The charm of Lucas starters, dynamo's, alternators, windscreen wiper
motors, fan motors, distributors, petrol pumps etc. is that they last a
lifetime when properly serviced. Take them apart at certain intervals or
at the first signs of failure, clean, oil/grease, rebuild and adjust,
usually without the need to renew anything at all, bar a few brushes or
a bush and they will be fine again for a long time..
An example is the distributor. It will last forever if you regularly oil
the felt pad in top of the shaft, oil the flyweights and the moving
plate with the points and if really dirty partially dismantle , clean,
oil and rebuild. When is the last time you did that??
Same story with the starter and dynamo, give them a drop of oil on the
bearings once in a while, replace the brushes in time, clean the starter
spindle with the inertia gear wheel and use some graphite powder (no oil
or grease) to lubricate it on the spindle. Anyone doing that???.
All the motors can be taken apart, cleaned and rebuild, most of the worn
parts can be replaced and still be bought for very little money.
Try that with a lot of other stuff. Lubricated for life, sealed and when
broken, the only thing you can do is throwing it away and replace the
whole unit with new. OK, when you do not maintain your Lucas stuff it
will fail possibly earlier than the sealed for life bits, but that's
your own choice.
I never had a failing electrical petrol pump, distributor, starter,
dynamo/alternator, wiper motor yet in more than 35 years of motoring in
British cars. Plenty of other things went wrong with this British junk,
but not these specific items.
Kees Oudesluijs
NL
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