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Re: voltage stabilizer? - update

To: zzalet@po-box.mcgill.ca, shmitty99@hotmail.com, spitfires@Autox.Team.Net
Subject: Re: voltage stabilizer? - update
From: DANMAS@aol.com
Date: Thu, 26 Nov 1998 17:35:00 EST
In a message dated 98-11-26 15:04:22 EST, zzalet@po-box.mcgill.ca writes:

> So then, what would the diagnosis be if:
>  1. The turn signals do work
>  2. The wipers don't work
>  3. The gas and temp gauge always manage to alarm people who've not been in 
> the
>     car before, ie they don't work.

Zach,

All three of the items you mentioned get their power from the "Green" fuse, as
do the brake and reverse lamps, so if at least one of them work, the fuse is
OK. It's certainly possible that you have a multitude of problems - defective
wiper motor, bad gauges, etc - but most likely you have a bad connection in
the green wire circuit somewhere.

The first thing to do is to trace all of the green wires from the devices that
don't work back to the fuse box, using a schematic as a guide. Somewhere
between the devices that don't work and the fuse box, you will find a point
where you have power on one side of that point but not the other. That point
will be where your problem lies - most likely a bad connection. When you find
that point, repair and/or replace as necessary. If it's a bad wire, make a
splice. If it's a bad connector, clean it if you can. If not, replace it.

As you trace the wires, you can eliminate testing any that are common to a
device that does work and one that doesn't. If both devices get power, then
there is a problem with the actual device itself that isn't working, rather
than a power feed problem. For example, there is one green wire from the fuse
to the brake switch, and another green wire from the brake switch to the
reverse switch. If either one of these works, the wire from the fuse is OK. If
the brake lights don't work, the switch may be bad; if the reverse lights
don't work, the green wire from the brake switch to the reverse switch or the
switch itself may be bad.

If the non-functional device has power to it, then either the device is bad or
has a bad ground (the cause of many problems).

Dan Masters,
Alcoa, TN

'71 TR6---------3000mile/year driver, fully restored
'71 TR6---------undergoing full restoration and Ford 5.0 V8 insertion - see:
                    http://www.sky.net/~boballen/mg/Masters/index.html
'74 MGBGT---3000mile/year driver, original condition - slated for a V8 soon
'68 MGBGT---organ donor for the '74

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