Bob -
It's funny, I had a very similar experience with my voltage regulator
on a long trip. It stopped working and rather than charging down the
battery on the way home, I popped the regulator cover, filed the
contacts, bent the contact arm back into place, and eyeballed the gap.
The VR has been on the car now for 50K miles since then and still
going strong. No problems with charging or the battery.
Great job on your field repair... those are the best!
Regards,
Alan
'53 BN1 '64 BJ8
On 6/25/06, Bob Spidell <bspidell@comcast.net> wrote:
> I'm so proud of myself, I just have to share ;)
>
> On my most recent 3,000+ mile road trip, my overdrive started acting up;
> it would
> sometimes not engage and sometimes drop out then re-engage, at random.
> It got
> progressively worse so at a hotel stop in Salmon Arm, BC we decided to
> try to
> solve it. I was hoping it was the solenoid, because I had a spare, but
> for once I
> did a little diagnostics before jumping in. I really didn't want to
> remove the transmission
> cover in a parking lot, though I've done it before (NOTE: the Bentley
> reprint of the
> shop manual has a good O/D troubleshooting guide). Anyway, my navigator
> noticed the
> 12V output from the relay was intermittent, so we figured that was the
> problem
> (what should be in every LBC owner's road kit: a cheap voltmeter; the
> moving coil type
> are best and you can get them for 5-10 bucks).
>
> The problem was, my spare relay was safely home in my parts locker,
> about 1,500
> miles away. So, hoping for the best, I proceeded to uncrimp and remove
> the cover
> off the relay. Nothing special inside, just a garden variety SPST
> (single-pole single-throw)
> relay. The points were pretty burned, so I filed them clean with a
> points file (lucky I
> had it since I don't use points ignition any more). In addition, the
> arm/bracket mounting
> for the fixed point didn't seem quite right; it appeared to be bent down
> a little, probably
> from 150,000 miles or so of being pressed on by the moving point (it's
> thin Al). So I
> straightened the arm back to 90deg.
>
> I put the cover back on the relay, and crimped it with a pair of channel
> lock pliers.
> The O/D worked fine for the remainder of the trip (1,500 miles or so).
> Though I
> have a spare relay, I think I'll leave the road repaired one in, just
> out of curiosity
> (it's easy enough to R&R this relay). After filing, the points looked
> to have maybe
> 1/32" or so of material ... enough for another 20-50K miles, maybe.
> We'll see.
>
> Though I'm a "tech guy," I'm always astounded by the rugged simplicity
> of these
> cars, and how many problems can be fixed with simple tools (I have a toolbox
> the size of a fishing tackle box, with contents I have refined over 90K
> miles of
> driving this car, plus a box of spare parts). I'll always think of this
> diagnosis and
> repair, as I listen to people complain about the electrical vagaries of
> their new
> SUVs, BMWs and Mercedeses.
>
> Oh yeah, I put a few photos (we didn't take nearly enough) on my
> website, at the
> end of the "slide show:"
>
> http://home.comcast.net/~bspidell
>
>
> Cheers,
> bs
>
> --
> ***************************************************************
> Bob Spidell San Jose, CA bspidell@comcast.net
> '67 Austin-Healey 3000 '56 Austin-Healey 100M
> ***************************************************************
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