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Stuck in the '50s Again

To: <mg-t@autox.team.net>
Subject: Stuck in the '50s Again
From: "Gunnell, John" <gunnellj@krause.com>
Date: Tue, 2 Sep 2003 09:12:49 -0500
Good Morning Mates

   Now I can't start my new TF (except via hand crank, which works fine)

   I'm going to sketch the scenario from start:

   Got car Wednesday. Jump started to move off trailer. Drove 30 miles to 
"cruise" on Wednesday night. Both headlights working on both beams. Left 
signals working, right parking lamp not working but signals OK. By the time I 
got home, right headlight high beam appeared to be burnt out.
   Thursday no problems. Disconnected tach conduit to check why not working. No 
cable. Tach drive working. Left cable loose. Car died on way to work Friday 
morning. While checking things noted battery installed negative ground. 
Reversed battery and cables. Car still dying when clutch put in. Turned out to 
be tach cable shortiung against distributor as clutch put in. Tach cable 
reconnected and problem solved.
   Friday night, disconnected right front parking light, disassembled, cleaned 
everything, checked wires, put back together. At this point the left parking 
lamp works, but blinker does not. Right blinker works, but parking lamp does 
not.
   Saturday morning car running well. Changed valve cover gasket and cleaned 
engine with Gunk and hose. Immediately started to dry off. Car ran OK.
   Sunday, went to take a ride. Car is totally dead. Lights work, but no 
cranking. Battery will start a '57 Buick but does nothing in the TF. Idea: 
Compare things to my TD. Note that batteries are hooked of different on both 
cars. TD has cable from battery to frame and braided cable to engine. TF has 
cable direct from battery to engine. There appears to be a braided cable (very 
greasy) far down on left side going to engine or tranny, but hard to see for 
sure and seems impossible to get at.
   Put test lamp across terminals of starter switch (manual solenoid) on both 
cars. It lights on the TD, it doesn't light on the TF. But I have heard that 
these starter switches NEVER FAIL. I have ordered a new switch from Moss, but 
won't have it for several days.
   Took off panel under fender and inspected starter cables. They all look 
good. 

   To me it sounds like I'm dealing with two issues:

   #1 Something wrong in the starter circuit, most likely the switch or the 
starter itself. I'm wondering if this could have been caused by hosing off the 
engine after Gunking it or by reversing the battery to posditive ground on 
Friday morning?

   #2 Sounds like a bad ground from engine to frame on the other electrical 
stuff, plus a bad socket on the RH parking lamp. But I'm wondering if reversing 
the battery plays in here? After switching, should I have "re-polarized" the 
system? How do you do this on a TD/TF?

   I think I'm heading down the right paths, but any advice, opinions or 
personal experiences would be appreciated.

   By the way, in the parts I got from the previous owner was a bill for work 
done in 1984, which was only about 1,500 miles ago. The bill included repairs 
to the starter, the right-hand signal lights and removal of non-working horns? 
Which, by the way, reminds me, where and how do you hook up the horns on a TF?

John Gunnell
Old Cars Weekly
Iola, WI

John Gunnell

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