Strange car experience

[Duke]

Haha! Love the beer joke! Ok, well, it sounds as if the alternator could have been responsible, although strange that it only occured the once... It may be that we'll never know (which is really frustrating! ).

I've never heard of that company, Lucus... I'll ask Dad if he has.

Anyway, thanks for those insights!

Show these to Dad, he'll get a kick out of them.

Lucas the Prince of Darkness

• The Lucas motto: "Get home before dark."
• Lucas is the patent holder for the short circuit.
• Lucas - Inventor of the first intermittent wiper.
• Lucas - Inventor of the self-dimming headlamp.
• The three position Lucas switch - Dim, Flicker and Off.
• The Original Anti-Theft Device - Lucas Electrics.
• >Lucas is an acronym for Loose Unsoldered Connections and Splices
• Lucas systems actually uses AC current; it just has a random frequency.
• "I have had a Lucas pacemaker for years and have never had any trou..."
• If Lucas made guns, wars would not start.
• A friend of mine told everybody he never had any electric problems with his Lucas equipment. Today he lives in the countryside, in a large manor with lots of friendly servants around him and an occasional ice cold shower...
• Back in the 70's, Lucas decided to diversify its product line and began manufacturing vacuum cleaners. It was the only product they offered which did not suck.
• Q: Why do the British drink warm beer? A: Because Lucas makes their refrigerators
• Alexander Graham Bell invented the Telephone.Thomas Edison invented the Light Bulb. Joseph Lucas invented the Short Circuit.
• Recommended procedure before taking on a repair of Lucas equipment: Check the position of the stars,kill a chicken and walk three times clockwise around your car chanting:" Oh mighty Prince of Darkness protect your unworthy servant.."

 

[Lynne]

If we take a paranormal possibility... did you have missing time during this event? Did you notice any UFOS? Did you have any strange dreams after the event? This is a common occurrence when electrical equipment comes in proximity of a UFO.

 

[RoseRed]

Show these to Dad, he'll get a kick out of them.

Lucas the Prince of Darkness

• The Lucas motto: "Get home before dark."
• Lucas is the patent holder for the short circuit.
• Lucas - Inventor of the first intermittent wiper.
• Lucas - Inventor of the self-dimming headlamp.
• The three position Lucas switch - Dim, Flicker and Off.
• The Original Anti-Theft Device - Lucas Electrics.
• >Lucas is an acronym for Loose Unsoldered Connections and Splices
• Lucas systems actually uses AC current; it just has a random frequency.
• "I have had a Lucas pacemaker for years and have never had any trou..."
• If Lucas made guns, wars would not start.
• A friend of mine told everybody he never had any electric problems with his Lucas equipment. Today he lives in the countryside, in a large manor with lots of friendly servants around him and an occasional ice cold shower...
• Back in the 70's, Lucas decided to diversify its product line and began manufacturing vacuum cleaners. It was the only product they offered which did not suck.
• Q: Why do the British drink warm beer? A: Because Lucas makes their refrigerators
• Alexander Graham Bell invented the Telephone.Thomas Edison invented the Light Bulb. Joseph Lucas invented the Short Circuit.
• Recommended procedure before taking on a repair of Lucas equipment: Check the position of the stars,kill a chicken and walk three times clockwise around your car chanting:" Oh mighty Prince of Darkness protect your unworthy servant.."

Yeah, he'll definitely like those! Made me laugh too

 

[RoseRed]

If we take a paranormal possibility... did you have missing time during this event? Did you notice any UFOS? Did you have any strange dreams after the event? This is a common occurrence when electrical equipment comes in proximity of a UFO.

We did not experience any other phenomena or see any UFOs. I can't remember whether I had any strange dreams or not... We just thought that the whole experience was odd!

I think if we'd seen any strange lights or craft in the sky as well, I'd definitely be thinking it could be alien related, but as we didn't, there's still room for a more rational explanation.

Tbh, my dad still wouldn't believe in aliens if one invited him to tea on it's spacecraft!

 

[Paintman]

Duke, I think I have inherited Lucas's brain.

 

[7Critter]

Show these to Dad, he'll get a kick out of them.

