Vulgalour's Vehicles - 10/03 Ignition Switch Woe

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JPB
Posts: 10319
Joined: Fri Jan 07, 2011 3:24 pm

Re: Princess, 414, Corsa, 6TL, etc. - 05/02 Update

#901 Post by JPB » Mon Feb 06, 2017 11:31 am

Great progress, these gutters used to do exactly the same thing when they came attached to Reliant kittens back in the day, this is why few owners bother replacing the gutters after a repaint. Still, they are an ideal alternative to getting a groin full of rain when you open the door on a wet day!
I'd be tempted to check the accelerator pump diaphragm from that carb with some modern fuel, just by placing it in a small dish of petrol will tell you whether it's ok, but generally, the older ones in pinky orange shades are made from latex-based rubber which dissolves in today's fuel, black diaphragms that are made from a nitrile mix are safe but that one could be nitrile as some repro parts are - in an almost deliberately confusing way - also available in the old colours to appease the extreme concours detail freak. Also, if the carb has latex-based rubbers in it, then so might the fuel pump contain a latex-based diaphragm and that takes seconds to check but would - if found to be latex - dilute a sump full of fresh oil with petrol in a few minutes after an initial minute or two of running, only becoming apparent when that telltale jet of liquid squirts outwards past the oil filler cap as a result of the sudden increase in sump capacity. This phenomenon almost cost me a Reliant engine a decade or so ago, fortunately its Torrey Canyon impersonation happened before I'd moved the car out of the drive so the pump was repaired and the oil & filter changed, so no environmental disaster was caused.
J
"Home is where you park it", so the saying goes. That may yet come true.. :oops:

vulgalour
Posts: 674
Joined: Mon Sep 23, 2013 10:28 pm

Re: Princess, 414, Corsa, 6TL, etc. - 05/02 Update

#902 Post by vulgalour » Mon Feb 06, 2017 4:09 pm

Colour of the pump diaphragm is something of a moot point now as the Renault carb is effectively scrap. The air corrector jet I bought isn't brass, it's brass plated, and it melted when an attempt to solder it to the emulsion tube (which is brass, and didn't melt) was made. Since the tube is impossible to acquire and I've already thrown money at this carb I'm going to cut my losses and buy a new one. They're not terribly expensive (but more than I want to spend) and easy to get hold of. I don't want to buy a second-hand one, even though it'll probably be lots cheaper, because I could be throwing good money after bad.

The Princess decided to join in on the fun. Started her up to move her around the yard and found a leaking coolant hose, that at least was a simple case of tightening a jubilee clip. I cleared the stuff out that doesn't need to be in the car any more and intended to reattach the front parcel shelf today. First, I wanted to find out why the hazard switch wasn't working and went through the various controls. Now the heated rear screen switch isn't illuminating and the indicators have stopped working. First check was under the dash to make sure nothing was adrift, and it wasn't, so next stop was the fuse box where I found a blown 16amp fuse.

Turned the ignition off, forgot to disconnect the battery and promptly burned my thumb putting a new fuse in which blew straight away. I knew the fuses I'd bought weren't the best so Mike dug out a better quality one and we fitted that since it was highly likely the fuses were just bad ones being so cheaply made. That also blew. A multi-meter check (which we probably should have started with) showed that something was drawing power through that fuse as soon as the battery was connected, just no idea what. Best guess is an earth point is corroded or there's a wire adrift somewhere that I haven't found and couldn't find today. The fuse is for Ignition Other Accessories, so I'm guessing that's things like radio which there isn't one of in the car at the moment. Why that would affect the indicators, I don't know.
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It's likely the problem is behind the dash because on checking the boot and engine bay all the wires, connectors and earth points were fine. It's not grounding through the throttle cable either, which is good. I expect the old radio wiring is at fault, there's no radio in the car at the moment and that's the one point that's likely to have a live wire earthing out somewhere it shouldn't. I hate electrical jobs, but I still love this car. It's possible it's ignition switch related, I'm not sure how and would expect it to blow a different fuse if it were, but that's the only electrical thing that's been disturbed since the indicators were last operational.
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vulgalour
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Re: Princess, 414, Corsa, 6TL, etc. - 06/02 Update

#903 Post by vulgalour » Tue Feb 07, 2017 7:52 pm

Today I had a little bit of time spare so I did these things:

Swapped the Lotus alloys for Princess steels. No more tyres rubbing on arches which makes it easier to drive around the yard, which I did, several times
Fitted the missing side repeater
Hunted for the live wire (battery disconnected) and instead found that the speedo cable wasn't connected and the plastic shroud was broken. Applied a lot of tape and reconnected it to fix* it.
Found a stray multi-plug behind the radio hole but no stray wires.

