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MG TD TF 1500 - Another Bullet Dodged - No Rollback

Dodged another bullet this afternoon. I was planning to take the TD to the Animals and Aircraft event to Saturday (200+ roundtrip). It needed gas and I wanted to give it a drive to ensure that it still runs good. It started and ran great except that it didn't want to hold a decent idle. I decided to fill it up and return to the Brown Building to adjust the idle speed.

I'm on 11 and as I approached the stop sign at the Junction I put it in neutral and the motor stopped. I pulled the starter knob but nothing happened. [Here's the bullet dodging -no rollback part] There was just enough crown on the road to allow me to slowly roll around the corner onto the shoulder heading south on 14. Again, just a very slight grade on 14 allowed me to get rolling up to about 3-4 mph. I put it in 2nd and popped the clutch. It fired up and ran great but I decided to skip the gas and head back to the BB.

After I pulled halfway into the BB to get out of the sun (95F) and shut it down I tried to restart it. Pulling the knob did nothing so I jury-rigged a jumper to short the starter switch. Still nothing. I'm pretty sure I've destroyed another Asian starter motor.

I was able to roll backwards, turn around and head down the back drive to jump start it again and I came back and got it all the way into the BB into its place. I'll put a jumper cable directly from the battery to the starter motor and test it but I'm pretty sure it's fried.

Oh well, something else to do on a hot afternoon.

Jud
J K Chapin

Glad you didn't get stranded. Original starter motors are very easy to find and simple to rebuild. They last decades!
Steve Simmons

I had a friend last year I went to help with his TD he said had starter issues. After a good deal of screwing around with it I found that the green knobed battery cut out would give juice to the system but not enough amperage to turn the starter. Replaced it and all was good.
L E D LaVerne

Jud,

Another thing which could cause this problem is a bad ground between the engine and chassis, check the condition of the strap and its connections.

John
J Scragg

All great suggestions. I'll check them out over the weekend. Faulty ground is a real possibility. Thanks. Jud
J K Chapin

Just to close this out. The reason that I had the crap Asian starter in in the first place was because one of the mounting ears on my good NOS starter had broken off. The starter appears to be positioned by the flange such that the function of the ears is merely to hold it flush and prevent it from counter-spinning. With only one ear there is the possibility that it too will break allowing the motor to fall out but, for the moment, that's a chance I have to take.

I removed the bad starter and installed to good one-eared one and everything is working great.

I have another worn out NOS started with two good ears. The right thing to do is salvage the front plate from the worn out NOS starter and install in on the good one-eared NOS starter. I wonder if that's something a very amateur shade tree mechanic can do.

Jud
J K Chapin

Just to close this out. The reason that I had the crap Asian starter in in the first place was because one of the mounting ears on my good NOS starter had broken off. The starter appears to be positioned by the flange such that the function of the ears is merely to hold it flush and prevent it from counter-spinning. With only one ear there is the possibility that it too will break allowing the motor to fall out but, for the moment, that's a chance I have to take.

I removed the bad starter and installed to good one-eared one and everything is working great.

I have another worn out NOS started with two good ears. The right thing to do is salvage the front plate from the worn out NOS starter and install in on the good one-eared NOS starter. I wonder if that's something a very amateur shade tree mechanic can do.

This is what I have to work with. The one on the right works good but is missing an ear. The one on the left is shot.

Jud



J K Chapin

If you still have the ear you could 1. JB weld it back and 2. make a 2mm plate to the same shape as the whole flange, JB weld that to the face of the flange and sandwich between the starter and block ?



Dave
D Moore

Jud find a reputable welding shop that can weld aluminum IMO
Len Fanelli

Ahh! But finding to old ear - there's the rub.

Jud
J K Chapin

You can swap the ends by removing the Bendix assemblies, but that's easier said than done.

The defunct one comes apart straight forward by removing the cotter pin on the end. Can't recall if it is lightly spring loaded or not. The other one can pose a challenge. The end must be compressed down to remove some keepers like a typical valve spring as I recall. I can't remember if a valve spring compressor was successful since they're wedged in tight and rusty. Penetrating oil would be a good idea. I may have had to use my small Dake press with a short piece of tubing with a wedge cut off the bottom to fish out the keeper.


You may be farther ahead by removing the opposite end and check out replacing the brushes. There are some Youtube instructions on that subject.
JIM N

Is the TD starter the same as a midget starter? You can find those dirt cheap. I'm sure I have an extra spare here that I can send if you can't find one locally.
Steve Simmons

Thanks Steve. I'll check around before asking you to ship something from the west coast to the east coast. I just had to return a new tailgate for my '77 F-100 (my fault, I ordered the wrong part) to Las Vegas and UPS wants over $1,000 for the freight. That's more than twice the cost of the tailgate. Granted, it's bigger and heavier that a starter motor but still ...

Jud
J K Chapin

check the shipping cost via Greyhound.I dhipped four Fibreglaa MGA fenders from Tampa Fl. to washington statew for $80.00.
Sanders

Thanks. I think I've got it covered but I wish I'd checked Greyhound. I probably could have saved $70-80.

Jud
J K Chapin

For small, heavy things like a starter, USPS flat rate boxes are great. I think the large box is around $22 to send anywhere in the USA and you can put up to 70 lbs in it.
Steve Simmons

Thanks. I checked Greyhound online and they want about the same $150+ as others.

Jud
J K Chapin

This thread was discussed between 19/05/2022 and 09/06/2022

MG TD TF 1500 index

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