• Hi Guest!
    If you appreciate British Car Forum and our 25 years of supporting British car enthusiasts with technical and anicdotal information, collected from our thousands of great members, please support us with a low-cost subscription. You can become a supporting member for less than the dues of most car clubs.
    There are some perks with a member upgrade!
    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Subscribers don't see this gawd-aweful banner
Tips
Tips

T-Series electrical heat and smoke from the switch

Share this page

J

Jerry

Darth Vader
Gold
Country flag
Offline
Our Friends car had a little smoke released from the wiper/overdrive switch. IE: the metal was hot enough to melt the plastic handle on the end, and was smoking. Please see the picture attached. I am not sure how to test this switch but I did test the wiper motor and it works fine. I cannot hear the solinoid clunk when I put power to its wire as I would with a Triumph OD. I also don't hear a clunk from the OD switch that only lets the OD work in 3 and 4th gear. So I need a little advice.
1. Is it the switch?
2. The solinoid?
3. The OD gear switch
Or something else?

Thanks for your help.

Jerry
 

Attachments

  • 26728.jpg
    26728.jpg
    85 KB · Views: 165
Looks like the windshield washer part of the switch had a meltdown. Later MGs do not have the clunk from the O/D solenoid like the TRs. IF the overdrive no longer works then I would check the switch first since it did have a meltdown. I have battery kill switches in all my MGs. When the meltdown started it would have been easy to reach behind the seat and kill the power. Bob
 
I would just replace the switch,
it seems the meltdown occured in
the handle, where some wires could have
bonded together to create the meltdown.

Just one of those things that happen and
get put in the sh-t happens file.

Cheap enough to replace.
 
There is a battery kill switch and it was used but the smoke got out anyway. How would you test the switch? I put my ohm meter on it and then wondered what I was going to show with the ohm meter?

I also see there are two replacement switches: depends on the source selling them. One says prior to 74 and the other says after 74. British Parts Northwest only lists one of them. Are they that different?
 
Yes, there is a difference.
Not sure of the year? Look on the vin tag
on the drivers side, on the door sill
there should be a plate with the production
date. Order one for that year to be specific.
 
Back
Top