I pretty much ran out of time then so I couldn't pull the dashboard out to investigate further, that can be done when I've next got some free time. No pictures either this time, forgot the camera.

Just to add to the above, here's my short list of jobs that remain on the Princess.

1 connect fog lights
2 connect number plate lights
3 stick number plates on
4 fit the new tyres
5 fit a new washer jet pump
6 tune the carb.
7 pump up the suspension
8 make the indicator lights work
9 find the loose steering component

It's practically nothing. Points 1-7 are all very quick and easy jobs and points 8 and 9 may also be if I get lucky and find the problems quickly. Feeling pretty optimistic about it all right now.

vulgalour
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Joined: Mon Sep 23, 2013 10:28 pm

Re: Princess, 414, Corsa, 6TL, etc. - 07/02 Princess

#904 Post by vulgalour » Thu Feb 09, 2017 10:34 am

Well, I have the flu, which is great. But Mike was kind enough to check the indicators on the Princess since I couldn't get out of bed and it looks like Gasman's (over on leylandprincess.co.uk ) theory that it was the loose speedo cable making a circuit it shouldn't was a good one. Indicators now work, which the exception of the one recalcitrant side repeater which I know is down to a duff bulb holder and will be replaced with one of my spares.

It's likely this is why that fuse was blowing as well, which I *think* is for heated rear screen and hazards so when I'm well or Mike has time I'll get that checked out too.

MoT list update:
> connect fog lights
> connect number plate lights
> stick number plates on
> make hazard switch work
> make the indicator lights work - DONE
> pump up the suspension
> fit the new tyres
> fit a new washer jet pump
> tune the carb.
> find the loose steering component

vulgalour
Posts: 674
Joined: Mon Sep 23, 2013 10:28 pm

Re: Princess, 414, Corsa, 6TL, etc. - 07/02 Princess

#905 Post by vulgalour » Mon Feb 13, 2017 6:13 pm

Yay, the hydragas fluid arrived today! That means when I've got my voice back properly I can call the contact I was given who can hopefully come out and pump the suspension up. Some jewellery arrived too in the form of some super shiny wheel trims. Car was blocked in and I'm still not 100% so that's as far as I got today.

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JPB
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Re: Princess, 414, Corsa, 6TL, etc. - 13/02 Princess

#906 Post by JPB » Mon Feb 13, 2017 9:51 pm

:drool: :drool: :drool:

Any chance of a link to the supplier of these shiny wheel trims please? I'm thinking a set of steel wheels from a newish Yaris and some of these would suit my daily a lot better than its factory alloys.
:|
J
"Home is where you park it", so the saying goes. That may yet come true.. :oops:

vulgalour
Posts: 674
Joined: Mon Sep 23, 2013 10:28 pm

Re: Princess, 414, Corsa, 6TL, etc. - 13/02 Princess

#907 Post by vulgalour » Tue Feb 14, 2017 12:00 am

They're made by an obscure company called Autopure. Most listings have them in dollars at around the $160 mark (that's about £130), before you factor in postage. I found them here: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/14-Wheel-Trim ... 2842014787 on eBay UK.

At £60 they're more than I'd normally pay for a set of aftermarket trims but the quality of them is such that I don't feel cheated by the price. They are a very snug fit on the Princess wheels and, being quite sturdy and brand new, a bit of a fight to get the last peg to push in. Once you get it all lined up they do pull themselves onto the rim quite nicely but I'll need to use a plastic trim remover to get them off again as there's nothing to grab onto. The other thing to not is the valve cap is a bit fiddly to get to because of the dome of the trim, a biro or narrow screwdriver is all you need to bring the valve to an easier angle and I expect on some wheels it won't be so much of an issue.

There's two versions, one has an off-white rim instead of the full chrome like the ones I bought. They're available in 13", 14" and 15" in both styles so should be fine for a Yaris. As an aside, I'm pretty sure they're what's fitted to the very odd little retro-styled Subaru Sambar.

