zhap135

Hi Kyle, I've had loads of help from folk on this site, it's the most helpful bunch you could wish to meet, and much more friendly than other forums that I have seen. I've found that there isn't any such thing as a daft question, and the thing that is stumping you has stumped others in the past who will be happy to share what they found worked.

When you find an issue, a quick post will get a load of response and help you to think things through in different ways - have just had this experience over my dash lighting.

In more general terms I've found that separating things into small jobs so that you can get simple wins (however small) gets the old dopamine going, and helps stop you getting swamped by the big picture. IF you are having an issue and getting no where, you can switch to a job that you know you can solve - you get a win, feel good - and then go back. You'll find that sometimes you have been mulling over subconsciously, and the solution then jumps out at you. Or more frequently in my case an old hand has responded to a post and told me what to do!

Like I said, I've had so much help from people I really feel the need to pay it forward. Can't guarantee I'll be any help at all, but am always up to chew the fat!

3 minutes ago, alanrichey said:

Yes, with the engine not running the battery voltage is about 12V, once the alternator kicks in the voltage should be 13.5.-14V.

Going off while cranking is normal, the system will switch non-essential stuff off to ensure full voltage to the starter motor.

Thant's fantastic, thank for that Alan, and for the tip on the correct wiring!

4 hours ago, alanrichey said:

As I understand it, one side of the bulb is wired to the 12V ignition supply and the other side to the alternator.  So when you turn on the ignition the bulb as 12V on one terminal and 0V on the alternator side do it lights up.  At the same time the current flow goes through the alternator exciting coils to earth.  Once the engine starts the alternator starts up and puts 13V+ onto the other side of the bulb, so with only 1V across the bulb it goes out (probably also has diode in the circuit to eliminate any possible flickering at the low voltage).

So if your light is not coming on when you switch on the ignition then either the bulb is not getting a 12V feed (which I think you have checked) or the feed from the alternator is not 0V.  If it is wired to the correct terminal on the alternator I would think it is an internal problem with the alternator.

Thanks, that sounds like that explanation makes sense - will try that.

(couple of hours later...) Having tried, the light goes on on ignition, off whilst turning over, and then remains on when the engine has started. That would suggest that there is an issue with the alt, and as it happens when placing a vm over the battery terminals when running there is no change in the reading to when not running.

So looks like I need to whip teh alt out and bench test and maybe replace

50 minutes ago, IanS said:

Correct, alternator light on battery not being charged.

In the old days this light was labled ignition or IGN. On old instalations using a dynamo it was common to see this glow at tickover. Dynamoes needed a longer shaft to include the comutator and so needed a bigger pully to prevent shaft whip due to over speed.

Adds a bit of history

Brilliant, love a bit of history me!

So my light not being on at all (with a sound connection and a tested light) when tried with either polarity might suggest a fundamental issue with teh Alt.

10 hours ago, IanS said:

Rev most alternators fast enough and they will self excite.

This relies on residual magnetism in the rotating exciting iron pole pieces.

Typicaly engine needs to get to 1500 - 2000 RPM with 2.5 to 1 pully diameter  running the alternator at 3750 to 5000 RPM.

Once started alternators will self excite down to very low RPM.

New alternators might not self excite first time run and need the light for the first run only.

Forgot to add bulb is a usefull indicator of snapped drive belt.

Thanks Ian - forgive me , I'm not an electrician or a mechanic by trade but am learning things as I go along

So the alternator does not charge necessarily at low revs or initially. when not charging the warning light is on. When the engine speeds enough for the alt and starts charging the warning light extinguishes? When this light is on it indicates that the polarity over the alternator is insufficient to charge the battery?

10 hours ago, Pintogogo said:

I put a number plate lamp under bonnet in parallel with ignition light to excite alternator

Thanks PG, will have a look at that - any reason under the bonnet specifically rather than behind the dash?

So another clarification, I'm not using a standard sierra FB or console. I just found in one of the ford forums a post that the alternator needs the console wired in to charge the battery as that is required to excite the field coils ( also touched on by Bob T above). This got me thinking, could this be connected to my issue, as I have pretty much replaced most of the wiring with new?

