[TR] Electrical Gremlin

TERRY SMITH terryrs at comcast.net
Wed May 29 19:36:44 MDT 2019


Alas, I have been a good boy...relatively speaking, of course.  Yet nonetheless the Prince of Darkness, St. Lucas, has descended to wreak havoc.

TR3 engine starts and runs, then flutters and, now, dies.  I've been through the fuel system completely, short of a magnet in the fuel tank, which I might try.  Completely disassembled the carbs again today.  Jets centered, float bowls have no gas in them, float valves perfectly adjusted, and the puff test shows they stop flow as they should.  Mixture and idle is right.  Not to mention I tried a complete swap out of these carbs (rebuilt by Quantum Mechanics some years back).  

I've tracked wiring through the system.  I thought a partial open (broken wires) at the lighting switch where it feeds the ignition switch would fix it.  Didn't.  Replaced the 60 year old ignition switch. Didn't fix it.  Double checked the fuse holder for solid and clean connections.  Not the issue.  When it does run, the voltmeter (not ammeter) shows just the 12 volts from the battery, and not a charge.  White wire from the fuse to the coil tests no short to ground, and bypassing it with another connecting wire doesn't cure the problem either.  

So question.  When one has done the Pertronix modification (I replaced that too), the generator control is wired differently.  I've checked connections there and they're good.  But is there any break-down inside that could cause a power disruption to the ignition system.  

Second question, I can't really tell from the wiring diagram whether the generator or the starter could be stealing power from the ignition system.

I'll be back at it tomorrow, but any thoughts?

Best,
Terry Smith, '59 TR3A  TS 58667
New Hampshire


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