Question1) Fuel gauge on my 77 MGB had never worked correctly. From past info on your web site I tried to trouble shoot as suggested! Found the grn/blk connection very poor corrected that -- when I grd out that wire I get a intermittent flash on my trouble light?
The gauge does drop to the left when unplugged but have no response to grnd except intermittent flash. Does this mean the gauge is bad or break in the line? HELP!
2) My 2nd problem is electrical nightmare!
I have elect igniton with a ballast and a amplifier. I just had problems with starting and found the wiring to be confusing, even though I have elect diagrams; it doesn't show this.
1) ballast (#54427556) had only one wire w/blue on one side the other side has nothing connected (what belongs there?)
I found a connector hanging free that has 2 wires w/grn which I figure must hook to the other side of the ballast??
2) amplifier (AB14) (part#47263A) Negative side has 3 wh/blk that go to the neg side of the coil: one from the amp 2 others unknown origin??
Wht/wht going to positive side of coil
from the + amp:
Now here's one that is really confusing there's a black wire w/a blue retangular device at the end that appears to be a ground ??? not sure?? This is on the pos side of the coil! (what's does this do??)
3)I have a wire on my starter that is wht/lg that always comes off! Is this the wire for starting the motor (higher output) as the motor doesn't start easy?
HOPE YOU CAN HELP :)
BEST REGARDS
PETE
AnswerHi Pete,
All I can tell you is what the car was suppose to have as far as ignition. Many people changed from pointed ignition to electronic ignition thinking it was some kind of advancement. While pointed ignition does have some draw backs like the points needed the points gap adjusted more often then the air gap on an electronic ignition and the points runner would ware down (if you didn't keep it lubed) and points would burn and need to be resurfaced or replaced at times for a few dollars.
However the Opus/Lucas electronic ignition failed so often that we rarely got an MG out of warranty without replacing the amplifier one of more times. Some aftermarket units did a little better. I kept pointed ignition in my MG because I could afford to carry an extra set of points and a condenser in the trunk as they were not expensive. Unless you have a large bank account it is difficult to carry an extra electronic ignition system with you.
Sorry, I don't know anything about your electronic ignition system. If you can find a brand name on it, you may be able to find them on the Internet and get a diagram and test procedure.
Your car was suppose to have a pointed ignition system with a low volt coil and a resistor wire in the harness so as not to over heat the coil. It did have a bypass wire that supplied full battery voltage to the coil only in the "Start" position. This came from the starter solenoid when starting and when you release the key to the "Run" position, the power came from the Ignition switch and went through the resistor cable to power the low volt coil.
As for your fuel gauge it is not powered by 12v but is power by a voltage stabilizer at 10v and grounded by the tank sending unit. If you read my test procedure you will turn the key on and unplug the sensor wire from the sending unit and watch the gauge. The needle should deflect all the way over in one direction and then ground the wire and it should deflect all the way in the opposite direction. If it does that, the sending unit is the fault. If it don't do that you have a problem in either the wiring, the gauge or the voltage stabilizer. There is a simple test of the stabilizer by just reading the temp gauge. If it is reading about correct then the stabilizer is ok.
Howard
