View single post by Mason Jones
 Posted: 07-20-2011 06:52 am
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Mason Jones



Joined: 06-03-2011
Location: Austin, Texas USA
Posts: 97
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My big goal now is to get the car inspected so I can drive it out of the neighborhood. First I need to exorcise a few gremlins from the electrical system. Armed with the necessary tools--a printed copy of St. John Kimbrough’s wiring diagrams and a bargain vino--I get to work.


First I remove the steering wheel then remove the insanely fragile turn signal/everything switch. I immediately discover why the horn is intermittent as a purple wire breaks loose from the crazy contraption. There is not enough of the purple wire sticking out of the turn signal lever to reattach. I have a spare switch but it is the same--purple wire broken right where it emerges from the lever.

I need the horn for inspection so I have 2 choices. Try to find replacement switch or rig a generic switch somewhere for the horn. I read somewhere that an MG multi-switch is a close fit and can be had new from Moss but that’s too expensive for me. I opt for the cheesy second choice. Some PO had installed a big chrome switch on the dash so a big ugly hole was already there.

Cheesy but it fills the hole and now the horn works.


I’ve already replaced both blinker units for hazard and turn signals and sometimes they work, sometimes not. The hazard switch I can tell is loose inside. Following the info in this post I see that a bad hazard switch would affect the turn signal as well: http://www.jensenhealey.com/forums/view_topic.php?id=1525&forum_id=7

I removed and disassembled the switch and one of the pivots of the rocker was broken. I superglued it back and it seems to be holding. I cleaned the contacts with an emery board and put it all back together. Reinstalled the switch and voila! Blinkers and hazards work!

It appears some long ago PO had to do a similar fix on the headlight switch using wire and glue. It works so I’m not going to touch it!


Next up, the slow wiper speed doesn’t work. Fast speed kind of works but is sluggish. I tried swapping a spare wiper switch and same result, no slow speed, fast speed not very fast. Also, sometimes when I switch to low speed I hear the fuel pump stop working. Could be the slow speed winding in the motor is shorted and stealing all the juice? Or could be the wiring to the motor shorting.

A quick look at the wiper motor…looks like oil dripping from it. Hmmm…if it’s a bad motor this is a can of worms I don’t want to open right now. Hope the fast speed will be enough for inspection.

On to the radio, it lights up but no sound. Here’s why the front speakers don’t work…nothing there!


The back speakers are there but not connected. Here's the primo installation done by some 70s stereo shop.


These things look as old as the car! (I wonder when I'll be able to afford a carpet kit.)



Last edited on 07-07-2012 12:11 pm by Mason Jones