Re: 51Packards....52 Packard 200 Deluxe!

Posted by Charles On 2014/5/14 20:50:59

5-14-14

So it turns out the BAT light has been working...it fell out of the cluster! I didn't realize it until I tried the car at dusk with all doors closed. When I went to put it back in the cluster, I found out I had the OIL and BAT bulbs in opposite of where they should be!

When I have time in the daylight, I am going to pull the distributor and clean up the ground contacts like Howard suggested.

Right now, it seems the car will only start if I put the jumper wire on the - side of the battery to the - side of the coil. Once started, I can remove the jumper. The car will also restart without the jumper. I think some surface rust has formed and all grounds and moving parts need to be gone over.

I put in the ignition from the '51 since the one in the '52 was messed up and turned with a screwdriver. The one in the '51 works with a key, but now I have to move it a little left of full on for the BAT light to stay on. If I go full to the right, the BAT light will go out and the car will not turn over. Probably dirty connections, but the ignition switch never gave me problems before.

Here is a list of electrical items that are working:
Car turns over with petal switch
Glove box light works
Door courtesy lights work
Parking lights work (passenger side is really weak, but that is old wiring still)
Turn signals flicker the dash lights and parking light and tail light flicker rapidly. Still not right.
Dash lights illuminate with the headlight switch
Ignition light illuminates with headlight switch in parking light position
Horn clicks the horn relay, but no horn sound. There is also a large horn object behind the grill that says 6v, but no horn noise.
Heater fan works

That is it so far. Headlights may be burned out from 12v. I have not replaced those. I'm hoping the car starts easier when I clean up the distributor and put in some new spark plugs.