The Triumph Dolomite Club - Discussion Forum

Hi all, can I pick your collective brains please? Sorry, this is a long winded one! I have a 1978 sprint that I have lived with a number of issues with since I have owned it, the worst being the intermittent function of the overdrive. I found out that a garage nearby has a mechanic who used to work on Dolomites back in the day for a dealership so I have been sending the car to them to sort out. He repaired and tuned the carbs, sorted the wayward steering out and fixed the overdrive so it worked as it should. He advised me that the centre prop bearing had failed so I ordered another one from Rimmer brothers and took the car back to them by which stage it is now driving really nicely. I also dropped a spare prop up to them. I picked the car up from them yesterday and the garage advised that they couldn’t get the prop off the car apart and after much persausion got the spare one apart. However, the centre bearing wasn’t quite the same and they had to do a modification to the bearing so the clip would hold it in. Upon driving away noticed a vibration through the drivetrain in first and second gear when pulling away. Worse than this, upon engaging the overdrive, it blows the bottom of the two 35 amp fuses killing all the circuits this covers. I replaced the fuse and bizarrely when you turn the lights on now the rev counter stops working. Lights off it comes back up. Engaging overdrive blows the fuse straight away. I cannot find anywhere in the Haynes manual a wiring diagram for the overdrive? I suspect they may have trapped and shorted a wire off the overdrive but they advise they didn’t touch anything in that area except the prop. Anyone come across a similar problem? Oh, and on tickover now the engine / gearbox / exhaust now knock on the bodywork as well. One step forward, two steps back. Any advice on the electrical or driveline vibration gratefully received. Thanks.

Thanks Dave. The mechanic repaired the gearstick wiring previously along with replacing the overdrive solenoid to get the overdrive working. I have been under the car this morning and can see no issues with the overdrive wiring. Did find an issue with the exhaust and managed to fix the iffy handbrake though so some progress.