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'52 electrical storm, NEED HELP!


chub chub

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hello,

i've been having battery/starter problems with my '52 special. it is original 6 volt, pedal starter. it sounds like the battery is low, or the starter isn't cranking fully. it will turn over a couple of times very slowly and then nothing. i sometimes jump it with the 12 volt from my nova. sometimes it helps but sometimes it does the same slow turn over and then nothing routine. it seems to help to leave the car in gear (clutch out) and give it a crank. after that, put the clutch in, crank it, and it tends to start.

after replacing a bad freeze plug this weekend, i took it for another test drive (my first ever at night with the headlights on). i was in second gear (winding it out a bit) and a half a second before i put the clutch in to shift into third, my headlights and all of my dash lights flashed super bright. once the clutch was in and i shifted into third, everything was fine. a couple of miles later i entered the local 2 lane highway. once i got into third and hit what i suspect was about the same rpm., i got the same flash from all lights and then they all went out. i had to make a u turn on the highway and drive back (luckily only a short distance) with no headlights, tail lights or brake lights. i could find no blown fuses or fried wires. but it was dark and i was looking with a flashlight. i finally decided to call it a night. any ideas what the problem(s) are. did i screw somthing up by jumping it with a 12 volt battery?

ok, i need your help and expertise.

as always, thanks in advance.

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Guest Shaffer

Strange. How about the other electrical features- do they still work (signals, blower motor, radio, etc? If you have not have said "brake lights", I would have suggested a faulty headlight switch, but I do not think that would have any effects on the brake lamps. confused.gif

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to me it sounds like there is somthing wrong with your ground conections

check that the engine is conected to the frame and that the conections are

clean to metal and tightended also check the battery to frame (negative)

is good , if you are unsure about the conditions of these conections you

better make some new ones and rather one to many than one to little

its important to clean old paint rust and dirt away to have a proper

conection, good luck with it

Bjoern

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<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body"> put the clutch in, crank it, and it tends to start.

... once the clutch was in and i shifted into third, everything was fine... </div></div>

I would suspect that your car has a dirty connection where the battery negative cable is attached to the frame. On a 56, the negative cable is attached to the motor mount, on the frame side. Don't know where it's attached on your 52, but I suspect the clutch movements cause the motor to rock thus cleaning small bits of this connection which causes things to work better for a short time.

I was involved with an MG once. Had the slow starting symptoms like you. One day trying to get it going I accidentally leaned on the manual choke cable and got burned. We realized that that choke cable was doubling as the engine to body ground strap. And it just wasn't big enough. Luckilly the parts car we had still had them, and this cured the problem.

JohnD

3757

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sometimes, the wiring harness that goes to the brake switch gets under the clutch pedal. when you push the clutch to the floor, the pedal goes thru the floor board, and catches the wires that run the brake light switch, and short out the curcuit when the clutch is down.

Also, It sounds like you are toasting your starter brushes with that 12v jump. You need to get the starter rebuild, or clean up at least.

If you are shorting the brake wire, you could have toasted your voltage regulator. When the lights go super bright on the dash, that means the regulator is telling the genorator to push out all the amps it has. You need to check the regulator wire 12" back, to see if you have any burned or melted wires.

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I had similar starter problems on a 1950 Special. After two starter rebuilds and a new battery, it still cranked very slowly or not at all. Finally traced it down to a bad ground for the starter. Where the starter case meets the bell housing needs to be clean, free of paint, and free of rust and oil, in order to make a good ground. It was also suggested to me at the time that I needed to run another ground wire from the starter or the solenoid to the frame of the car. I never did that (would not look orginal, etc.), but instead cleaned all of the connections. Remember, the starter is grounded to the bell housing, which is grounded to the engine, which is grounded to the frame or the firewall via a grounding strap. ALL of those connections need to be clean or the starter will not turn over well. Also, don't ever use skinny, 12-volt battery cables on a 6-volt car. I learned that the hard way, too, on a '52 Pontiac.

Pete Phillips

BCA #7338

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it seems like almost everyone is saying to check the ground connection. this doesn't seem to explain the flash of all lights as much as the voltage regulator theory, but believe me i will check both. i had to leave the car at my parents house but i'm going to have my dad check a couple of things. only the parking lights in the front work now (and they aren't on when the headlights are on). basically, everything that was getting electricity at the time of the spike is no longer working. i'll have my dad try to start it and see if anything happens. i'm also going to have him inspect bulbs to see if the spike simply blew them all. any other ideas would be appreciated.

thanks as always!

scott

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