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

G'day Dick,
Like to add my to that of JD's and second adding your '48 Custom Eight to the Packard Owners Registry.

JD I added my car to the registry, thanks for suggesting it..Also, I'm not sure I found a solution to the starter problem but I've not had a problem for the last 10 starts..I focused on the carburetor unit, ultimately I decide to elongate the spring for more tension as I had exhausted all other ideas and people told me to concentrate on that...I have no faith that it solves the problem but so far sooo good. DICK

Quote:Dick,
for including your '48 Custom Eight Club Sedan in the Packard Owners Registry. It does look good!

Problem solved. Re-installed the starter today and replaced all the taped-up cracked wiring between the carburetor starter switch and the solenoid. The problem was definitely a short in the wiring.

I didn't think it was a short in the wiring because the starter never started up on its own once the engine was running. Apparently the reason the starter motor did not spontaneously start spinning once the engine was running was because of the unique way the 356/Auto-lite starter is wired into the regulator. Once the engine is running, the positive post on the solenoid is turned negative (I think) so the starter wouldn't/couldn't fire up. I guess Packard tried this approach with the Delco set-up with very limited success and quickly went back to a fixed positive ground.

Can anyone tell me the reasoning behind the attached wiring diagram warning? What earthly difference can it make how/where the wires attach to a simple on/off switch? Mine was reversed and I followed the directions and attached them per the diagram but I'd still like to know why this is important. As best I can tell, this warning appeared starting in 1948 and disappeared with 1951.

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That is a good question and I could find no Packard reason for it. An incorrect contact orientation was never mentioned in any of the many articles on problems with the ground thru generator setup & other unintended cranking, hard to crank or no starter action issues. Several mentions of checking tightness of switch to carb, dirty contacts, bad adjustment etc..

At a quick glance thru parts book, the switch appears to be the same Carter unit from early Clipper on--although there is one other number listed for one carb. Didn't take the time to track down which car(s) used that one.

Is the loom made in such a way -- say with a short wire that reversing the wires would put a strain on something or drag the loom across something that might damage it.

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Could be. Neither of my Packards that use the Carter Carstarter switch had enough of the original wiring/loom left in that area to tell. The loom (plastic tape wrap) sort of gets baked there just above the exhaust manifold.