Scott you wrote:
>And while we are on the topic of weird wiring
>problems. I thought a saw a reference recently to a
>headlight/horn problem, but wasn't sure that I caught
>up to an answer. My horn will occasionally buzz when
>I turn on my head lights (the kids love it, but I could do
>without). So ... which one is shorting?? The horn or
>the lights or the switch?? I believe there' been some
>lively discussion on the topic of Clear Hooters
>switches. Should I replace switch (it looks new but
>who knows) Can I (should I, will I) install ground wires
>to the headlights (or horn or both)??
I not sure if what I'm about to describe could be your problem but I highly
recommend you rule it out. About 8-10 months ago for about a week or so
intermittently I would smell something burning when I turned on the lights
(never having a serious electical problem I ignored it - stupid idea).
Finally one day the smell turned to smoke, then alot of smoke, I turned out
the lights, and no let up with the smoke or smell, I shut the car off and
removed the key, still no help. Then the next thing freaked me out... the
car, without the key in the ignition, tried to start on its own. Then I
panicked, jumped out the car and yanked the terminals off the battery (not a
safe thing to do I know). I eventually found that I had a short in the
steering column with the wiring to the dim switch for the light. The problem
in my 74 spitfire (I'm not sure how many other TR's have the same wiring)
those wires are live under the dash when the lights are turned on. Believe
it or not they don't go through the fuse box til they go back out the
firewall (way to go engineer's). That means if you get a short in the dash
you can have major problems. Anyhow, that wire got superhot and melted a
whole bunch of wires, including one for the ignition (which caused my
"Christine" like symptoms). Locating all of those wires that were melted and
replacing them made me feel like I was doing multi-organ transplants on top
on removing some cancerous tissues (took about a week and half of all of my
spare time).
My whole purpose of telling this story is that if you have a horn/light
problem and have wiring similiar to my car (you don't mention what yours is)
you may have a problem in the steering column. In my car the wire to the
horn push and light dim switch are in close proximity. They can get pinched
by the little protector under the steering cloumn that is held in place by
the upper steering column clamp. I would highly recommend you make sure all
is okay in this area, before you have a experience like mine. Hate to be a
pessimist, but I thought you might profit from my experience.
Jim Cullen
1974 Spitfire, British Racing Green aka "Jade"
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