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MG MGA - Reliable flasher unit alternative to the lucas uni

So I recently replaced a flasher unit on my 1600. the original works for a short time then the lights stop blinking and just stay on. So I purchased a lucas replacement which lasted a month and now will flash the signal lights once or twice then causes them to flicker rapidly. Giving the flasher a tap with a finger gets it working again. I've taken it apart, but don't see much I could fix.
So, is there another positive ground option I could use?
I'm sure if I buy another Lucas unit from the local guys it'll be another piece of crap.
R emgeeaa

I also have a Lucas unit on the car. It works fine but I find it a little slow and when the indicators are switched on I cannot hear it clicking as I think it should. I like to hear the indicators working while I'm driving, it is not practical to keep looking at the little green lamp on the dashboard. Unless you are a concourse fanatic like me, I would advise you to replace your Lucas unit with a modern one. I tried one some time ago and the clicking sound was quite audible from the driver's seat, also the flashing frequency was much better. I don't think flasher units are polarity sensitive but, I'm sure someone who is electrically minded will be able to tell us.

Frank
F. Camilleri

If you have not cleaned all connections in all applicable circuits, and checked voltage drops across same, you have little cause to blame the flasher.

Flashers are not very precision devices, so it is normal to have different performance between flashers on marginal circuits, but they should all have a fairly broad range in which they work decently.
An electronic flasher may flash OK, but the indicator lamps will still give miserable illumination.

Further, if voltage loss is in the feed lines, it will also be giving poor performance at anything else on that circuit - like ignition, wipers, heater, brake lamps, etc. If in the earth side, other lamps will be poor.

I consider poor flasher performance to be pre-failure indicators of much more disruptive events to come.

Get a voltmeter and get to work.
Need instructions, send me an email, ask for "Electrobabble".

And, until such time as you are certain that all this is correct, stop badmouthing "Lucas". Even if the new "Lucas" isn't really, the name never deserved the bad rap it got. In 50 years working on these things, commercially, I have replaced about 3 bad Lucas flashers. I've fixed a hell of a lot of cars described as having your problem, and usually pull the OE flasher out of the pile on the floor of the car and put it back in.

FRM
FR Millmore

Figured it out today, with the flasher unit connected and the metal casing off I could see a bright red spot where the coil wire was shorting against the backing metal so obviously the insulation was either burned off because there wasn't enough clearance given by the manufacturer or the insulation wasn't applied properly. Bent the wire enough to keep away from the backing and now it works. I stand by the crap Lucas repro remark
R emgeeaa

Fit one of the cheap modern plastic-can versions designed for led bulbs, and spray it silver - only the purists will ever notice.
dominic clancy

If you really want to be a fanatic about keeping it original looking it is possible to remove the guts from an old Lucas unit and putting modern interns it. I have done that. Personally, I think spraying a new one silver works just as well.
Keith Lowman

So I bought a 3 wire unit for an old chev from Napa parts, cut the mounting tab off the Lucs unit, glued it onto the new one and mounted it. Works great, cheap at $12 and hopefully will last longer than 3 months. Haven't bothered to paint it.
R emgeeaa

This thread was discussed between 20/06/2012 and 29/06/2012

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This thread is from the archive. The Live MG MGA BBS is active now.