• Hi Guest!
    You can help ensure that British Car Forum (BCF) continues to provide a great place to engage in the British car hobby! If you find BCF a beneficial community, please consider supporting our efforts with a subscription.
    There are some perks with a member upgrade!
    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Subscribers don't see this gawd-aweful banner
Tips
Tips

ARRRGGGGHHHH!

Share this page

B

Bugeye58

Yoda
Offline
Did'ja ever have one of those frustrating, self curing, electrical gremlins?
My '72 just clicked when I turned the key the other day. As the rain has finally stopped, I figured I'd just pop out this morning and fix it. Sure enough, fuel pump works fine, but nuthin' but a big click when I try to start it. 12.53V at the solenoid, but can't check voltage going to the starter by myself. So, jump directly to the starter, and it fires right up. Move it down to the garage, shut it off, and of course, everything works fine after multiple tries. I guess now it's just remove the starter and the solenoid, and do some serious benchwork. I'm not going to drive it until I root cause the problem.
Wish me luck! /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/grin.gif
Jeff
 
Sounds like a bad ground wire near the starter.
 
Did I ever? Ha! /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/lol.gif

Last one was like this:
Get in the car, turn the key - nothing!
No lights, no nuthin.

Wait, do it again, everything comes on & starts up.

Other times, no matter how many times turning the key - nuthin!

Pop the top & fiddle around, leaving the key in the On position so I could hear the fan come on... Contact!

Start driving - randomly the power cuts out again!

Pull off the fuse block, clean it up & brush the collected junk out from under it....
Now it starts every time and never cuts out. (after more than a month has passed)

No "real" cause, just enough to make a guy crazy. /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/crazyeyes.gif
 
I think I've isolated it to the starter. Hooked up jumper wires and had a 11V drop across the solenoid when attempting to engage the starter. Looks like the stud on the starter is loose. It's on it's way out in a minute, just had to pop in the house to replenish my beverage.
Jeff
 
Suspicions confirmed. A totally cold solder joint on the strap from the field coil to the stud had separated. Now to run up to the storage facility and snag another starter. This one looks like a bugger to solder without pulling the field coil, and frankly, I don't feel like messing with it right now!
Jeff
 
eep. The Alfa has had me scratchin' head a bit over gremmies in the iggy circuit. Finally found it by usin' the "wiggle 'n poke" diagnostic method. Loose CRIMP connector at the coil. DPO repair, I over-reacted and soldered ALL the crimp connections in the thing. No more electrical "issues" so-far.
 
Isn't that the eternal basis for all electrical work... wiggle it until you find the cause? I don't mind electrical work, but the little electron gremlins are tough buggers to track down. Very sneaky little critters!

I'd say you did well, Jeff. It'd take me at least a week to even begin to track something like that down.
 
After having been an electronics & electrical field tech for 20 years I found that a lot of things come down to connecting up my fluke meter and then wiggling, pulling, prodding & poking until the bugs showed themselves.
Heck, sometimes I don't even hook up the meter.
Like having no power when there should be some, turn something on like wipers and then poke around until they come on. You can really narrow down the search that way. This works great on LBC's.
Of course if it's a computerized car - then all bets are off.
 
drooartz said:
I'd say you did well, Jeff. It'd take me at least a week to even begin to track something like that down.
Click to expand...

Remember, Drew, I've been down this road before over the last 40 years. /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/grin.gif
Once I got my long jumper leads hooked up so I could read the VOM when I turned the key, it was a 5 minute job to troubleshoot.
It's all better now, but I think my 5 year battery is on it's way out after nine years. I'll stop tomorrow on the way home and pick one up, so I should be ready to rock.
Jeff
 
I've got a long way to go, Jeff. At least I'm getting started!
 
Back
Top