>Let me preface this by saying that I am somewhat of a newbie. I've had
>problems like this before, but have never tried to tackle them myself. This
>will be my 1st attempt to fix a no start problem on my own.
>
>I recently took my 74 MGB into a local muffler shop to install my new
>stainless steel exhaust system (which looks and sounds great). When I
>went to
>pick it up, they said they had to jump my B to get it started. Sounds a
>little suspicious considering it was fine when I brought it in, but who knows.
>
>Once we jump it, it runs fine. But the second I shut it off, it goes
>completely dead...no crank, no clicking, nothing. Could this just be a bad
>alternator? I'm praying it's not a short because I'd have not clue where to
>start.
>
>I'm sure there are certain steps I should take to trouble shoot this, but I'm
>unaware of what I should do and the tools I'll need. I have the dual 6volt
>batteries setup and the batteries are brand new as of last Nov.
>
>I have the Bentley and Haynes manual but neither have much detail when it
>comes to troubleshooting a no start problem.
>If anyone can give me advise on what things to check first and how to go
>about
>it, I'd appreciate it.
This exact situation occurred with me with a non-LBC. Turned out the dufus
garage personnel (not really mechanics) left the car door open over a long
weekend. The dome light burning killed the battery dead.
So, first things first. When you jump it, it runs fine. That means that
there's probably nothing wrong with the engine and the starter and solenoid
are doing their jobs.
Second, it could be a dead battery. Whoa you say, why didn't it charge up
when I went driving? Well, if the battery is just at the right level of
being DEAD, you can still run the car, but the alternator won't recharge it
(alternators aren't really good at that). You can try trickle charging it
(I'd make the muffler shop do it if you don't have a charger). And I mean
trickle. Like 3 amps or less (most chargers are 10 amps and that may be too
much for a dead battery). This may take a while.
Still no go? Maybe it is the alternator or some other part of the charging
system (diode, wiring, etc), but apply Occam's razor: the simplest
explanation is that it's somebody else's fault :) In this case, the muffler
shop boys killed the battery while listening to the Spice Girls on your
radio.
Good luck,
Jeff
_____________________________________________________MV
Jeffrey H. Boatright, PhD
Senior Editor, Molecular Vision
http://www.emory.edu/molvis
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