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TR2/3/3A TR3 Dashboard fiddling

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sammyb

Luke Skywalker
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I've had my TR3 for...hmmm...two years now. My turn signal indicator never worked. Also, the corner of the center dash panel was never secured and would bulge out. I tried once before to fix that, but the nut wouldn't budge from its slacked position.

Today I decided to fix the indicator problem...I went and got a new Buss flasher, only to find out the flasher wasn't the problem. I had replaced the bulb twice to no avail too.

I noticed that when I turned on the key, the green light came on, but no red. AH HAH-- problem one- the sockets were switched.

So I totally pulled the center pod, swapped the lights into the correct sockets. Now the ignition light came on correctly, but no turn signal indicator. I took the bulb out, stuck in a test light and TA DA it blinked on and off. Now, the very dangerous, very costly fix: Sam bends the bulb receptical and screws the bulb back in...works fine!!!

I'm in the process of putting everything back. Now all I need to do is re-hook-up the oil pressure guage line which is being a pain!!! The panel is totally secured on the top and bottom -- it's just that dang nut to get the oil line secured.

But it's nice when a two year problem actually costs nothing to fix.
 
That panel is a pain-- too many gauges, indicators, buttons and all their wires, etc crammed together. Gotta be a contortionist to get up under and tighten things without dislodging wires and sockets and bulbs! My experience with the oil pressure nut/thread is to get the two nicely lined up and the thing works a lot easier. Congrats on the fix-- I've been chasing similar probs.

Pete
 
You might need to undo (or loosen) the gauge mounting bracket to give the the gauge some wiggle to line it up with the line connection. Then tighten up the mounting after the line is secure.

Good thing is you do not need to bleed the line in any way. Always seemed odd to me but they work just fine when reconnected though I am sure they sometimes get air into that line.
 
Geo,
Funny, that's exactly what I wound up doing -- loosening the bracket. It finally went in.

I turned the key hit the starter and Whoosh, all power was lost. I looked at the fuses, and they were fine. I had visions of my TR-250, which blew the ammeter causing the same symptom. I decided to check the battery cable -- moved it around (I had disconnected it and just set it back on without tightening it.) Battery cable turned out to be the problem.

The oil pressure gauge gave me a brief moment of fright, since it took some time to come up, but eventually did.

The only thing I haven't checked to see if it works is the temp gauge, which is always my fear when working on the dash. I simply didn't run the car more than 30 seconds --- I hope it's still fine, since that's the hardest one to replace.

But I now have an interior signal indicator, and the panel is properly secured on all four corners. And the car starts!

I also put in a new set of NGK plugs which correspond to the original Champion OE plugs...so we'll see if that helps the fouling.

And finally, when I took the car out yesterday, the car was fluttering...turned out I had forgotten to tighten the front carb dashpot dipstick...it was just plopping around.
 
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