Happy New Year to all!
I'm ending the year with what appears to be a fairly major electrical
problem with the TR6, however. Fortunately, my wife had ordered for
me as a Christmas gift Dan Master's TR6 Electrical Maintenance
Manual, so despite my fear and ignorance of electrical stuff, I
expect to be able to track the problem down. Interesting that this
is the first electrical failure I've experienced with the TR6 (with
the exception of the time my dad blew up the alternator by hooking up
the battery wrong!) and it comes on the first drive after receiving
that book!
I may still need a little guidance from the list, though, so here's
what happened: Yesterday my wife and I returned from a 9-day
Christmas trip to Cottonwood, Arizona and right away there were a few
errands to run. Well, I hadn't driven the TR6 for 9 days so I
decided to take it instead of the Toyota. After my first stop at the
grocery store, the car began sputtering and then promptly died as I
went through an intersection. On the side of the road it became
immediately apparent that the TR6 was having a 'Lucas Moment' as the
purple circuit fuse had popped. Inserting another fuse proved
futile, as it would spark and pop instantly upon installation. I
could crank the engine with the starter, but I confirmed that there
is no spark. It was so cold there on the side of the road, and this
looked like a deeper problem than could be fixed in that environment,
so I called a tow truck (towing insurance
whew!) and right now the
Triumph is resting peacefully in the garage. Perhaps tonight I'll be
able to do some more tests.
I have a Lucas Sport coil with an Allison XR-700 electronic ignition
system. I don't think the ignition system has anything to do with
the problem
it's the purple circuit fuse that is more directly
related, I'm sure. Regardless, I thought I'd start with
troubleshooting the ignition because I'm not sure yet where to start
on the purple circuit issue. The first step in the Ignition
troubleshooting section of Dan's book is to test voltage at the coil.
I have done this, and found the voltage at the coil positive terminal
to be correct. The next test is to check continuity between the coil
negative wire and ground while cranking the engine. Here's where I
get confused. Dan's book says that resistance should alternate
between zero and infinity as the engine turns. Well, it appears to
hover at just below 1 ohm while the engine is cranking. Perhaps it
IS alternating on and off, but maybe because it's happening so fast,
the needle on my meter can't keep up and ends up just hanging around
the 1 ohm mark. Is this possible? Dan discusses two conditions
other than the zero-infinity oscillation
a constant infinity reading
and a constant zero reading. I have neither, or so it would appear.
The other steps in the section deal in the context of the OEM breaker
points, and being as stupid as I am with electrical stuff, I find it
difficult to translate between my electronic ignition setup and the
OEM points type ignition. I have a rudimentary understanding of how
the points type ignition works, even with respect to the electrics
involved. But I have no idea what's going on inside that Allison
XR-700 box!
I want to say that Dan's book is incredible. I have already learned
things from reading it. I'm not sure what the outcome of my current
problem will be
I doubt it will be addressed directly in the book,
but I understand it's not possible to foresee every possible failure.
I'm sure that using the techniques in the book and by learning the
basic principles that are outlined, I will be able to figure things
out.
Dan has obviously put a tremendous amount of effort into writing it
and everyone who buys a copy will find it absolutely indispensable,
I'm sure.
Thanks in advance for any suggestions!
--
Pete Chadwell
1973 TR6
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