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MG MGA - Electrical problem

I own a '58 1500. In the late fall the electronics whent out on me 3 times only to come back a few minutes later. With the car out this spring it ran well for a couple of days. In my drive (thankfully) I pulled the lights on and the electrics went out. No ignition light. No strarter...nothing. Thinking short in the light switch itself. Bad ground someplace?? Wiring is origonal but has been 'played with'...unless my chart is wrong. I own a new harness but am a bit intimidated/scared by the job. Any suggestions...thank you. Want to be back on the road.
Bill M.

Hi Bill. Check that your battery terminals are clean and free of corrosion. Clean the frame end of the ground cable with sandpaper, then reinstall it. If you still have problems, clean all connectors going to the 2 terminals on the starter swith located under the hood. It sounds like corroded /dirty electrical connections at one of those locations. Good luck. Glenn
Glenn

1. Battery Terminal Loose.
2. Dead Battery.
3. Major Ground / Hot Connections.
4. ?
D Sjostrom

Bill

Fit the new harness. Get a large copy of teh wiring diagram (cf Barney Gaylord's site for a PDF copy)

Start by laying the harness out on the floor and identify the two ends of each cable with a meter, and label them appropriately.

Then remove all the old cabling from the car Drop the steering wheel onto the seat (remove the two bolts from the bracket that hols it under teh scuttle. Also remove the three large screws that hold the dash to the scuttle - then you can also drop the dash down to get access to the rear from above - more comfortable than doing the work on your back.

Take the job on in logical steps, and one cable at a time, and it's not hard or complicated.
dominic clancy

The harness is not hard. One thing I did to facilitate reinstallation was to leave a bit ov the old wire on each componenet rather than completely removing it. Leave enough so you can identify the color code. Discard the old wire when you are ready to connect the new wire to that point. Start with the main harness in the engine compartment--then do the front and rear. Grill removal makes life a lot simpler at this point. Do the behind dash section last. You don't have to drop the dash down--just remove all gauges, the radio blank off and the speaker grill and you have plenty of room to work. Most can be done sitting in the seat and working through the holes. Start at the center and work your way outboard. Test each individual switch as you wire it. A headlight hooked up between the battery and the hot terminal will act as a safety device. In case of a short it will light up brightly.
R. L Carleen

Bill,
When we changed the harness I was advised to test circuits using a short length of fuse wire,say 5amp,
between the battery earth terminal and the earth
connector.
The worst that can happen is you blow the fuse wire,
then you know you got it wrong without damaging anything.
Good Luck. David

David Townshend

Sounds like a loose connection to me. I had the same problem with my buick. I would be driving along, then poof, the engine would quit and I would have no electrical power. The problem was a bad connection at the battery. I would start with cleaning all of the connections at the battery and under the hood at the starter switch, voltage regulator, fuse box, etc. Also, I highly recommend using anticorrosion jelly on the battery cables at the battery. This stuff really works.

Good Luck

Dennis, Az
Dennis

This thread was discussed between 14/04/2005 and 16/04/2005

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