Listers; a serious post that dosen't make fun of nobody. (Well, accept
me)
DELETE NOW IF YOU ARE OFFENDED BY ON-TOPIC DRIVEL
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I have sympathy for you folks whose garage contains but a single LBC. Us
moneyed folks have at least two cars so that, while undertaking a
project with significant down time on one car, you still have a spare
car to enjoy on nice days.
For instance, while the C/GT is down for surgery, I have a perfectly
capable TR6 to waddle along the backroads in the meantime. Of course,
there are a few minor drawbacks to this theory. Principally, if the
weather is good you're out in the sun and when the weather is bad, you
rememeber what wasn't quite right with the driver so its maintenance
seems to take precedence over the major project. The C/GT is beginning
to accumulate a few fur balls and paw prints.
Anyway, my latest conquest to share with you folks is a problem with the
TR6. To wit, the turn signals weren't working. The first dozen dianostic
steps were to look for fuses (visually okay) and use the wiring diagram
and some thumbing through the manual to figure out where all these
neatly labeled devices on the wiring diagram actually exist on the car.
Getting through this, I was also able to determine that the emergecny
flashers weren't working either and, according to the wiring diagram,
they are related quite a bit. So there was another half dozen diagnostic
steps to ascertain I had no idea why neither system was operating.
As I was looking at the diagram where the glut of wires converged on the
flasher switch, I considered that the switch, itself, is buried at the
top center of the wooden dash between the speedo and tach. The thought
of getting to the damn switch was somewhat humbling. So I was gonna
re-check my diagnostics (steps 1 through 25) and launch a note of humble
begging to Dan Masters -- on this list and has some claim to corraling
the recalcitrant Lucasaide Smoke.
Somewhere around then I discovered if you run a voltmeter on each side
of the fuse box, some of the fuses were keeping a volt or two for their
own amusement. Wow. How many times has that happened? Crummy
connections. Oxidation. Gremlins.
To prove there is a point to this post, my solution to problems such as
these have worked well in the past. The goal is to clean the fuse box
and connections to remove any oxidation and then etch the metals to
assure good conductivity.
The LBC geniuses that brought us lever shocks, SU carbs, and siamesed
cylinder heads also designed fuse boxes with tin connectors and copper
fuse spades. Add a few moving electrons and it is a great system for
electrolitic reactions -- like loose connections and oxidation.
So this is what I did:
I removed the fuse box. I considered, but did not perform, the accepted
practice of disconnecting the battery. I then went into the SO domain
and poured a few tablespoons of automatic dishwashing soap in a spare
wide-mouth pickle jar, added the hottest water I can get out of the tap,
and then dropped in the fuse box and let the family assist me in shaking
the closed jar for 20 minutes. Then I rinse the soap out and pour in
enough white vinegar to cover the fuse box and repeat the 20 minute
shaking routine. The fuse box will come out with the terminals and
spades nicely etched and, after a thourogh rinsing and drying, ready to
reinstall.
Why the chemicals? Because automatic dish washing soap (unlike Fairy
Liquid) is about the highest alkaly you can find in the house. This
(like Castrol Super Clean) has enough lye (sodium hydroxide) to loosen
the dirt and oxidation. The vinegar is a weak acid. Dissimilar metals
will accelerate the eloctrolitic reaction in a weak acid to etch the two
metals that make up the fuse box.
This hour long excercise, start to finish, saves you from trying to get
emory paper in all the nooks and crannies and from ripping great hunks
of cuticles off when they get slid up into the fuse spades.
So that's my story. The electrics on the TR6 are all working again and,
I'll be damn, blinking with some authority. And I didn't have to tear
the dash out to chase the fix. Yippee!
As for the voice of aouthority, if you leave any piece in the vinegar
solution for too long -- like overnight -- and there are dissimalar
metals involved, you pretty much pour out a small pile of peices out the
other end. Beware.
--
Bob Allen, Kansas City, '69CGT, '75TR6, '61Elva(?)
"Sure He created heaven and earth but what has He done for me lately?"
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