Vintage Minor Register

If it is showing fully charged, it is probably good.

I tried to charge my Semi-sports battery last week with a smart charger. It has been idle for about 9 months and, like an idiot, I didn't put it on trickle charge. Showed 2.9V and wouldn't charge. That one is definitely dead. I bought another (a 404), cost me GBP 180 - ouch!

Any advice on what to check if I find the dynamo isn't charging, or only partly charging? I'm guessing it's not putting out enough to charge the battery. Haven't looked at the ignition lamp bulb yet, BTW.

I think first I'd get to the bottom of why the ignition light isn't on when not charging - blown bulb? I presume it was working earlier. If you can get it illuminated with ignition is on and the engine is stopped (which it should be), then fire it up, give it a few revs and the light should go out. You can also get someone to rev the engine a little and look at what the cut-out points are doing. They should close when charging.

Bulb appears to be in one piece, I can clearly see the filament, and I'm getting a reading on the Ohm setting on my multimeter. Where I'm not getting a reading is the bulb holder. It has always worked, and was working most of last week on my Scottish trip. It not working was one of the things I noticed when I started getting the other issues; horn not working, no indicators, low voltage in the battery, ammeter fairly static (on zero). I've yet to start the engine since I arrived home at 4am yesterday morning, though I have no doubt it'll start and run. The reason I got a tow home was because the recently fitted LED headlamp bulbs won't work when the battery is below 6v, so I decided to play it safe for the last 70 miles home as it was poor visibility and sunset was only an hour away when I made the call to the RAC... and it took them 8hrs to recover me!!

Well, it's not the dynamo, it's happily kicking out over 7v.

This is good news. The most expensive part to fix works!

It appears there's no power at the cut-out. Contrary to a previous post stating the ignition warning lamp bulb was OK, it was not. There's another one now fitted and working. Attention will now be turned towards the PLC, as that, along with the wiring, is the last thing on the list to check/test.

Sounds like you are making progress. Good luck with completing the exercise.

So, in a roundabout way, the little car is 'fixed'. There has been a few issues that have reared their heads all at the same time. The wiring behind the dashboard wasn't perfect. Some wires had come loose/broke. The wiring diagram supplied by Mr. Morris in 1932 wasn't fully replicated. There were one or two wires that were in the wrong place on the PLC and the cut-out. They've now been correctly fitted. I've mentioned in a previous post that the dynamo was showing a healthy output. Well, it wasn't quite. It all looked good until under load. The dynamo has been stripped down and given a service, which has included a replacement spring on one of the three brushes. You could lift the brush off the commutator and it wouldn't reseat. A couple of shims have been fitted to remove some back and forth play in the armature. The bearings have been lubricated. I said at the start that the car has been 'fixed', well, it does now charge but only on the winter/full charge setting. As before, I can't get the summer/half charge setting to function. It's probably an internal fault with the PLC but without another to hand (and a known good one at that) I can't progress any further on that front.

That's excellent news and I wouldn't worry too much about the half charge. I never use it anyway.

Well done for running all these issues to ground and I hope you can enjoy some good autumn motoring.

Slight hiccup. Took the car down the road and it wasn't happy. It starts instantly, it ticks over sweetly, but on the road it's coughing and spluttering. It has even backfired for the first time ever in my ownership Pulled the spark plugs and they've been given a good clean as they were very sooty (no sign of Sweep or Sue ), and regapped. Points gap is spot on, which was expected given the smooth tickover. Checked for fuel delivery which seems fine. At a bit of a loss at the moment. Beginning to think it's the PLC at fault. Hopefully get it sorted over the weekend.

Not sure its the PLC. But to confirm, you could run a wire directly from the battery to the coil to ensure. If it still splutters, its something else.

Good idea, thanks Ian.

After much head scratching, swapping out various things and refitting the originals, whatever the issue was that was causing the poor running has appeared to have vanished. I've done about 15-20 miles today without any problems other than a high idle speed. It's been adjusted down to a low tick- over, but the revs have increased again. I'll have to look at that tomorrow. Fingers crossed I'll be in the little car on Tuesday.

Good news, and I hope to see you on Tuesday evening. I'll be bringing the fabric saloon. I just have a dim nearside rear lamp to sort.