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Repairing the battery master switch

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F

Fairview

Jedi Hopeful
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If you have an intermittent battery master switch, you might try taking it apart and cleaning it up. Mine was winking on and off and I didn't feel like waiting for another one to be shipped. My guess is the switch on my car is a Lucas reproduction, much like the original, but I can't say for sure.

You can easily remove the master switch, then you'll find a circlip on the rod that goes through the master switch. The on/off knob is on this rod. Remove the circlip and pull the rod and knob out of the switch.

There are two brass rivets that hold the switch together. These can be drilled out and the switch will separate. See the picture below as to what you'll find inside.

You can see the corrosion on mine, and I cleaned everything up carefully, reassembled, and I drilled 1/8" holes to pop rivet the assembly back together. I left the original holes, where the brass rivets were located. The screws to mount the switch on the bracket need to go through the original holes.

This took about an hour. The switch is like new and very positive in action.

Hope this helps someone. Jeff

Lucas-battery-master-switch-L.jpg
 
Fairview said:
If you have an intermittent battery master switch, you might try taking it apart and cleaning it up. Mine was winking on and off and I didn't feel like waiting for another one to be shipped. My guess is the switch on my car is a Lucas reproduction, much like the original, but I can't say for sure.

You can easily remove the master switch, then you'll find a circlip on the rod that goes through the master switch. The on/off knob is on this rod. Remove the circlip and pull the rod and knob out of the switch.

There are two brass rivets that hold the switch together. These can be drilled out and the switch will separate. See the picture below as to what you'll find inside.

You can see the corrosion on mine, and I cleaned everything up carefully, reassembled, and I drilled 1/8" holes to pop rivet the assembly back together. I left the original holes, where the brass rivets were located. The screws to mount the switch on the bracket need to go through the original holes.

This took about an hour. The switch is like new and very positive in action.

Hope this helps someone. Jeff

Lucas-battery-master-switch-L.jpg
Click to expand...
BCS also sells a rebuild kit for the swithch.
 
Norman Nock wrote a great article on this a few years ago that is in his Tech Talk book. This is a must have book of a couple hundred articles he wrote before his passing. Available at British Car Specialist in Stockton,CA.
 
tahoe healey said:
Norman Nock wrote a great article on this a few years ago that is in his Tech Talk book. This is a must have book of a couple hundred articles he wrote before his passing. Available at British Car Specialist in Stockton,CA.
Click to expand...

Thanks for mentioning this- I didn't know about British Car Specialist, so I just looked through their online catalog- great hard-to-find parts.
 
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