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Break Down Story Number Thirteen, The Broken Oil Pressure Switch

Break Down Story Number 13.

 

The Broken Oil Pressure Sender.

 

On one of those rare accusations that I drove to work I was travelling along the freeway from the Central Coast to Sydney in my TR7 when as I pulled up at the traffic lights at the end of the freeway the oil pressure light flickered but went out again so I continued. Near Chatswood the oil light was flickering on and off so I pulled into a garage and checked the oil, empty.    

 

I could not see any apparent oil leak, there was no oil any where on the engine or leaking out underneath, but it had to have gone some where. Unfortunately I only had ten dollars on me and not being a child of efpos, credit cards generation I would have to walk to find an ATM. About 1km into Chatswood I found an ATM near the railway station and walked back to the car.

 

Purchased 5 lts of oil ($25) and put it all in the engine and took off for work about ten km away. Through Artarmon and St Leonard’s, at Crows Nest I stopped at a set of traffic lights, opened the door and lent out and looked under to see if I could see any leaks. I could not see any leaks but I could see a gush, oil was running out and in the 30 seconds that I had been stopped, there was about ½ litre of oil on the road. Continuing on through North Sydney and across the Sydney Harbour Bridge, and into the car park at work when the oil pressure light came on again, I had made it but only just.

 

Put some more oil in it to get it into the work shop, leaving a trail of oil in the process.  My thoughts were that the oil pump was the source of the leak but once on the hoist and with the engine running, it was obvious were the oil was coming from, the oil pressure sender.

 

This turned out to be a very easy fix as it is easy to get to and even though I could not get a Triumph part it did not matter as a Datsun part fitted and that was very easy to obtain. The TR7 was fixed and running within half an hour, but between fifteen litres of oil and the part, it turned into an expensive trip to work, of course it could have been a lot worse.

 

So ended another Triumph Break Down story and only the TR7’s second break down story in fifteen years.

 

Yellow Duck Motorsport

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Break Down Story Number Fourteen, The broken Alternator.

 

Break Down Story Number 14.

 

The Broken Alternator

 

1978, I had moved from Coffs Harbour to MacLean but I was still a member of Coffs Harbour and District Sporting Car Club and I had travelled to Coffs to attend the club’s monthly meeting.  

 

On arriving in Coffs I stopped to purchase petrol and the Mini Cooper S was a bit reluctant to start, the battery seemed to be a bit down, I did not think much of it.

 

After the Car Club meeting the car would not start, the battery was flat, everyone from the meeting was still there so I had no trouble getting a push, the car fired up alright and as the alternator light was not on I concluded that the problem was the battery not the alternator, so as long as I did not turn the engine off or stall it, I would be alright.

 

I was wrong. It was not that long and the head lights were getting dimer and dimer but it was to late now, so I pressed on. I latched on to the tail of a semi trailer and trusted my luck. The semi must have been empty as he was low flying and without head lights it was an exciting ride, but about 10km outside Grafton near the airport turn off, the engine just stopped, there was no life left in the battery to run the electric fuel pump.

 

It was now after midnight, I only had two options, stay with the car till morning, or walk into Grafton and find a phone, I decided to walk. About two km’s down the road a car came along so I stuck my thump out in the hope of a lift; it went straight past but stopped a few hundred metres further down the road. By the time I reached the car the driver was filling his car with petrol from a 20lte drum, he had not stopped to give me a lift, he had run out of petrol, but he said he would give me a lift to the MacLean turn off.

 

I walked the last two or three km’s home, my father was not too impressed with it all, but there was nothing we could do but go back and get the Mini. My fathers HQ Holden Ute had no petrol in it and there was nothing open at that time of night to get some so we had to take my sisters Ford Cortina (the Holden’s battery was too big to fit in the Mini).

 

We drove the ½ hour trip back to the Mini, tied a tow rope to it and towed it home. The Mini had power assisted brakes but they still worked, so that was alright, but no lights was a bit of a problem. The battery had revived a bit so I had parking lights but only for a few minutes so every time a car came up behind me I would turn the parking lights on until they passed us. It was an interesting trip but we got home without incident. 

 

Once the battery had been charged the Mini started up without problem. The lucas alternator was replaced with a bosch unit which was still working when the car came to the end of its days.

 

So ends another break down story and for a change it did not involve a Triumph.

 

Yellow Duck Motorsport