Driving along today, I was almost home when I noticed smoke rising from the steering-wheel area! The left hand indicator was on, although I don't remember turning it on. It wouldn't turn off until I turned it all the way to the right, then back to the middle (off) position. The smoke stopped, and the indicators still work. There was a nasty smell of burning plastic in the air.

What was all that about, and is it about to die? Do I suddenly become one of those who don't indicate their intentions whilst driving?

The other day my husband and I were both in the car when we had to use the horn excessivly due to a total fool who nearly ran into the side of us, and didn't even acknowledge our presence when we hit the brakes, squealed to a stop, honked the horn repeatidly, and shouted abuse and flashed "angry signs" at him! Could that have contributed to the current smoke situation?

Manda

Edited to ask: Does anyone know of a guide for replacing the rear wheel bearings on a 76 Leyland?

check on the indicator stalk if the little ball inside it still operates and has a lot of strength, the spring rusted on my old one, the spring also rusted on my celica and if i hit a speed bump too hard i would indicate right due to the stalk sagging,

how long was it indicating for and where is the flasher unit, was it flashing wlidly

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any parts for a 76 clubby pm me or ring 0405 329 326

http://www.ausmini.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=44717

hi buztoy, If i remember correctly, it was on for no longer than a minute and it was flashing normally. As for "where is the flasher unit?", I really don't know. It has a normal indicator stalk on the right of the steering column, if that's what a "flasher unit" is .

Thanks for the help!

Manda

ignore the flags and thefuzzness of the pic but it should look something like this near your heater or steering colomn


any ways its either this little thing, or its an uninsulated wire in your coloumn housing

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any parts for a 76 clubby pm me or ring 0405 329 326

http://www.ausmini.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=44717

You have just let the Lucas smoke out of the blinker/trafficator/horn switch.
Don't mess with it, it's now toasted. Get thee a new one.
If you want the new one to last, fit a headlamp relay, it reduces the heavy current through the switch to a trickle.

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DrMini- 1970 wasaMatic 1360, Mk1S crank, 86.6HP (ATW) =~125 @ crank, 45 Dellorto (38 chokes), RE282 sprint cam, 1.5 rockers, 11.0:1 C/R.

Once you let the smoke out of the wires you can't get it back in no matter how hard you push. Worth replacing now even if it does still work. Or keep an extinguisher handy at all times.

Here's a kit to put all that smoke back.

http://www3.telus.net/bc_triumph_registry/smoke.htm

Taken from another thread elsewhere.

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"In two years time your car will be like a lady's clothes, out of date, my car will still be in fashion when I am dead" - Sir Alec speaking to Pininfarina

Hi again, well... I just had to play with it.... it's completely out of Lucas smoke! When I took it out it looked like this:



Inside the circle is what looks like 'charring' and there was a spot of black residue. This may just be from repeated contact of the bits. I've since cleaned the whole assembly.

On the other side, in the area the arrow is pointing to, there was a solder point sitting very very close to the turn signal contact is. This may have shorted and caused the smoke? I've since bent it up an away so if it was a problem, it can't happen again.

The box in the middle shows where there is a nasty crack in the assembly, which is what caused the floppy high beam switch. The resistance between the "high beams on" position and the "high beams off" position was barely noticeable and could be moved between the two with the slightest nudge. So I came up with this:



That yellow object is a straightened plastic coated paper clip, cut and bent to provide some pressure on the high beam 'thingie' that presses on the stalk assembly. Works a treat!

After putting it back on there is now ample resistance in the high beam switch. Both indicators still fine too .Hopefully they stay that way.

Thanks for the help,

Marty & Manda