Packard Forum Index » Post-War (1946-54)

So my niece came over tonight to see the Clipper. (She's 16, she loved it).

Then soome weird things started happening. It turned out that the battery was stone dead. Couldn't figure it out. Nothing left on (I thought) and no door ajar.

I hooked up the battery charger and realized for the first time that this car was converted to negative ground! I should've noticed that earlier, but as luck would have it I double-checked the marks on the battery (in the dark) before I hooked up the charger.

Then, another weird thing. I figured out that the reason the battery was dead was that the radio was left on. I had driven around a couple of days ago with it turned on, cuz you never know, it might start making noise. When I got home, I must've left it on. Not a dumb thing, because it shouldn't work without the key on, right? But apparently the thing stays on when the key is off! Hooked up wrong or what????

Then, the weird stuff continued. After letting the battery charge up for a while, I started the car, and it was missing pretty bad. I thought probably just a little too rich on the choke, idling too much or whatever. But when I looked under the hood, the #2 plug had a ring of wet around it on the head. The plug had backed out and was loose!

What's up with that? I took the plug out and of course it was wet, but other than that it looked OK. I tightened it back in carefully in case the threads were stripped on the head. Seemed to tighten all right.

I never touched the plugs since I picked up the car and put at at least 200 miles on it. It's possible that the mechanic who worked on the brakes also removed and checked the plugs and forgot to tighten one, but I don't think so. I'm gonna ask, because the weirdness continued after that.

While we were waiting for the battery to charge, we looked around inside at some of the memorabilia in the glove compartment and tucked behind the vanity mirrors. Apparently, every scrap of paper on this car was saved. On the driver's side I found a Wisconsin cab card--in the original envelope, dated 1986, with (probably) the original owner's name on it. Neat. So I told my niece about other parts of the car's history that I'd discovered, and about when the most recent owner's brother, who had the car before him, died.

So then, there's this:

After the plug was tightened and the car started again, there was still a slight miss. I figured maybe the plug was still wet, and I'd run it for a while. Anyway, the miss just didn't want to go away, so finally as I was looking at the engine I said, "What's the matter, don't you like your new home?" And the miss immediately stopped.

Part of the mystique of the marque, perhaps? I think of all old cars, but especially Packards, as a little bit haunted. I don't think this one is going to change my mind.

"Sounds like an X-File to me, Scully!"

"You unlock this door with the key of imagination. Beyond it is another dimension - a dimension of sound, a dimension of sight, a dimension of mind. You're moving into a land of both shadow and substance, of things and ideas. You've just crossed over into the Twilight Zone.

Old cars are weird. It's in the rule book somewhere. Many even think the people that like old cars are weird too--so it works out.

Your radio is not hooked up per Packard instructions but it is an easy mistake to make or fix and may have even been done that way on purpose. Lots of cars of the era had the radio wired to be available all the time. Could be a previous owner was nostalgic and wanted it that way.

Remember the scene from "In Harm's Way" where the John Wayne character was driven home. Gets out and sees (or hears) his room mates parked car (Ford, I think) with radio on and playing & no one around. He then walks over to the empty car and turns radio off before going into the house.

Packard instructions was to place the radio feed on the BAT post of the 10 amp circuit breaker located on instrument cluster. If this had been done, the radio would be controlled thru ign switch. If someone had mistakenly (or on purpose) placed it on the BAT post of the 30 amp breaker then that is directly off the battery and is on all the time.

One of two cars I bought new was a '77 VW Convertible "Champaign Edition". The radio on it was as Howard states - A fact I learned the hard way = at least once.

As for being as weird as the cars I drive: That is something I"ve given up denying and now take pride in! After all, I'm from the home of Portlandia.

Guy, maybe the reason your radio is not working is because the Packard was converted to negative ground and the radio vibrator requires positive ground. I understand that you can have a negative ground vibrator installed. This vibrator ground requirement was explained to me when I converted my '55 Clipper Super to negative ground. Since the radio was not working it may have been left on and drew current to discharge the battery? No explanation for the errant spark plug, except I know how easy it is to forget to tighten things down when working on a car. I don't think your Packard is haunted, just a convergence of coincidences.

(o{}o)

Quote:

Very good point if the radio was converted to a solid state vibrator. They are polarity sensitive. If not switched and still has the old mechanical style vibrator, then your car or radio generally doesn't care about polarity. About the only notice a driver might see if switched would be if the generator didn't charge or if present, an amp meter read backwards.

In the case of the mechanical vibrator one or both of the internal contacts in the vibrator could be burned or oxidized & the thing can't start. If it doesn't start vibrating to alternately switch the flow thru the transformer, then silence and no voltage to power the rest of the radio -- but still a current drain. You just don't hear anything to let you know.

I can't comment on the radio or whether your car is haunted or not (you might call "Ghost Hunters" for that problem), but I would suggest that you invest in a disconnector switch to keep your battery alive. This is not a switch per se but rather a device that allows you to easily disconnect the battery when you park your car for a while. It is attached to either the positive or negative post (whichever is not the ground) and consists of a knob that you simply unscrew by hand when you want to disconnect the battery and screw down tight when you want to connect it. Another plus with this device is that you can unscrew it completely from the post and take it with you when you spend the night out of town, thus ensuring that no one can jump in and hotwire the ignition and steal your car.

Well, this posting should generate some discussion about the type of "device" and installing it on the non-grounded terminal of the battery. My practice has been to install a disconnect switch to the grounded side of the battery using a heavy duty switch like Cole-Herssey sells. I know these screw type disconnects are inexpensive and popular. Maybe good for a 12-volt car, but not for a 6-volt system.

(o{}o)

when we went out of town...my dad took the rotor out of the distributor. wont start.