Weird electrical problem

[widiril]

Has anyone had this problem with their Toledo?:

It had been stood a while so I started it up at the weekend. The battery needed a bit of a charge first, so I connected it up to the charger waited a few hours then fired it up - no problem.

I tried all the electrics: lights indicators, horn, wipers & heater - nothing. Put it into gear to drive it around a bit, drove off the drive and then reversed back. Here's the strange bit. When I put it into reverse all the electrics worked and continued to work in neutral? As soon as I put it into 1st everything switch off (engine continued to run though).

I thought it was just coincidence so tried it several times - everytime 1st gear nothing / reverse all ok!!!

Anyone any ideas?? ??)

[32valves]

Check the wiring to the reverse light switch on the gearbox, there may be a short somewhere. Also, check the fuses, perhaps even try new ones. Electriscles ! Tricky little blighters.

[dollyboy]

probably some kind of weird grounding fault.  all exposed connections and terminals on just about everything standard outside the 'cockpit' are dodgy at best and prone to corrosion. 

i'd suggest a morning going through the lot, armed with meter if you've got one, wire cutters, some decent new spade terminals, crimpers, heat shrink and a hair dryer - a few hours well spent.  been there before, not fun, feel your pain...  worth checking the lot in one hit, saves having to repeat the process in a few months if something else goes the same way.  bad time of year for this kind of fiddly finger numbing stuff!

:D

[widiril]

Poo! I was hoping for a quick fix, like someone had had the problem and knew exactly where to look! It's too cold to do a complete electrical check (should have cleared all the junk out of the garage!).

Has anyone rewired their dolly / toledo with an upgraded loom / fuses etc..., perhaps from a different car, would save all this constant messing about?

[dollyboy]

fixes are usually really quick if you know what the fault is, its the fault finding that makes it fun!!

looms generally get made up, colour coded and terminated to manufacturers original spec, so a loom from a different car (assuming you mean make/model) is never going to be compatible, due to connectors, lengths, take off points etc. 

square headlight spec dolly 1300/1500 will be a similar loom to your toledo, dash and lights are basically the same, but swapping would be a side-step rather than an upgrade so not much point, and theres gonna be deviations, such as toledo wiper switch is on dash, dolly on steering column stalk etc. but im sure you dont need anything like a new loom.  In my experience, "non-electrical" people quickly get baffled and confused by this sort if stuff, so if it really does your head in, i'd call on somebody local who's clued up with electrickery who can come and check her over for you.

assuming all worked fine before you laid her up, im convinced it'll either be a short due broken connection or just tired insulation somewhere as mr 32 valves suggested, or a duff earth somewhere.  it probably isnt sinister at all, unless theres been some other factor such as work on the car while laid up?  if its any reassurance, relatively speaking, triumph electrics are completely basic compared with... well, pretty much anything really!

far easier to just 'upgrade' your own wiring yourself by using new connectors, and just making up the terminals properly using heat shrink to help keep the moisture out, to help prevent corrosion between cable and terminal etc.  this is probably the biggest failing of the standard wiring in my experience.

my dolly's using standard loom, but theres a BIG list of mods and 'upgrades', so my wiring will have a separate fuse box for the add-ons, bigger alternator, high torque starter, optima spiral cell battery, a small sealed box for a few relays (for halogen lights, fogs, spots, amp etc), ground isolated bus bars for easy separating of add-ons without overloading battery terminals, convoluted sleeving to protect cables etc etc etc yawn yawn, but i've spent 90% of my working life designing power distribution systems for boats and special vehicles, so i have an idea what im doing, i think!

i'd happily look at it for you but im in derby and have a dolly to rebuild and my mrs is up the duff, so cant see that happening this year unfortunately!