All:
Our planned Saturday cruise along rural Michigan backroads was cut short when
the Old Blue (1974, CF18407U) refused to start; showed the "fasten seat belt"
light and buzzer, but no starter action, not even a click. No problem,
probably the battery. Charged the battery overnight; the starter engaged the
first try. Wouldn't work for subsequent trys. Time to break out Dan Master's
invaluable book. Using his diagnostic procedure (connecting from the + terminal
to the S terminal on the solenoid), I was able to confirm the starter and
solenoid were OK . Then, tracked down the starter relay (which tooks some
doing). Cleaned it up a bit to identify the wire color codes in preparation
for the next step in Dan's diagnostics. On a hunch, tried the starter at that
point, and it worked fine. Tried it several times subsequently and still works
OK.
"It fixed itself." Needless to say, this make me nervous about shutting the
engine off when not safely in the garage. I have now cleaned up the terminals
on the starter relay (and starter itself), but I'm still a little concerned
that there's something else going on. Any thoughts?
This is a '74, which has the seat belt interlock and starter relay.
Rod Anderson
'If you will not fight for the right when you can easily win without bloodshed
; if you will not fight when your victory will be sure and not too costly; you
may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against
you and only a precarious chance of survival. There may even be a worse case.
You may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to
perish than live as slaves. - Winston Churchill, "The Gathering Storm."
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