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Q & A: MGB Electrical Problem

Wednesday March 26th, 2003
Q & A, MGA, MGB, MGC, MG T-Type, Midget


Hi John,

Remember I mentioned that my nephew bought a '79 MGB? Well, now he's
encountered a problem, perhaps you can advise.

Electrical problem, this one sounds vaguely familiar to me but I don't
know
the late MGB's very well. First symptom seemed to be that the battery
would
occasionally go dead (not sure if this was related to the present
problem).
Then apparently today, he was driving the car and
the tach started bouncing around wildly, and the turn signals stopped
functioning. Then when he parked it & turned off the ignition, he noticed
that the ignition warning light and the brake warning light would not go
off
-- even with ignition off & key out. Next he noticed some smoke coming
from
under the hood -- no fire, just smoke. Looked under hood and he tells me
it
seemed to be coming from underneath the carburettor.

I seem to recall the late MGB's had some weird electrical problems, maybe
a
voltage stabilizer involved, is there an electric choke on the carb?

Any thoughts? I've cc'd my nephew on this mesage, if you have any ideas
please hit "reply all" and he will see your response. He lives 200 miles
from me so I'm not right there to look at things.

Any help appreciated.

Thanks,
Mark Palmer

Mark!

It would seem that the problem lies not under the carb but within
the alternator -- on the other side of the engine.

All MGs need regular electrical maintenance -- and this 1979 is no
ex... read more