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MG MGA - The Prince of Darkness Strikes Again


Two evenings ago I was out motoring with my favorite blonde when Penelope (my '56 MGA, not the blonde) lost electrical power to the brake lights, gas gauge and turn signals. headlights dash lights and running lights are fine. Last night a cursory review of fuses, grounds and wire connections behind the dash and under the bonnet showed no issues on those items. This weekend I'll be following Barney's web site's step-by-step diagnostic approach for this problem...but I'm thinking it's the turn signal relay. That is one of few original bits on my MGA from the DPOs. As I remember from the restoration, it is the original type relay (solenoids and points), not the newer type. Any thoughts on this before I get out the aligator clips and circuit continuity light and begin the diagnostic?
Frank Nocera


And yes, I know it's what I get for violating the admonition of Joseph Lucas who said, " A gentleman does not motor about after dark."
Frank Nocera

This happened to my friends MGA and it was one of the two fuses in the fusebox(or the connection). Now if it was my MGB, it would have been one of 4 fuses -- progress...
CDD Dewey

In addition to the list you gave the wipers are also on the same fuse. Do you have a wiring diagram? Can provide
Randy
R J Brown

Randy...yep... got the wiring diagram in an original workshop manual. Because of the gas gauge being inop as well, I think I will be taking a closer look at the fuse block. It is original...49 years old.
Frank Nocera

Randy, you said "can provide" when talking about the MGA wiring diagram. Can you provide a .jpg or similar file of a colored wiring diagram for a '57 MGA? If so, I'd be very interested. I have one of my '79 MGB and I printed it out as a 13" x 19" print on photo stock, and it is awesome to work with.

Thanks

Howard
Howard Battan

Have a careful look at the fuses. I had a fuse that was blown beyond the glass area - it looked ok but had blown near to its connection at the cap end.
J H Cole

When the fuse blows beyond the glass area, typically, the solder connecting the internal element to the end cap melts. This is an indication of 50 years of oxides on the brass fuseholder contacts and/or loose rivets. The contact resistance gets higher causing localized heating at the end cap. This heat, then melts the solder. It may be time to replace the fuseholder with a new one.

Chuck
Chuck Schaefer

When testing a fuse dont use you eyes they can lie use a test light many fuse failures look good.
Howard I only have black and white version can scan and e-mail or fax it.
Randy
R J Brown

You guys were right on target. Last night I put a new fuse in...and all was well again. Very good point about the visual inspection of fuses...don't trust your eyes! Thanks for the suggestion! Is this a great bulletin board site or what?
Frank Nocera

Frank, glad you found your problem and can again enjoy cruises with your favorite blonde. One other thing about Lucan fuse blocks, both 2 and 4 fuse types, is the rivets holding the fuse contact to the spade terminals on the bottom can loosen and corrode causing the same symptoms as a blown fuse and sometimes replacing the fuse will restore contact without fixing the problem. I've found that soldering the contacts from the bottom using a lot of flux is a good bit of insurance against failure.
Bill Young

This thread was discussed between 20/10/2005 and 21/10/2005

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