First let me say hello to everyone. I am not a regular reader of b-c at
the moment (unfortunately). Time doesn't let me read that much mail. :-{
Percy is doing fine. Well, pretty fine, with a peculiar exception or two.
Strangest thing I ever saw, to tell you the truth, so I thought I'd come
to the True Fountain of British Car Wisdom for advice.
Percy is, for those of you who don't know, a 1980 Spitfire, in more or less
good shape, and reasonably original condition electrically. Yesterday I
was unloading the Caravan after a week in Maine, and lo! I saw in the
garage on Percy's facia a glowing red light that hadn't been glowing a
moment ago. The Fasten Seatbelt light was on. I hadn't driven the car for
8 or 9 days. No mice had eaten through any wiring. It was raining heavily
with a high humidity...perhaps, I wondered, that had something to do with it.
I tried tweaking the starter, but when it should have extinguished itself
after 8 seconds, it just flickered and stayed on. I wondered if maybe the
humidity was having some effect, confusing the circuit. (Our garage is
really pretty dry as garages go.) So I unplugged the battery and left it,
figuring I'd look at it in the morning (today) when it wasn't raining. So
today, though it was still raining, I checked it, re-attaching the battery,
and lo! it behaved just the way it should. The light did not come on when
I attached the battery, and it came on for the specified 8 sec when I hit
the starter, then it turned off. I had looked in the Bentley and Haynes
books for some clue, but neither offered any real help beyond "Locate and
replace the buzzer unit..." so I had expected to have to hunt down a short
or something. All this time I had been thinking that perhaps I had shorted
a wire when I took out the seats to re-upholster them this spring (finally),
but now there was nothing to fix!
So tonight, after it had stopped raining this afternoon and actually turned
into a beautiful *dry* New England day, I was putting stuff in the garage
when I noticed that same light glowing again. Hmmm...nothing would make
it go out, but I could make it flicker by tweaking the starter or by
jiggling wires (in any or several disconnected places, like under either
side of the facia or under the seat) or by turning on and off any of several
switches that were not powered at the time because the ignition was off.
The wiring diagrams show the "buzzer" or "control" unit as a black box with
wires going to the solenoid, the seat pressure switch, the battery, the
light, and perhaps somewhere else I've forgotten. But nothing gives any
detail of how this control unit works, how it counts 8 seconds, what might
go wrong or be fixed, or even where it is in the car. (Okay, I can find
it easily enough.) My first guess is that it has lost its self-respect
and never knows when to quit, or maybe that a spring holding some points
open has weakened. In any case, tomorrow I'll be looking at it again.
Have any of you ever experienced something like this? Could any of you
offer any hints of how this system even works or what is inside such a
control unit? Would any of you have one, in case mine has to be replaced?
Yeah, I know I could simply disconnect it, but there is something aesthetic
about having all the facia lights functional.
Or maybe I looked a bit too lustingly after that Ferrari a few days ago,
and I need to say some magical incantation.
Please reply to me directly, not to b-c, since I do not read the b-c list.
I can be reached at muller@world.std.com. Or simply call me at 617-891-0258.
So how is everyone? Hope you all have a nice, British-car-filled summer.
Jim Muller, Spitfire Pilot, SOL Emeritus.
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