[Healeys] Anybody else noticed this?

[John Harper]

I wonder if anybody has come across this before and have any comments to 
make.

I am talking about the 'big' Healey overdrive solenoid. In my case Lucas 
76515 Date Code 4878. Although almost 30 years old I fitted one of these 
about 4 years ago as new, old stock. For some reason when running for a 
long time on a motorway recently the coil burnt out for no obvious 
reason. Almost certainly the operating coil contacts had made although 
all external adjustments appeared to be correct.

I opened up the solenoid to see what might have caused the fault and was 
surprised to find, under the nylon inner cap, that this was filled with 
white soft rubber. It looks as if this had been injected somehow and 
allowed to set. What seems to be very strange is that this rubber was 
interfering with the correct action of the contacts. This all seems 
wrong to me; hence my concern.

I have two other new, old stock solenoids with the same date code and I 
am considering removing all the rubber before using them. I used the 
helpful query service of ODSpares in Rugby UK and this was their prompt 
reply.

'There is no need to remove all of the white rubber but certainly clean 
away any that will cause problems with the movement of the points or the 
little plunger that activates the points.

Some of the Lucas ones were prone to this problem'

Any further advice or comment?

Regards
-- 
John Harper