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JPB
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Re: Princess, 414, Corsa, 6TL, etc. - 13/02 Princess

#908 Post by JPB » Tue Feb 14, 2017 9:24 am

Excellent! The bB does indeed have 15" rims so a set of Yaris or Kia Picanto steels in the same size with some of these trims would be ideal. £60 isn't out of the way, I paid more than that originally for the 'rimbellishers' that I had on the Dolomite, as now worn by another forum member's car, and it's like anything else; you can have quality or cheapness, but rarely both at the same time.
:thumbs:
J
"Home is where you park it", so the saying goes. That may yet come true.. :oops:

vulgalour
Posts: 674
Joined: Mon Sep 23, 2013 10:28 pm

Re: Princess, 414, Corsa, 6TL, etc. - 13/02 Princess

#909 Post by vulgalour » Tue Feb 14, 2017 5:42 pm

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Let's look through the radio hole.
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Everything is wear it ought to be. There's just one white multiplug floating around that you can see in picture two which could be causing the problem, I'm just not sure how that might be. There's no signs of loose wiring or bodge any more and I've not had time to pull the dash to investigate properly. If I can find the other bit the multiplug goes into I'll reconnect it and see if that resolves things. Mike is going to help me go through the wiring diagrams tonight now the manual is at home to see if we can figure out anything else that might be amiss.

Couldn't do much else really, I'm only really able to do about an hour a day while I'm trying to recover from flu but well enough to be really frustrated about that. So, we swapped out the front wheel whose tyre had gone flat for one that hadn't today and I took a few pics as an update of the current condition. The car is absolutely filthy and in desperate need of a clean inside and out.
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Here's a better look at the the new trims too. I really like them.
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Sorry it wasn't a more informative post, just some pretty pictures really. Oh, and I did indeed have to use a trim removal tool to get the wheel trim off, it was a little easier to refit at least and they're on so firmly I doubt very much that they're in the habit of flying off like cheaper trims can be.

vulgalour
Posts: 674
Joined: Mon Sep 23, 2013 10:28 pm

Re: Vulgalour's Vehicles - 14/02 Princess

#910 Post by vulgalour » Sat Feb 18, 2017 4:54 pm

Today I did some work on the Renault and failed to tick off any jobs on my list. Oh well. I wanted to try and get it running since the new radiator arrives next week and I'd got the emulsion tube/air corrector repaired and the carburettor all rebuilt. So, plonked the carburettor on the car, reconnected the battery, stuck the key in the ignition and.... dead. Flat battery. So I had to get the big red booster pack out.

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Which worked quite well. Key back in the ignition and we have life. Also, strangely, the headlights came on main beam once the jump leads were connected even though I'm sure the lights hadn't been left on, it's the sort of thing you would notice and you can't put main beam on by accident. Very odd, anyway, got the lights turned off and let the car charge up for a little bit.
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Tried again. I'd rebuilt some of the vacuum/breather system, you can't get the original Renault T piece and my old one was so fragile it broke even more when repair was attempted. Therefore, I've used a modern T-piece and various lengths of pipe to mimic what was originally there. I'm missing the one that runs from the T-piece to the rocker cover because I didn't have a suitable diameter piece of pipe but since I wasn't sure that it was enough to stop the car running, I tried it anyway. You can also see here where the float drain bolt had leaked onto the manifold, I did tighten the bolt up after the photograph was taken, it just needed a quick tweak. If nothing else, it provides proof that fuel is indeed reaching the float chamber.
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As a last ditch attempt we put a short squirt of Easy Start into the carb which rewarded us with a big bang and a little bit of fire at the carburettor and nothing more. So, from my limited experience, I'd say the ignition timing and/or plug leads are in the wrong order. Also, I suspect the pipework around the carburettor and the restriction of the T-piece are inadequate at present to make it work as it should, I understand that it provides some sort of pressure to allow fuel to be drawn through the carburettor correctly. I know a couple of the pipes connect to the cooling system too, presumably to prevent heat soak what with the carb sitting right on top of the manifold and not having a heat shield.

I'm trying not to be frustrated now because I know it's something really simple holding things up, I'm just beyond my own experience with whatever the problem is. Tomorrow, providing I'm feeling well enough, I'll go through the ignition timing side of things to make sure that's all as it should be. I know I'm getting a spark, I know I have fuel, I know I have decent oil pressure and I know I have good compression. I also know the static timing is correct so there's no need to pull the engine out to recheck that.

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