MGB & GT Forum

My 74 1/2 has been sitting in the garage for almost three years. I put a new battery in it and have lights, horn, but no dash power. And the starter is not getting any power. Prior to its going into hibernation, it always had weak battery issues, but I always got the tick tick tick when trying to start the car. Any ideas?

Clean the battery terminals. Clean the grounding points. Clean the connections at the starter. Clean the fuse box connections. Clean whatever other connections you can see or want to get to. It will take a few hours, but it will be time well spent. Good Luck.

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Brad

1976 MGB

The right tool is worth a thousand four letter words.

X2 - especially the grounding points.

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“Ideological certainty easily degenerates into an insistence upon ignorance". Daniel Patrick Moynihan

In any debate, the side which strays from civil discussion is usually the side that lacks confidence in its debate position or in the merit of their arguments. Making personal attacks on the opponents instead of staying on the subject is also a sign of weakness.

Anyone who feels compelled to respond in kind to any perceived slight is often suffering from narcissism.

Those bullit connectors do not age well, they tend to corrode with a whitish oyxidation inside.Taking them apart takes some effort or a different procedure (see elsewhere on MGE).
I always renew some of them every year. A short term solution is spraying them with rust-dissolving fluid and wriggling or juggling them (whatever term one uses)

PS 3 years in a moist environment is very long for an unused car electrics



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2014-10-30 09:40 AM by Donthuis.

The fuel pump is on the white circuit. Most other stuff is on the green circuit. The green circuit feeds from the white circuit. I would surmise you have a problem on the white circuit. This is essentially directly out of the ignition switch.

When you turn the ignition key to the ignition position does the alternator warning lamp come on? It is also powered by the white circuit.

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Terry Ingoldsby
terry.ingoldsby@DCExperts.com



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2014-10-31 09:52 AM by ingoldsb.

Make sure you have 12 volts to the fuel. No tickee no workee.

There is an electrical grease for connectors. On is a thick grease for battery terminals, the other is a thinner grease used on Electrical connections up to 13,800 Voly terminals. I use the red HV type on bullets and Battery grease on Grounds. This prevents moisture and oxidation of the connector. If you are going to take the time to clean each it would be wise to use the grease on re-assembly.

As noted above get a good supply of single and double tube bullets. I never pull tubes apart and reuse an old one. If I'm working electrics in an area, I replace all the tubes, clean the bullets with fine steel wool and grease before inserting into a new tube.

Check grounding

This used to be standard on all non sealed connectors used by Leyland/Rover/MG etc until the introduction of fully sealed connectors in the late 1980s. The grease was clear in colour however it had mixed results since sometimes it would trap water instead of letting it out.

On my car I use stern tube grease that I use on my boat. I buy it from the local chandlers. The stern tube is the bearing/seal where the prop shaft passes through the hull. Its sealed with a teflon rope stuffing box and the grease lubricates the bearing and helps form the seal so it has to be waterproof and cheap (it's a total loss lubrication system).

http://www.midlandchandlers.co.uk/Catalogue/ProductDetail/grease-stern-tube-500gm-k99?productID=aba05c32-4e43-4422-ac21-d8b3719e5a03&catalogueLevelItemID=e40124eb-37d0-4d43-8001-096e8ab745c5

The introduction of the AMP Econoseal 3 connectors and fret based fues boxes in about 1989 saw a step change in electrical reliability. Once I've got my car running again I'll be changing some connectors in wet areas from bullets to sealed connectors and doing a general rewire.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2014-11-01 02:20 PM by Chalky.