Date: Tue, 24 Dec 1996 13:23:34 -0500
From: Joe Peck <peck@ss4.digex.net>
Subject: Re: cover for starter (was Re: B Starter Brushes)
>Now a question. The parts car starter has a rubber cover over it ( is
>this for safe starting?) I've never seen one on a care before nor have
>I heard anyone mention it on the list . Looked in the VB catalog and
>they don't show one either. Was this factory equipment?
I've got one, although it's plastic. It was on my '80 B when I bought it
used, so I don't know whether it's aftermarket or not. I can tell you what
they do, and Bradley was close when he said:
> I belive these where put on by dealerships in the U.S. to waterproof
> them a little.
Actually, it's the connection to/from the alternator that needs waterproofing.
I was driving in a heavy rainstorm once -without that plastic starter cover -
and my lights started getting dimmer and dimmer. The alternator
connection at the starter was getting thoroughly wet and hence the alternator
wasn't providing juice to the car. I was running strictly off the battery,
which was slowly being drained. This has happened to me a couple of times,
and each time I reminded myself to reinstall the starter cover. Maybe I'll
do it today, come to think of it. Anyone else ever experience this type
of problem while driving in wet weather?
Here's another one for you - I had a battery in my trunk/boot (after the
the wet connection drained the battery I'd hitched a ride home and grabbed
a spare battery, swapped out the drained one, and put the dead one in the trunk.
Left it there a few days). My daily commute at the time was up and down
a twisty mountain road through a redwood forest. (highway 84 in Woodside
California if you get a chance, drive it and Skyline Drive - beautiful).
Anyway, around one sharp turn the battery bounced around in the trunk and
knocked the fuel pump electical connection off. Only took me a few minutes
of scratching my head to figure out why the car stopped running.
I'm not sure if that one counts as a Dan Hughes story or not :-)
Cheers,
Joe Peck
|