I solved my "intermittent short" problem. Not the brake switch, nor
any other short. The fuses had gotten hot (at one end), but had not blown.
What had happened was that the switched-circuit fuse (top one in use; the top
is normally unused on US TR6's) was making iffy contact with the end of the
fuse, and was occasionally going to no contact, or high resistance (for a
fuse). I measured it with a VOM, wires disconnected, after I noted there was
a 1-volt drop across the fuse when I just switched on the ignition.
It turns out that it was usually ~8-20 ohms, and sometimes ~50-100 or
total no-connect, depending on how I moved the fuse within the clip. Not
Good At All. The others were better, but I didn't trust them. This explains
why the endcap of the fuse had gotten hot enough to drop solder, but the fuse
hadn't blown - the cap/fuseholder was trying to be a power resistor at some
point.
Solution: I got out the infamous $0.50 Dremel with a wire-brush bit,
and polished the corrosion off the spade connectors and off the insides of
the clips (as best I could). That made the others pretty close to perfect, and
the switched-circuit fuseholder now ran ~0 ohms most of the time, but if you
moved the fuse it could still go no-connect or relatively high resistance on
occasion. So I moved the switched circuit to the previously unused top fuse,
which after polishing was 0 ohms all the time.
Steve Sutton writes:
>Does anyone know if a return spring was fitted to the brake pedal on LHD
>TR-6's? The parts manuals show a return spring for both the clutch and brake
>pedals. Bentleys only shows one fitted to the clutch pedal. I see a place for
>one on the brake pedal but can't imagine how it would attach, as the brake
>light switch is right in the way.
TRF's book shows a return spring as well. I ordered one (figuring
mine was missing), and it does fit, at least on a '70 TR6. However, it
bends around the pedal, so it's not perfect. The advantage is that it takes
up any slack, giving (perhaps) a slightly longer stroke, especially in the
case of a slow leak that makes you pump the brakes. However, that shouldn't
be an issue on TR6's since they have a dual system. So, in summation, I'd
feel fine leaving it off.
Now, the spring for the clutch is very useful and important (mine was
missing that also), since it is a single system (and a marginal one, at that).
Replacing the pin for the clutch is a big win, they wear a lot. The brake
pin doesn't wear anywhere near as much.
In fact, the clutch is my new problem. Having fixed the electrics, I
drove it to work today. It backed out of the garage ok, but backing out of a
parking place at a store on the way to work the clutch wasn't fully
disengaging. It's mostly disengaging (syncros aren't fighting much in
forward gears), but not enough to get into reverse. Sigh. It's already in
the top hole, and I replaced the pin in the pedal last year (it was badly worn;
the car has ~158K miles). Perhaps a bleeding will bring it back enough to
get me to the winter, when the entire trans/driveshaft is coming out for
a trans rebuild and ujoints for the driveshaft. I do have slave and master
rebuild kits in my spare-parts box (I plan ahead on common stuff like this).
They're cheap and a real win if you get stranded a long ways from home.
I should have known that getting the last thing keeping it from being
working enough to pass inspection (the hazard switch) would be dangerous
to do.... Since then every day I've driven it something has broken. :-(
--
Randell Jesup, Scala US R&D, Ex-Commodore-Amiga Engineer class of '94
Randell.Jesup@scala.com
Exon food: <offensive words no longer censored - thank you ACLU, EFF, etc>
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