[6pack] A Lucas Fable...

[Navarrette, Vance]

	Oliver:

	Let me share a recent experience. It is more food for thought than anything,
because I feel it is so unusual as to be all but impossible to occur on anyone
else's car.
	Last year, I went to start the TR6 after a long hibernation over the winter.
I got a loud grinding noise but nothing else. Repeated attempts to start the
car gave the same result. Not being certain as to what was wrong, I went for
the easy stuff first. I took my battery to a local auto electric retailer.
They tossed it on the tester and proceed to pull over 300 amps and pronounced
it healthy.
	"Drat" says I, "'tis the starter I'll wager".
	Muttering anatomically unlikely unions of Mssr Lucas and the engineers at
Triumph, I proceed to pull my freshly rebuilt (well, ok, 2 years old but fresh
enough) OEM starter and haul my sorry a$$ over to the tech that rebuilt it.
	"A pox on thee, and thy rebuilt starter" I complain.
	"Don't get thy pantaloons in a bunch" was his knowing reply.
	The tech proceeds to strap the starter down to the test bench, and then cuts
a 2x4 in half with the merrily spinning starter.
	Wide eyed with disbelief, I mutter "'Tis the work of the devil. Perhaps an
exorcism of my car is at hand."
	I proceed to reinstall the starter and tighten all the connections, whereupon
the car starts just fine. "The car is possessed" is my official diagnosis.
Over the next few weeks, the grinding no start condition reappears, then
disappears. Finally, it appears and stays long enough for me to try jump
starting the car with my trusty daily driver. Voila! The problem instantly
disappears. So I drive the TR6 back to the auto electric shop and ask for
another battery test.
	"It has the stamina of the energizer bunny and the moral fortitude of John
the Baptist" the tech announces.
	"Humbug!" says I, "Away with it."
	"Methinks thou art too hasty" says he.
	"Perhaps, but I am still persuaded to throw it on the dung heap."
	"As thou wishes, my lord" says the tech, with a look of utter contempt in his
eyes.
	A new battery is installed, a few coins of the realm are exchanged, and the
problem never returns.

	Moral - Batteries can be intermittent and cause nasty grinding noises.


    Vance Navarrette
    http://www.triumphowners.com/832

-----Original Message-----
From: 6pack-bounces at autox.team.net [mailto:6pack-bounces at autox.team.net] On
Behalf Of oliver
Sent: Monday, April 26, 2010 8:06 AM
To: '6 Pack list'
Subject: Re: [6pack] starter or ring gear

it's a high torque starter; not more than 2 years old.  but worth checking.