[edit] Looking at the old console, the lighting circs  seem to be just that , with no further componentry

I guess tomorrow I'll test the alternator and check that it is working and go from there

39 minutes ago, IanS said:

Oil and handbrake/brake fluid lights need to be wired to live. the switches connect to earth.

Aaaaah, that makes sense, I see what you mean. I shall give that a go

[edit] Just to be clear, the Alt telltale lien from the aternator is not wired in that way , but is pos?

1 minute ago, IanS said:

It depends on how accurate / repeatable you want the guages to be.

If you are happy with a vague indication then no regulator required they will move about 5 to 10% depending on engine speed and other loads on the electrical circuit.

Otherwise a voltage regulator will make them stable.

Brilliant, thanks that makes sense. So it's not essential to protect the dials or anything, it just simply improves stability and accuracy.

27 minutes ago, nelmo said:

LEDs are polarity-sensitive so try just swapping the wires round. 

Thanks for that , I've got them all to a common earth and have tested each bulb individually, so don't think it's the polarity, but will have a look, thanks!

9 minutes ago, Bob Tucker said:

You may find that the LED charge light wont go out when the engine starts. An LED doesnt put enough load to "excite"  the alternator circuit.

My heath robinson fix was to insert a small socket and bulb in the circuit but hidden under the dash.

Apologies in advance to any real leccies out there, who are either laughing  their socks off, or grinding their teeth.

LOL, any bodge that works is a good bodge!. Thanks, will give this a try.

Am wiring up dash lights. Have some led telltales that work  (from CBS) indicators, beam and hazards work fine

So far so simple, the alt warning light, ( or the oil light and the brake fluid light) are not coming on when the ignition switch is on.

Alt Warning. Have traced the wire back and there is a circuit. My question I suppose is whether a straight forward circuit for this light is adequate, or is there something I'm missing

I acquired a smiths fuel gauge off FB marketplace. Have wired it up to my sierra fuel float, and seems to work as expected. Have only left it on for a short period to test the principle. 

I have seen on various forums a requirement for a voltage stabiliser and or resistors but am getting conflicting info. Does any one have a definitive answer. Do I need this? 

Same question for a smiths temp gauge

That is a real sweetie! You must be gutted to be selling.

On 6/29/2020 at 12:55 PM, SteveW said:

They always snap.....sometimes give them a WD40 spray before once youve had this before...Ive bought ones before singly for only a few quid...I'll track out where and get back......

Hi Steve, is this the same piece as a PCV valve? looks similar...

Steve, that'd be great. I'll also keep looking then now I know that they exist

Thanks mate

A

Daft question, but I've managed to break teh plastic union that plugs into servo and the vacuum line - it was getting old and quite brittle, and it came apart in my hand, guv.

I've not been able to find a part unless I get the whole line for about £40 odd. Being a bit of a tight fisted Meldrew, I don't like paying that for essentialy a small plastic nozzle. Has anyone been in this situation and  come up with a suitable alternative? I did find a landrover one on ebay, but wasn't sure whether it would be common

Or even better has anyone got one lying around?

No probs Lee, thanks for the reply

On 6/9/2020 at 2:29 PM, Lee Raybould said:

Thanks Craig much appreciated 

Don't know if you're still in the market, but I think I have a speedo and rev counter cluster from a Sierra knocking around on the garage

9 hours ago, theduck said:

1.6 heads didnt come in an unleaded version, so you'd need to find one thats already had the hardened seats retrofitted.

Personally I'd look to buy something like this that is drop in and forget https://www.ebay.co.uk/i/272706867956?chn=ps&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=710-134428-41853-0&mkcid=2&itemid=272706867956&targetid=909953938039&device=c&mktype=pla&googleloc=9045432&poi=&campaignid=10204071303&mkgroupid=104953043274&rlsatarget=aud-629407027825:pla-909953938039&abcId=1145987&merchantid=7260564&gclid=CjwKCAjw88v3BRBFEiwApwLevczqkTAb7V2P7F4oaQg4b56rMFQtIoNy9AkqMCcliPkZneOBsAV9WRoCFfMQAvD_BwE

Hi Duck, thanks for that input, I didn't realise this was the case, although it makes sense considering the dearth of suitable heads!

