MTFCA Forum

My grandson will inherit my Dad's '26 TT, which Dad bought in 1942. We've been giving it loving attention periodically as we've been able, but my grandson's willingness bumps up against my physical condition and doesn't offset my surgeries.....
We've had the coils gone through, new wiring harness, battery, put in a rebuilt starter, etc. Even had it running (very well) and drove around the neighborhood last October. Wanting to get it moving again has been a challenge. An ohm-meter says everything is connected and checks out, however, we've gotten only an occasional intermittent buzz from the coils, and an initial 'klunk' from the starter.

Often typical of Model T's for the farm, the fragile key slot is in two pieces and being without a key, my Dad simply 'hot-wired' the truck with a push-pull type of toggle switch... "Out" to activate. Thinking the switch to be our possible culprit, installing a new switch did not solve our problem, either. Our next step might be to replace any of the old wiring from my Dad's set-up?
If anyone has any suggestions, please share them! Thanks, in advance.....

Marv,

I have a '16 with a '24 motor and starter.
Besides the battery being a bit low the only thing I can think of is loose contacts at the starter button.

The same thing happened to me they felt tight, but I tightened it up and it started just like it always does.

Jeff in Florida

Sounds a lot like corroded battery terminals, or as mentioned, some other connection in the starter cable, or the battery to switch wiring.

Since it acts up both with the ignition and the starter, it is likely just a battery connection. If it has clamp on battery terminals, disassemble and clean where the wire is clamped to the terminals. And clean the frame end of the ground cable, too.

As said above clean your terminals. What is the battery voltage and have you cleaned and serviced the timer? Even with a low battery when cranking by hand you should still get a good buzz from the coils.

Either a low battery or problem with cables. Clean up all cable ends and the frame where the ground cable bolts to the frame. Also another potential problem would be corrosion around the crankcase ears where they bolt to the frame. This would cause a poor ground at the starter. A good fix for this condition is to run a ground strap from one of the bolts at the starter to the frame. I don't think the timer is at fault because it affects both starter and ignition.
Norm

The 6 Volt battery was new last fall, so I doubt that to be the problem. Fully charged, but only get that 'klunk' from the starter. Thanks for the suggestions, we'll have to keep on searching.

Could be the connection at the starter post to buss bar inside has come loose. This happens over time when the turning the nuts holding the cable to post twist the post breaking the connection. While you might get enough current for the starter to go clunk, not enough to turn it.

Marv,
If you're running out of things to check, you might want to check the wiring on the back of the coil box. If nothing else, this post will bump this topic to the top of the forum!
I have a T (no starter) that would start first crank, every time, no matter how long or short between drives. But a quarter of a mile down the road, in front of the same coffee shop, it would start to sputter and cough every time, and I'd pull into the parking lot and drive round and round for about 5-10 minutes until everything smoothed out. Then it would be fine the rest of the day. Next time, it would start first crank, run smooth, but a quarter of a mile down the road, same problem. I got kind of used to it. This went on for over a year! I was starting to think about driving a different direction than past the coffee shop!!!
Then one day it wouldn't start at all. I kept checking all kinds of things--fuel, electrical, mag, etc. but never found anything. Then one day for some reason I decided to pull the coil box off. On the back was a piece of 1922 newspaper covering up the wiring, which seemed to be original with the old cloth wiring and old, old electrical tape. Sure enough, the wiring had been spliced, taped together, and loose. Apparently it was in contact when cold for cranking, but a quarter of a mile down the road, it would separate from heating, vibration, ???. Replaced it, no problems since.

I had a problem with my car having an intermittent dead short. I replaced both battery cables and have not had a problem since. Just a "for whatever it's worth" comment.

I assume that the toggle switch was a replacement for the ignition switch. You seam to have replaced about everything but didn't mention the starter switch - is it an original or repop?

-Hi, Frank, and thanking all for the rest of you for the suggestions!
You are correct that the toggle switch takes the place of the ignition. Since the ohm-meter testing did not disclose any problem with the starter button itself, we are assuming it is OK. It is the original starter button, however, so we'll take another look. Thanks.

Ohm meter testing might not be what you need for diagnosing your problem.

If you can measure voltage drop at different places, while it's acting up, you might be able to find the source of the problem.

Not amazingly, my grandson and I were still both bewildered today about what was going on with the TT. Greg (Richard G.) had emailed a few diagnostic tests for us to make happen. We had gotten the engine to "cough-cough" a few times, maybe actually continue firing for about a second and a half. We rechecked everything. I even called Greg inquiring whether there might be any other things to try.
Greg and I did our best to analyze and trouble-shoot over the phone.
As we were talking and trying to 'figgur tings owt', a sudden "Oh, sheet" came upon me.....
Since my grandson has been doing some TT body-work for the past few weeks, and knowing there could be an occasional 'mouse-in-the-house' (due to observing acorn shell remains), I had told him to cover the carburetor air-intake with masking tape. This would prevent any critter invasion to occur. I couldn't recall removing or checking that tape.. Shared my "Dumm-sheet" thought with Greg and told him I was going to go check, and call him back. Hmm. Yup....
And now, without revealing what happened further, I'll bet that you and Paul Harvey already know "The Rest of the Story."
Called Greg again for both of us to chuckle....
The moral of the story???? "If you're not willing to laugh at yourself, you have absolutely no right to laugh at anyone else!"
('Rinse and repeat'....)

Well that is a gratifying and not-so-uncommon discovery as I can personally attest to. Good for you.

with regards to electrical, Bill has opined correctly that an ohm meter is not sufficient to ensure electrical health in wiring in all cases. Wires which have continuity are not necessarily capable of carrying current. Ohm meters really aren't checking "continuity", they are measuring resistance in Ohms...you, the user are determining if that reading constitutes "continuity". So, Starter switches are a great example of a device which can show continuity or very low resistance, but are a proverbial brick wall when trying to pass large amounts of current. That energy will be dissipated as heat. As Bill said, you need to be looking for voltage drops across connections, or feel for heat. Much earlier in the thread when you mentioned "starters" I was going to, but opted to not post, that with respect to the starter and cables, your hand is a perfect instrument to detect a bad connection. After a faulty attempt to start, the bad connection will be warm/hot.

This link has all the info and test descriptions you need to know to fix this bugaboo: http://www.nissantechnicianinfo.mobi/ht ... ement.html

Good luck!