gerry100

Driving the car a few hundred miles each summer while at the camp where I store it.
Everything fine until today.
Turned the key and got a click and a hum/drone sound coming from the fuel tank area.
Fuel pump? There is some kind of connection at the top of the tank that I assume is part of the fuel pump system.
As always , inputs appreciated

(Tip of the week If you store your car at a remote location for occasional use, store your Benley manual with it dumb-***!)

Amber Gramps

Fuel pump is external to, and under the tank, not on top.

did it crank?

sorry, no help, running out the door.

My guess is that your DME relay has gone bad. It's under the driver's seat. Good luck.

gerry100

No crank , just click and hum
Can feel the hum thru the top of the tank.
Last DME failure showed as misfires
But thnks for the tip , I may have spare and will try


.

theiceman

starter motor .. or wiring .. check battery connections

gerry100

Swapped DME, no change

I'll recheck battery connections

gerry100

Thanks Iceman
Few more hard wiggles on the battery terminals did the trick(I'll have to spend a few minutes on the terminals)
A little rennlist common sense and experience trumps my overthinking again

theiceman

Good work .. now go drive ..

gerry100

Experience told me that a battery connection was an "'all or nothing" situation.
Apparently , I was getting enough juice to click and hum but not enough to turn the starter motor.
Still learning

theiceman

yup the starter motor is the highest current draw by far on the entire car .. if you dont have a good connection you dont have good current flow. i would be cleaning and reconnecting all your battery connections and ground connections at this point just to be on the safe side .. better in your driveway than at the 7-11 coz it wouldnt start.

dont forget the big ground underneath from the transmision support bracket to the body. That one is often overlooked.. need good ground for current flow too.

gerry100

Well-

next AM we were back to click/hum and not turnover and start.

discovered a 6 point connector right near the drive side hood hinge with bare wires courtesy of the winter mice. ( can't tell from the Bentley if this is in the starter circuit or not). Jiggled and tried to separate these to reduce possibilty of shorts.

Also jiggled the ignition key switch and the car fired up. Five more trys also fired up.

Got to believe it's a bad connection somewhere - either the key switch oer in the 6point.

I'll have to fix the 6 point anyhow ( monumental PITA) but any further inputs
appreciated.

theiceman

General rule of thumb is fix what you see before you fix what you cant see

gerry100

Looks like the two power distribution cables attached to the positive terminal ,after 26 years have worn on each other making some bare spots and an alwYs loose contact.
Fixed the bare spots and added a few washers.Strong current spins and fires the engine quickly
Great cars can wear out wire connections before the drive train

theiceman

Gerry is that the big *** wire that runs to the starter motor ? Think mine is on the way out too and it looks like a pain to replace

gerry100

Looks like it. But all it needed was some "liquid electrical tape"( Autozone) and the extra washers to tighten the connection.
No big deal after I got into it

gerry100

To clarify, I only worked on the battery end so didn't have

I only worked on the battery end but it does look like a PITA to remove/replace