The Triumph Dolomite Club - Discussion Forum

Hello everyone!!

Had a scary old night last night, I was driving along the main road when I suddenly lost drive. Had it happen briefly twice before, but only for maybe half a second? Tachometer dropped right off to zero straight away, car wouldn't start when I was rolling. Still had lights, radio and everything else except right indicator stalk 10 minutes after it all happened - no horn (only VERY quietly) or indicators. Both these came back a few minutes later. As I was rolling to a stop on the motorway, suddenly power came back, and everything was normal! Thoughts??

Have you still got the original fuse box Kyle?
It could be the fuse for the ignition on (key position 2) wiring.



Ian.

No I changed the fuse box, I think I kept the old one though?! I did that nearly a year ago I think though?! :')

Hi Kyle, Well, we are definately in the realms of electrics here. Those were a good set of tests you did from which I would guess its the connector(s) at the base of the steering column. Or maybe the brown wire at the battery positive lead that goes to the ignition switch.
Reason:- Its very interesting that the hooter was reduced to a mere squeak which indicates a high resistance in that circuit ( IGN OFF circuit ) but the ignition circuit was also dead ( IGN ON circuit ). The common factor is that both these circuits go through the bulkhead to the base of the steering column, through a connector(s) and then back up and down the steering column to the various switches. The connector is very difficult to separate. Prise the locking tabs back each side of the connector and wiggle each half apart. Then look for dirty / corroded pins / dodgy wire connections on the back of each connector. In particular the brown, White and purple wires. A likely cause is water ingress somewhere.
If it is the brown wire to the ignition switch at the big connector on the positive lead, you can find it by looking for the one that goes to the fuse box. Its not that one. Then find the two that go to the alternator. Its not those. So that leaves two other brown wires. Best to check both of them.

HTH,
Tony.

Sound advice Tony except that the loom for the ignition switch is separate from the loom section for indicator/horn/dip/flash switch.

While its a good idea to do the cleanup you suggest I would also look at the connectors on the coil. The symptoms are a sure sign that the low tension supply to the coil was dodgy. The immediate loss of tacho also points to this.

Jonners

Thank you all for the help as always!!

Haven't had time to sort it out yet as I've been mega busy! Having said that, I've driven maybe 7 hours with no issues since so its very intermittent.

Also today, I noticed the tachometer is reading 20% ish too high, whenever I press the accelerator?! The only thing I could think was a bad earth, that the throttle cable is being used as an earth, giving a different reading when I accelerate?? Lots of electrical issues apparently!!

Going to do my old 'I remember when I was a lad' bit here and mention moving house day travelling to Bradford up the M1 in my Dad's Austin A60 Cambridge when the engine just kept suddenly dying for no reason. It had done this a couple of times earlier in the week on my way to school and every time my dad popped the bonnet to take a look it just started straight away and had him baffled.

Back to moving day and this increasingly more common cutting out was more than bad enough but made more fraught as we were supposed to be arriving with the removal van to let them in, no mobile phones back then to get hold of them and obviously we didn't know anyone in the area yet, and wondering if they were parked outside ready to throw our furniture in the garden. Unlikely as that ever was to happen, my mum kept saying it with an increasingly despondent tone that matched the frequency of stops. Anyway back on track with the tale, so this car was cutting out randomly, and getting steadily worse so in the end my stressed out dad what with mum having a go, and 3 kids bouncing on the back seat admitted defeat and called the AA out. Turned out it is was one of the coil's lucar connector that had become loose on it's rivet, two light taps of hammer and screwdriver and we were on our way. Explains why every time dad checked the connections to everything, it started again as he would have moved the lead without noticing it was loose.

There's a moral in there somewhere, first to find it wins a Curly Wurly.

The moral is "A little knowledge is a dangerous thing"

It's easy to fall into the trap of looking for all kinds of obscure faults and overlooking the obvious.

The easiest and quickest £20 I ever earned came this way. I was at work (in my London days) when a V6 Granada broke down on the street outside. The owner, a gentleman of the Irish persuasion, on his way and very late for his ferry home, was tearing out his hair cos it would run rough and stop for no discernible reason until it finally expired outside my shop. He had explored under the bonnet every time, found nothing, but the car had restarted every time he did this! A quick glance under the bonnet whilst he spun the engine gave me the answer, I pushed the king lead back into the coil and it sprang to life immediately! He shoved a £20 note into my hand, said "thanks chum, you've saved my life" (a slight exaggeration) and roared off into the sunset!

Steve

I'll leave a Curly Wurly on the stand at the NEC in November for you Steve!