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MG TD TF 1500 - Dashboard is Charcoal

I was feeling pretty smug about how good most of my ’53 TD’s innards were looking as I try to get it back on the road after a nearly 30 year hibernation until I looked at the back of the dashboard. All the wires have blue extensions spliced, soldered, and taped onto them, presumably to make it easier to remove the dashboard. I’ve had the car since ’57 and don’t remember ever having done anything like that, but then at my age there are lots of things that I don’t remember very well. That was the last straw that made me decide that car needs all new wiring. What was really frightening, though, was that the wood surrounding the area where the ammeter and warning lights are is now mostly charcoal. That black wood you see in the picture is not painted! There is no evidence of any damage on the visible front side of the dash, and all the gauges and lights worked when the car was last driven, but something has gotten very, very hot under there and I can’t figure out what. And to think I never used to carry a fire extinguisher in the car. Do any of you have any idea what could have caused the near-incineration of the car, and more importantly, what I should do to make sure the problem doesn’t occur again?

Thanks for any help you can give.
Joe



J.W. Olson

Joe, I think the word is - fuses. Bud
Bud Krueger

Maybe there was a small wiring fire years ago, and that is why the blue wires spliced in? Panel/paint could have been replaced at same time? Yes,fuses are good. George
George Butz

My guess also would be there was a fire (or at least a lot of heat & smoke) and someone fixed it with the blue wire splices rather than replace the harness.
Wonder if somebody either installed a battery wrong or "jumped" it with cables hooked-up incorrectly? Can't think of anything else that could cause such a "melt-down" to that many circuits.
David Sheward

The lousy repair kept it on the road until you could fix it up today... My take on stupid DPO things.

warmly,
dave
Dave Braun

I'd suggest that, in addition to fuses, you install a battery disconnect switch up by the battery. That way you can leap out, open the bonnet, and turn off the juice in short order. I have them in all my old cars, even if there is a new wiring harness.
MW Davis

An alternate location for a battery cut off switch.

(Please ignore my DPO glove box installation. It's on the to do list.)


Mort 50TD (1851) Mobius

On Bud's website there is an excellent article on adding fuses to the TD.

http://www.ttalk.info/Tech/TechIndex.html

The article is:

MG TD Auxiliary fuse panel installation by Evan Ford

http://tseriesmg.blogspot.com/

I used this as a guide and did mine about a year ago. The image is the layout of my fuse block.


Mort 50TD (1851) Mobius

Gents,

While we are on the subject there are two other possible electrical malfunctions for all "T" series owners to be aware of.

First all amp meters are really mili-amp meters. The meter movement carries 20 to 30 mils while a shunt across the terminals carries nearly all the current. Loose terminals at the amp meter at night with headlights, wipers, heater fan all drawing current can generate the heat of a small arc welder at a loose terminal.

Second, original speedometer drive cables had an outer sheath of stainless. This passed near the starter switch when entering the dash through the firewall. If through some strange circumstance the speedo cable touched the battery side of the starter switch full battery current passes to the speedo and then to ground (earth) through any convenient path. In my case through the dash lights ground into the tach and through the hair spring to earth. Nisonger here we come.

Nuff said. Bet you will look next time the bonnet is up.

Best regards,

Jim Haskins

1953 TD
J. M. Haskins

Thanks for all your responses. While I'll probably never know for sure what caused the original problem, I should be able to avoid a recurrence. Evan Ford's article on additional fuses is very helpful. I'm going to try to mount additional fuses somewhere that is accessible without removing the under-dash cover.

Joe
J.W. Olson

Fuses? We Don't Need No Stinkin Fuses
Bruce Cunha

"First all amp meters are really mili-amp meters. The meter movement carries 20 to 30 mils while a shunt across the terminals carries nearly all the current."

While I would normally agree and I have said the same thing myself many times, when I have my ammeter apart to clean it up I was supprized to find that, at least mine, was an actual ammeter.

It had a single wire, (Not all that heavy BTW) forming a loop or about 7/8 of a loop. In the middle of which was a rotating vane connected to the needle. I guess the field from the single loop with all the current going through was enough to move the vane.

Jim B.
JA Benjamin

Don't let him fool you ...Bruce sells fire extinguishers, wiring looms, & replacement "smoke"! LOL
David Sheward

This is why I am in the process of replacing my harness.....(see image).
So old that you can't even tell what color the wires were....On the main harness, the cloth insulation falls off in pieces, as it is handled, and there are spaces of bare wire with broken insulation along the way....
A miracle that there hasn't been a fire (God forbid), up to now.
I'm keeping the old harness intact, for reference, as some connectors are different on the replacement, and it's sometimes hard to tell exactly where everything goes, even with a circuit diagram.
Edward


E.B. Wesson

Oops! I stand corrected. Never disassembled a gen-u-ine MG amp meter. Those I did work on were as I described. However, assuring tight connections remains an easy and cheap safety measure.

Best regards,

Jim Haskins

1953 TD
J. M. Haskins

Here's a shot of my old harness, on the ground...I think you can see the condition.
Edward


E.B. Wesson

This thread was discussed between 20/04/2012 and 21/04/2012

MG TD TF 1500 index

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