounds are notoriously unreliable. They must be metal-to-metal, clean and bright. Don't just hope a lockwasher will penetrate the paint layer to create a ground. There are a couple good ground points on the TR4/4A near the fuse block and on the opposite side. They consist of a nut welded to the body. Using them gives you a solid ground through the screw and its threads.

Or, if you must have the originality of bullet connectors, at least install new ones.

 

[jfarris]

First action, follow the power. How can you have an intermittent fuse? The ohm meter would fluctuate between -0.25 and -0.16, but never go to zero. On one end of the fuse, the metal part would rotate. New fuse, horn works - duh, why have a schematic unless you can read it and use it.
Steve, not sure why I took the original route, but I have a 10 year supply of those bullet connectors and the tools to fiddle with them. Under the hood, those bad boys are really hard to solder onto original wires that were too short to start with.
This forum and you guys and gals are worth our weight in unobtanium.

 

[Leatherman]

Had to laugh at what CJD said about the repro trafficator. My horn started blowing for no reason shortly after replacing the trafficator and I couldn’t pull over right away. By the time I got off the road and raised the hood and pulled the wires off the horns they were smoking, the left one‘s contacts were badly burnt and I had to file them and adjust to get it working again. As he said the brass ring on the underside of the horn button came loose dropping on the contact. A little JB Weld and it was permanently fixed as it should have been.

 

[Jim_Stevens]

Having a similar issue here. Horn went off today for no reason, and I had to bang on the button to get it to stop, only to have it come back on. All the while I was driving past the golf course and my wife’s foursome! Oh, brother!

 

[Jim_Stevens]

Just to follow up, the issue on mine was the copper washer had become unglued from the plastic housing, so was able to make contact with the two brushes, sounding the horn. Just waiting for the epoxy to cure now so I can reinstall it. I’m becoming quite an expert on Trafficators!

 

[Jim_Stevens]

Ahhhh, just reread this thread, and John had the same solution a month ago. Not surprised!