[Mgs] Electrical Saga part 3 of 3

[Max Heim]

A classic illustration of the maxim "just because you found a problem, that
doesn't mean it's the only problem".

--

Max Heim
'66 MGB GHN3L76149
If you're near Menlo Park, CA,
it's the primer red one with chrome wires


on 7/25/12 12:25 PM, dwoerpel at dwoerpel at wi.net wrote:

> PART 3
> 
> After having the generator checked at the two shops again and declared
> working, I ran tests on the car and was getting very low readings, like
> 2.1 v @ 1800 rpms.Worked in the shop but not on the car.
> 
> I called, my now good friend Rick Ewald, who sat down in a grocery store
> with a cup of coffee for an hour (many thanks to your wife for being
> patient!) and we ran a bunch of tests over the phone.No success but(!)
> Rick, even though I had the generator apart several times I dismantled
> it again.No, the through-bolts were not grounding out the field. But...
> 
> Remember what started all this?Because the cutout stayed closed, that
> allowed battery voltage to the generator which then tried to be a motor
> but couldn't turn because the fan belt prevented the pulley from turning
> so it got hot and threw solder and MELTED the harness.
> 
> I thought I'd look inside the generator one last time.Looking carefully
> at the end plate I noticed the nylon insulation around the "D" terminal
> was melted and I could wiggle the terminal which caused the brush cage
> to wiggle.It was very close to grounding fully to the case. Wow, didn't
> think of that.Another tidbit to file away in the memory bank (read:
> computer; my personal memory bank can no longer be trusted...A.D.D. can
> be...Oh, look! A Toad...a problem.).
> 
> I took the end plate to Jeff Johnson at Alstar Company Inc. in Hales
> Corners, WI (414.427.7991) who made some new insulators (I could have
> done it but was leaving for a week).It looks original and cranked out
> 19.2v on startup @1800 rpms.Light is out, comes on when at idle,
> flickers as revs increase and goes out around 1200-1400 rpms. Standing
> voltage and running voltage under load all check out at ~12.4v.Next is a
> test drive but that will have to wait until I return from Alaska (No
> Barney, I'm not driving it to Alaska!).
> 
> So many thanks to all who helped:Barney Gaylord, Rick Ewald, Don Zubrod,
> Dave Spearing, Jeff Johnson, John (at Maxim Rebuilders in Burlington WI
> 262.763.9441) and everyone else whose ear I gnawed on getting scraps of
> info.
> 
> Hope you never run into this problem!Fingers crossed.  "One never knows
> the depth of the well by the length of the handle on the pump"...my
> Father always said this.
> 
> 
> /Safety Fast!/
> 
> 
> Dave W
> 59 :{)
> 59 MGA 1500
> Burlington WI