I realize this might turn up sooner or later, but just in case it
doesn't (due to whatever happened -- hang in there, mjb!), here goes again:
===========================================================================
Date: Mon, 12 Aug 1996 09:54:42 +0400 (EDT)
Well, after struggling for awhile yesterday to replace a column lighting
switch on my friend's TR250 to cure a semi-serious shorting out problem,
I again turned my attention to his more immediate problem -- no turn
signals.
When he first got the car, they sort of worked, but the "hazard"
flashers did not work at all. To make a long story short (and some of
you are way ahead of me, I'm sure), the problem was traced to the hazard
flasher switch.
After a long but successful rockerswitchectomy, it was easy to see why
the switch didn't function as originally planned.
The lovely verdigris that we admire so on statues in the park and other
bits of older alloys really has no place inside an electrical switch,
particularly on the contacts. That was not too hard to clean and
reassemble, and the switch now performs all intended functions.
Unfortunately, it is a bit fragile and will need to be replaced.
[Tuesday addendum: Dick Burger tells me this part is still available
through Moss, @ $85. YIKES! Anybody got any good used ones lying about?
;-) ]
As I said, everything now works, and it all works as well as it ever
did. Which is to say, the turn signals act as if there might be a bad
ground somewhere. They flash very quickly and none too brightly. It is
NOT a lamp ground problem as they all are well grounded (and the hazard
flahsers work as they are supposed to).
I didn't have a good spare flasher to try (this is the later-style,
2-prong, square Lucas flasher). Does this sound like a flasher problem?
Anything else I should check?
================
Also, can anyone with a good TR6/250 cataloge at hand tell me if certain
Lucas distributor bits are available separately? Specifically, I'm looking
for the vernier wheel on the end of the vacuum advance, as well as the
little spring metal piece that goes "behind" it in the notch on the
distributor body. These were missing from the TR250, and the wheel and
spring piece I pirated from an old, broken MGA distributor are really
too big to fit properly.
In a puzzle that now continues for me towards its fifth decade, I am
mystified that the car could have run so well with the advance mechanism
free to slide back and forth so! But, then, maybe it's not really doing
anything anymore, having been made redundant by some DPO! ;-)
Amazingly, in addition to the normal complement of TR gauges, this car
has functional SMITHS oil temperature and VACUUM gauges; unfortunately,
they are mounted in a footwell such that only a passenger -- scrootched
down under a tonneau cover and utilizing binoculars -- could see these
gauges!?! Go figure....
--Andy
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
* Andrew Mace e-mail: amace@unix2.nysed.gov *
* *
* Mrs Irrelevant: Oh, is it a jet? *
* Man: Well, no... It's not so much of a jet, it's more your, er, *
* Triumph Herald engine with wings. *
* -- The Cut-price Airline Sketch, Monty Python's Flying Circus *
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
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