Hi Everyone;
I have an early TR3A that, as usual, I have stored for the winter. Today, I
gave it a full ignition tune-up and changed the negative cable (it's still
positive ground/earth) because it wasn't gripping the battery terminal
tightly enough (upon starting, this was causing a loud click and sudden
absence of ignition light, last year).
While I was at it, I also made sure all connections were fine, including
cleaning up the ground cable, where the coil mounts (it was fine anyway).
Then, I tried to start it: Ignition on, press the button and nothing. The
ignition light dims a bit, no clicking, ammeter shows discharge of, say, 10
amps.
If I try it a few times, I can hear a faint clicking from the
gear-reduction starter.
I re-cleaned the battery connections, gave the starter a couple of good
hits, charged the battery (it was fine anyway). Still the same symptom,
although the clicking from the starter seems a bit louder and more consistent
(though it's still quiet).
I'm not very good at diagnosing electrical faults, so I wondered if anyone
might have any hints. Much better with mechanical faults. Also, could it be
a faulty solenoid? I seem to remember that the gear reduction starters
come with an integral solenoid, obviating the one mounted on the
firewall/scuttle. Can I just by-pass it? At the moment, I have a cable going
from the
starter to the soilenoid, then one from the solenoid to the battery. I would
have thought that, as they're both on the same terminal, that it wouldn't
make any difference.
Sorry this is so long...
Tim
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