I'll definitely have a look at this product and do some research.

Another option I was considering was getting the car IVA'd as is, (I still have all the vin plates and docs etc), and then swap out for a 2l, banking on the head lasting for the time it takes me to get a suitable replacement lump.

PS, still interested in those clusters and dials - if you still have them will you be able to post?

1 hour ago, alantoon said:

Hi, I ran a 1600 Pinto for six years, covering quite a few miles without a leaded head so I really don't think you need to worry too much about the head being damaged. Yes over time it will damage the valve seats and valves but the amount of miles these kits normally do, it's not a major problem. What you could do is pick up a spare head cheaply and keep it sitting in the garage to swap if you do get problems.

Hi Alan thanks for your reply, yes that has occurred to me. I'm getting mixed messages on whether the leaded exhaust ports can take the strain or not. Some folk like yourself seem to have no trouble for years, where as others have reported failures relatively quickly. As far as I can make out there was some variability in the earlier heads that may be accounted for by different foundries /suppliers, however that might be a bit of speculation.

Cheers

A

Hi Burney, thanks for your reply!

3 hours ago, Burney said:

Hi there

Thanks for your interest

I did wire the fogs into the dipped beams which formed the live connection for all my lights. My main beams are on a separate live and both dipped and main are oprated through a rotary switch on my dashboard. Good question about fogs not sure if mine go off with main beam will check although you would normally drive in fog with dipped beam anyway to prevent fog blinding?

That did occur to me too – I’m going have a chat to a mate of mine who has a Capri to see what his do – I’ll let you know what the answer is, I’d be really interested to know if yours do the same.

I had problem with the horn too which is because my new horn had its own relay built in. In the end I just wired up the horn through one of the ancilliary spares to avoid the fuseboards built in relay.

That’s an idea. Also thought of putting in an ancillary fuse box to separate out anything contentious. Not an elegant solution though…

I wired the breaklight to the breaklight circuit on the new board as it was prewired through the loom and worked well

I did have issue with the hazards and in the end I pulled all the ford wiring and relays out and wired to the new module. I stripped out the stalks from the ford colum and only retained the hazard switch. I wired up a separate indicator switch, horn switch and rotary wiper switch.

Aah, I’m trying to keep the ford stalks, just cos I like them, but I have a feeling there are some strange circuit loops in there which are causing some of these issues.

When I wired up the wiper I found I had slow wiper and washers work but I have no fast or park! I think this will probably be a problem with my wiper motor rather than the wiring but I'm living with that as I'm a fair weather driver.

I’ve got something similar there. I’ve adapted a mini rack and pinion motor to fit. This worked well with the ford wiring, but not so much with the CBS – just one speed. I hear you re the fair weather driver bit, but it’s bugging me

I'm pleased with the results after a few test runs knowing that I can put the electrics to the back of my mind. Working on airlock issue now and bike carbs.

Absolutely. As I retained some portions of the ford loom, I was expecting some issues, but largely this has worked well. I only swapped it out in the end cos I had a load of earthing problems that I couldn’t identify – everything had been sat out in my mum’s garden for years so there was a load of corrosion and mouse-chewed cable

Let me know if you need anything else

Absolutely, likewise if anything crops up! will let you know what the feed back from my mate with the capri is

Cheers

A

3 hours ago, Burney said:

 

9 hours ago, theduck said:

They definitely won’t fit an s7. 

Aaaah, thought that might be the case. Never mind, your man cave is safe

7 hours ago, theduck said:

Definitely still got the seats, was actually just yesterday contemplating turning them into chairs for the man cave 

Lights and gauges I'll have to check, but pretty sure I have them still.

Great stuff, and thanks for getting back to me!

Lol sounds like a great idea! And I'd hate to tear up your dreams. Cos it's for an S7 I don't even know if they'd fit - there isn't much space. bu thought it'd be worth checking out.

Yes, please let us know about the other components.

Cheers

A

Hello, if anyone has one of these at the bottom of a cupboard or down the back of the sofa would be glad to hear from you

Cheers

A