John, two suggestions:
First thing I would do is go over all the connections in the fuse box. Make
sure that each of the "tangs" in there is pressing onto the fuse securely.
Had a similar problem, and my fuse box ended up toast before I figured it
out.
2. That doesn't explain the engine cutting out though. My recent fun time
with the solenoid would sugggest that cleaning the ground connections and
other connections to it may help as well.
Hope this helps,
Nick Moseley
(Still smiling because I drove Hermes to work this morning)
(Bear with me, trying out a name. Licence plate initials are HMS, and His
Majesty's Spit is too long, and not me. Hermes I 'm told was a winged
messenger known for speed, so it seems to fit.)
-----Original Message-----
From: John Weale [mailto:jweale@eskimo.com]
Sent: Monday, May 15, 2000 11:07 AM
To: spitfires@autox.team.net
Subject: Turn the on headlights, car flicks off?!?! 1980 Spitfire
OK, I know the answer probably starts with L, ends with ucas and
has a nice string of short, four letter sylabels in-between, but... Has
anyone run into a problem where their Spitfire flicks off for a second
when the lights (and sometimes the radiator fan) turn on? I turn on my
lights and for a half second the engine stops dead, the radio stops and
there are no lights on the dash (not even the ignition light). The whole
car blinks.
Now, honestly, I don't have a problem with this. My car leaks
onto my right foot in the rain, shudders a bit going through 65 (smooth at
80 though :), drips in my lap during rain with a cross wind from the
driver's side and has squishy brakes (OK, that bothers me, new MC is on
the calendar). Quirks are fine, but I expect any day to have her not blink
back on. Probably in the middle of some bridge with no shoulder during
rush hour in San Francisco or something. So, I feel I need to tackle this.
Anyone ever solve a similar problem suggest a circuit to rehab? If not,
I'm going to start cleaning and replacing electrical connections starting
with the ignition circuits. Oh, one last maybe clue -- the tach
ocasionally goes crazy (it'll bounce all over the place, over redline, off
the zero post, and so on for a second or two when slowing down).
Thanks for the help and/or letting me whine,
John Weale
1980 "British Racing Orange" Spitfire
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