Lucas the Prince of Darkness

• The Lucas motto: "Get home before dark."
• Lucas is the patent holder for the short circuit.
• Lucas - Inventor of the first intermittent wiper.
• Lucas - Inventor of the self-dimming headlamp.
• The three position Lucas switch - Dim, Flicker and Off.
• The Original Anti-Theft Device - Lucas Electrics.
• >Lucas is an acronym for Loose Unsoldered Connections and Splices
• Lucas systems actually uses AC current; it just has a random frequency.
• "I have had a Lucas pacemaker for years and have never had any trou..."
• If Lucas made guns, wars would not start.
• A friend of mine told everybody he never had any electric problems with his Lucas equipment. Today he lives in the countryside, in a large manor with lots of friendly servants around him and an occasional ice cold shower...
• Back in the 70's, Lucas decided to diversify its product line and began manufacturing vacuum cleaners. It was the only product they offered which did not suck.
• Q: Why do the British drink warm beer? A: Because Lucas makes their refrigerators
• Alexander Graham Bell invented the Telephone.Thomas Edison invented the Light Bulb. Joseph Lucas invented the Short Circuit.
• Recommended procedure before taking on a repair of Lucas equipment: Check the position of the stars,kill a chicken and walk three times clockwise around your car chanting:" Oh mighty Prince of Darkness protect your unworthy servant.."

Funny. Thanks Duke. I had an MG in the 70s and 80s. Towards the end of my ownership, I would park so that I could push start the car in case the flakey starter decided not to function.

I can go along with the alternator going bad theory, RoseRed. I have replaced many over the years. I am convinced that if you own a car long enough, you will experience an alternator failure.

 

[Rowan2222]

As I still drive a 1968 landrover which uses mainly lucas parts I can attest to things stopping working in a variety of ways.
I'm, also on a landrover forum and help sort other peoples problems out too when things need diagnosing.

I would think this sounds like a faulty earth connection from the battery to chassis. Battery terminals corrode particularly in springtime after the roads have been salted all winter and with the salty spray and the action of time as soon as the weather warms up so does the speed of corrosion.
With a bad earth connection there would be a gradual loss of voltage as the bad connection acts like a large resistor. This would lead to the lights dimming, but as the ignition relies on around 12v to generate the high voltage at the spark plugs you will get a weak spark or intermittent spark if this primary voltage drops too far. The effect would cause a loss of power as it just wouldn't rev up.

The fault causes the connection to heat up as current through resistance causes heat, and may be sufficient to either make the problem suddenly worse- or better.
It is standard practice to check & clean battery terminals if corrosion is visible, and car batteries only last between 3 & 8 years anyway - so would have been replaced and the connections made good again. The mechanic would likely have removed the battery to test it, and so should have cured the problem just doing this action.

I've had similar strange car problems at times. One was turning right at a particular road. The car would be fine at all other times, and all other roads, but this one road junction it would falter and splutter. It turned out that the carb floats were old and had sunk a bit - leading to increased fuel level in the carb bowl, but it would only overflow and lead to increased fuel supply and rich running when doing a hard right turn coupled with increased throttle - effectively flooding the engine with a rich mixture.

Another time it would cough and splutter on another straight stretch of road after a couple of dips in the road. It normally has no problems with rough roads or potholes, but the dips were at such a spacing that causes a resonance in the engine mountings enough to lift it a bit - and strain an electrical connection to the ignition coil which was not a good connection anyway. Remaking the connection with a new spade connector cured it.

Part of the fun of owning and driving older vehicles is that you develop a keen ear to notice any new rattle or noise that may be the start of something needing work. Things can be deceptive though. I once spent weeks checking fuel mixture and timing because I could hear a tinny pinking when running on flat roads at modrate speeds. Went away with acceleration or braking.- Turned out it was wear in a UJ on the rear propshaft and nothing to do with fuel settings.

 

[Lynne]

I had an older Grand Marquis. It was a beautiful car but the radio would not stay working. My hubby bought me a new radio and still it would not work consistently. We had the wires replaced and a second radio replacement. Finally the guys at the garage just threw their hands up and called it a ghost in the wires. We were never able to get it to work.