No fuses in the whole car?!

[lambaj]

HAs use brown cables as earth connections. It is possible this cable was corroded and high resistance so burnt out, or it is also possible if the polarity was round the wrong way that it was acting as an earth route for all sorts of things and was just overloaded.
I still think my 1st thought could be the right one.
Anybody got any ideas on how to confirm if the vehicle is positive earth if the battery terminals were missing ??
Tony (HA21)

[hbpeter]

A long shot, but shouldnt it have a sticker under the bonnet stating which way its wired. Its probably long gone by now though.

Peter

[Jon-HPF]

i kmow "cheesy" was positive earth and i would presume Paul's other ha is - best pm him to find out .Ignorance is bliss sometimes - but not when electrics are concerned !
Quite a few cars of this era were + earth (as i remember to my cost when trying to fit a radio player to one of my first cars !!!! ) - lots of smoke and one new radio kaput
Not really sure how to check - other than the earth lead , there should be a way to check ???
Jon

[pbottomley]

My old cheesy god bless him was Positive earth, marvin has been converted to Negative earth... if someone has done it correctly it would be inmpossible to fit the clamps on the wrong terminals as one terminal (assume round) is bigger than the other

[Alexander]

Sorry for that i have not answered on a while. But as i have said i fitted the clamps on the cables, and i didnt think on positive earth or something like that then, then i put the battery in and turned the lights on and everything worked well i while until it started burning from a cable to the lights. Can it be that I might put the battery wrong that made the fire start? So that i just have to change the burned cable and switch places of the clamps and test again? Or do i might have to change all the cables which looks like a BIG job to me.

//Alex

[grandas_shed]

ok try looking at the ignition coil low power cables.
the wire that go`s to the dissy will be the earth wire, if you then look on the coil where this wire connects, it will tell you if it is possitive or negitive.

[frankengeep]

If it is poz. earth, would the starter motor need to be matched?
Assuming the battery was connected and the vehicle accepted it, would the starter not turn the wrong way on the bendix, therefor not engaging?
Viewing the outward end of the starter, connecting one only battery lead and using a long loose lead (with a spare headlamp bulb in series) from the other battery post, it should be possible to see which way the starter is trying to turn by touching it to the solenoid output terminal.
That is if things are not obvious at the coil connections (ballast resistor?).

Boyd

[gtwannabe]

hi have a look at the back of your dynamo and see if the output wire has a + or a - marked on it by the big terminal += negative earth and - =positive earth if its not clear have a look at the regulator to see if its marked positive or negative you should be able to see it on the back of dynamo if you clean the casing as most of the old dynamos were marked either d+ or d- hope this helps ..pete

[gtwannabe]

hi have a look at the back of your dynamo and see if the output wire has a + or a - marked on it by the big terminal += negative earth and - =positive earth if its not clear have a look at the regulator to see if its marked positive or negative you should be able to see it on the back of dynamo if you clean the casing as most of the old dynamos were marked either d+ or d- hope this helps ..pete

[Alexander]

Ok, thanks for all the help, but i cant see if there is a + or - on the dynamo, without removing things I think like the headers or something, its so tight. But i will try with a camera and a lamp and i might can see that way. But mayby u guys can see the different on a positive earth and a negative earth with just a picture on the engine department?

//Alex