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Where's there's smoke there's bad wiring

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76Capri

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Was just poking around my "new" 67 and decided that the external regulator cover should be on. Apparently that tapped a relay inside which caused a bit of smoke to come out of the Alternator (generator???)

Looks like I'll have to dig into the wiring sooner than I thought. But hey, it's a british car...I should have expected it.

The GM one wire alternator sounds like a nice idea....
 
experienced first hand all loss of head lights in a blizzard on I-80 once. oh and did i mention it was at night! harness underneath the dash caught fire. once you got smoke, you got damage and once you got damage you almost have to replace. i used aircraft wire to replace the headlight wiring. even then, the switches failed often. don't ask why i was on the highway in a blizzard in my healey.
 
One of the relays in the regulator (at least the two-relay regulator, but there must be something similar in the three-relay one) cuts off the generator at low speeds, so the battery isn't shorted through the generator. I suspect that relay got closed. You can just wire around the burned stuff, as long as the insulations of the other wires in the harness are not damaged. Should also make sure the regulator isn't damaged too, obviously.
 
If you close the cutout relay contact when the engine isn't running, it will stay closed & cause the generator to act as a motor. Since the belt won't let the generator turn, it just sits thre like a stalled motor, drawing a lot of current until something fails. Could be a generator winding, the cutout contact, or the wiring.
D
 
No wiring got toasted. just warm. I noticed smoke from the generator. that was the only thing that tipped me off to the problem.

The wiring is a patched together rats nest. Almost everything works though, but I still think a full rewire is in order, or at the very least getting things sorted out.
 
i would still be careful since you saw smoke from the generator. if the generator got hot enough to smoke, then more than likely there is permanent damage. it might be small, but it will only get worst and then eventually fail. You might want to consider removing the gen and checking the windings and commutator. of course it helps to know why it smoked first. good luck!
 
Rewiring these little cars is pretty simple (heck, I even did it) and quite worth the effort. I'd second the thoughts on getting the generator checked out. Had mine rebuilt by a local shop for reasonable money. Once they're all checked out, you can cross another thing off the worry list--at least until they break again. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
[ QUOTE ]
Rewiring these little cars is pretty simple

[/ QUOTE ]

I'll pay your airfare, house you, feed you and give you as much beer as you can drink. If there's one thing I'm putting off until I can afford to have done professionally, it's this. That's why my left turn signal doesn't work, I have no wiper motor and when I push the direction stalk forward, the stereo comes on.
It's a snakes wedding behind that dash and there's no room for any more duct tape. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif
 
Barry, it's an easy thing. Sure, the Bugeye is a bit simpler (okay, maybe a lot simpler), but even the later cars didn't have all that many wires. I had never done anything like this before, and finished up with maybe 4 days of work--mostly because I worked really slowly and took lots of pictures (seen on my website). You can get a nice, brand new factory harness from the folks at https://www.britishwiring.com, then you just follow the diagram and put it all in. We'll all be here to help, cajole, and only occasionally poke fun! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/devilgrin.gif

If I lived closer, I'd be over in a heartbeat to help out. Wiring I understand, it's the mechanical stuff that keeps scaring me. Not to mention body work, painting, plumbing, carbs...
 
I'm the opposite, do the oily stuff all day due to the simplicity of the books and their step-by-step. I've been zapped too many times and I don't like being zapped.
I will be getting to this in winter before I get a new interior so I know it's coming, there's that much muck, oil , grease and who knows what on these wires, I can't tell what color they are, which is why a fresh loom is on the list.
I will be posting when that time comes around.. Ha Ha!
 
Something to think about, those wires will clean up and you can put new terminals on them. This can either be done in the car or you can remove the loom first.
 
I couldn't sleep anyway.
Went ahead and put new terminals, new flasher unit (not needed, but it's shiny and new,) and cleaned up those wires and........
My left turn signal works! It hasn't been a big deal because most of my commute turns are right.
After a good look, it does appear that most of my connectors are a little manky. After 7 years on a submarine, I can follow a schematic, trace a wire, turn over a paxton. I think I can do this.....
 
Nice work. Keep on with that an you'll have a fully functioning system in no time!
 
Drew, one last question...Did that harness you bought come with a color diagram?
All the ones I have are in black & white. Like trying to watch nascar on a B&W tv with rabbit ears in a blizzard.
 
Noop, no color diagrams unless you find one on eBay I think. At least the only ones I have seen. However, do it one time and you no longer need the diagram.
 
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no color diagrams

[/ QUOTE ] /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/eek.gif

That does it, I'm buying a trium...
I have Visio on my computer at work, I'll make my own in full panavision technicolor, and I will share my work with anyone else that has a 74 midget, and I'll even laminate them too.
How do they expect people with my limited ability to read a wiring diagram to take my eyes off the page to look at the legend page to see what color it is I am supposed to following, which is completely different to the color wire I have in my other hand?
 
No color chart with the wires. The Bugeye diagram was so simple that it really wasn't necessary. The nice thing with the replacement harnesses is that the wire colors were all correct, so it was easy to match up to the diagram. With the old harness, it was almost impossible in many cases to figure out the colors.

I seem to remember that there have been some for sale on eBay, can't remember for which years though.
 
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