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MG TD TF 1500 - Fuses for TF

After this winter storage TF 6688 started up just fine, fuel pump ran, lights worked, but I had no horn, no turn signals, wipers or brake lights. It appears that most everything works on one curcuit and the horn on a separate curcuit.
Pulled out the original fuses (55 yrs old), the old Lucas bullet type with white paper inserts. One was a 15 amp (horn) the other 35 amp. The two original spares are both 50 amp and have a orange color paper inserts.
So, what fuses are correct for the main curcuit and the horn curcuit? Cannot find a reference.
Why did some things work and not others on the main curcuit?

These fuses were a little grimey after 55 years, so I cleaned the ends and the clips and put them back in, and presto everthing works.

NOTE: I have never had a blown fuse, every.
colin stafford

The horn gets a 50 amp fuse and the other circuit is 35 amps (British ratings). Cheers - Dave
David DuBois

Talking about fuses, I am sure that most of the group here would be aware of this trick, but in case there is anyone who has not come across it before, I thought that this might be of use to them at some time.

The TF, and I presume the TD, can be easily hot wired by taking one of the fuses and slotting it into the space between the two fuse holders so that it contacts all four posts. The fuse will sit snuggly here and has no inclination to fall out. No need of a key to start the car, only be sure to remove the fuse when the engine is stopped.

A useful trick if the key is lost. Or, a once happened to me as I leave the key in the ignition all the time, you have the key stolen.

Bill McGee
Bill McGee

Did that by accident in my MGA couple back in college... not sure if it was/is safe, but worked!
gblawson(gordon)

The only things that were working were the unfused items, if you go through the schematic. The answer on the fuse sizes is correct. You can marginally fuse more things (fuel pump and coil) if you put them on the other side of the 35A fuse. But it is marginal. I am rebuilding a TF now and I am putting extra fusing under the dash for the lighting system. Lucas and MG used all the wiring as a fusible link. It is really a crappy design. Mike D.
MW Davis

MW I am in the final stages of a 3 year total TF restoration using a new old style harness. I have not yet wired the dash up. What do you specifically suggest I fuse and how to do it? Pretend you are talking to a dummy.

Keith
K E MURPHY

Dear Dummy I mean Keith. Just kidding. Go to Bud's TTalk site. Dave S. has a good display of what he built. There is a very good narative on another site which escapes me now that is very useful. I think it may have been on the " TF the record" site.

LaVerne
LED DOWNEY

I would leave the fuse setup as the factory built it, but I would put separate fuses for anything extra you install. I did so for my radio-CD stereo system with extra amplifier, alarm, digital thermometer, clock, electric cooling fan, and the like.

I am a purist, all this electronics is well hidden! You can only hear it - but not see it!
DLB Denis L. Baggi

There is no fuse for the headlights / parking lights. This became very clear when replacing the wiring harness after the fire. The wire through the fender to the lights shorted-out and we had a glowing toaster wire from the front right corner of the car to the ignition switch. We now have a second fuse block in the bottom recess of the tool box with six additional fuses. Also, the incident reinforced the wisdom of having a quick-disconnect at the battery.
Safety? Fast?
Scott Ashworth - '54 TF
S. R. Ashworth

Here is how I did it on my TD, adding two fuses I mean to protect the lighting circuits... you will probably have to cut and paste the URL, as I'm not very disciplined about not leaving spaces in my website.

http://www.dbraun99.com/technical%20index/Adding%20fusing%20protection%20to%20a%20TD.pdf

Or you can navigate there by http://www.dbraun99.com find the technical index page and check out my article on the subject.

warmly,
dave
Dave Braun

I think that Jim Merz has put together such a system. I'm afraid that I can't seem to put my hands on it at the moment. Maybe Jim can jump in here.
Bud Krueger

Go to http://www.ttalk.info/Tech/TechIndex.html and scroll down to the Contributions section. You'll find a link to Evan Ford's excellent article on this topic.
Bud Krueger

Hey thanks to all of you, I just happened to look back here and see the posts. Since I am at the stage in my restoration where the harness is laid in but not connected all the way, and the dash is out, this would be the right time. So I am thinking of doing the lights - I did do an in-line for the original radio.

Keith in NJ
K E MURPHY

This thread was discussed between 30/03/2009 and 08/04/2009

MG TD TF 1500 index

This thread is from the archive. The Live MG TD TF 1500 BBS is active now.