The Triumph Dolomite Club - Discussion Forum

The Number One Club for owners of Triumph's range of small saloons from the 1960s and 1970s.
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 Post subject: Newbie
PostPosted: Mon Jan 17, 2011 11:11 pm 
Hello hello fellow dolomite owners!

I'm proud to say I'm the new owner of a 1500HL dolly (not quite sure what the HL stands for).

Car's great apart from the fuel gauge acts pretty much drunk all the time, think it just needs replacing. Also the overdrive...well i've had it 3 weeks and so far its been on axel stands 3 times. Overdrive does not work. The electrics appear to be okay as I can hear the solenoid click when ignition on and in 3rd/4th (switch on). I topped up the oil as was very low when i got it. That didn't work. I've cleaned the filters and that was also to no avail. Does anyone know wether i can change the solenoid without having to take the gearbox off?

Many thanks...

p.s. Dolomite much better than a Herald, i've learnt the error of my ways!


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 Post subject: Re: Newbie
PostPosted: Tue Jan 18, 2011 12:57 am 
Welcome to the forum, im guessing by the username that your car is sandglow in colour, the HL stands for 'highline' which means it has round headlights (1300 and 1500 had square units) a curved dash, wider seats and black rear pillar amongst a few other touches that made the HL.
Cant help on the O/D problem, sorry.

The fuel gauge fault could be the sender unit in the tank playing up or the voltage stabiliser not giving out a constant voltage.


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 Post subject: Re: Newbie
PostPosted: Tue Jan 18, 2011 10:11 am 
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Future Club member hopefully!
Future Club member hopefully!

Joined: Tue Oct 03, 2006 9:45 pm
Posts: 11179
Location: Middlesex
Non funtioning overdrives if the solenoid is working are a bit hard to diagnose without the pressure guages and a 4 post ramp.

You could try removing the valves in the bottom and cleaning them and changing a few O rings. I've only had mixed results with this. I rebuilt a few last year for the fun of it but its not really economic as the cost of the bearings etc is more than the cost of a recon one with a guarantee and the only way to tell if it works is to try it...as I dont have the guages and changing the box again when it doesnt work is a bit annoying. At least in the case of your car you can get the overdrive off the back of the box but its a bit fiddly and messy.

There is an electric test for current on the solenoid. It has 2 coils to energise and then hold. The energising coil takes more current and then switches to the holding coil that takes a bit less. If one coil has failed you can still get a click but it wont work.

It does come off in situ but you need to drop the cross member and you need a very thin spanner to get it undone.

Jonners

_________________
Note from Admin: sadly Jon passed away in February 2018 but his humour and wealth of knowledge will be fondly remembered by all. RIP Jonners.


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 Post subject: Re: Newbie
PostPosted: Thu Jan 20, 2011 11:18 pm 
Sandglow in colour, ooh interesting didn't think of that, all that i could come up with was buttermilk! i'm waiting for the registration document to come back with it's "official" colour, but apaprently the name custard arrived due to an unfortuante incident involving flower and rain!

I'll drop the cross member and take the solenoid off and do the test, thanks for the suggestion! it seems a little less rash than just removing the whole thing! I have a thin spanner just for the job, i used it to take a solenoid of a spare box which was a doddle, as there wasn't a car in the way to take it off!!

Cheers,

Ali


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 Post subject: Re: Newbie
PostPosted: Thu Jan 20, 2011 11:26 pm 
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TDC West Mids Area Organiser
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Joined: Thu Sep 28, 2006 1:13 pm
Posts: 13317
Location: Over here...can't you see me?
Probably honeysuckle then


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 Post subject: Re: Newbie
PostPosted: Thu Jan 20, 2011 11:32 pm 
...and either way, the reg. document will only give you the closest colour to the mixture, for example Sandglow is yellow on some V5Cs, brown on others.
Vermilion is red on some, but sometimes orange is recognised as a colour so orange on others.
For common sense, the DVLA isn't always the first place to look, unless they remember where they left it. :wink:


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