Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Morgan Three Wheeler & Super 3 Dead Rectifier - or NOT?!

And I thought that my car was immune from anything more than the odd sheared bobbin......

I had my first full voltage failure whilst returning from our annual European Bash to see friends in Spa, Belgium. We did about 1000 miles over France, Belgium, Luxembourg and Germany and the car was fabulous. The difference having the Empire kit on was massive - last year the hopeless Belgian roads were treacherous, but this year were thoroughly entertaining. The new Spax Adjustables helped too of course, but overall the car handled really well and was by no means the slowest of the pack (TVR, 2x Se7ens, Lotus 340R, Morgan +4, 911 RS and a Smart Car!!).

I was the only one to get very very very wet though, with second place for wetness going to the 340R driver, but at least he had a windscreen. The rest of the 'girls' had their roves up. Typical August weather it was not.

We left yesterday in the rain and I had dipped lights on the whole way. I'd not noticed anything unusual about the car, probably on account of being smacked in the head by a million BB-guns as the rain tooled down, but things were about to get ugly. We were on the E25 into Liege when I saw the LOW VOLTAGE warning on the speedo so killed the lights immediately. This picked voltage up to a fairly hopeless 8.9v and I knew it was about to end badly. Car still running at this point though. We were headed for the E42 out of Liege but got routed through the centre and the mass of 2-lane, busy, truck-infested tunnels that make up their trunk road network. I was down to 8.3v as we entered a 1.6km tunnel and I was sure I'd grind to a halt in there and the risk was obvious. But it didn't stop, which was very handy! Volts now reading 8.2v and indicators stopped, the gauges stuck at 60mph and 3000rpm, the LCD panels went blank and the end was looming. Managed to pull off the E42 eventually and parked up. Lowest figure I'd seen was 7.8v and when we stopped the engine was still running - mighty impressive, all things considered!

Knowing what the likely fault was, I impressed my mates by pulling a replacement rectifier out of my boot (HD version) and was about to fit it when I noticed that both the earth strap and the earth lead from the rectifier were swinging in the air, so decided to attempt a fix of that issue first, just in case the Rectifier was actually OK. It was OK and the fix held till Calais, where it needed redone on account of me not having the right size connector nor crimping pliers (which I shall now buy and pack in the ever growing tool kit).

So my "Rectifier Failure" was nothing of the sort, just a wiring failure and I wonder how many others have had something similar? The earth lead is very heavy gauge and the fracture was actually almost back under the plastic outer, so it would have been easy for me to have thrown the OEM rectifier away in disgust, when actually it was fine.

The trip was fabulous, but I now have a VERY worn rear drive sprocket it appears and a really nasty sounding compensator with a heap more vibration throughout the whole car, so I fear a warranty conversation needs had with my dealer soon too.

But there's nothing quite as satisfying as a successful field repair is there!

Pictures below of the repair stop - note how much concern my learned colleagues are showing for my predicament....?!

Great work,ur mog has the old sprocket?

Magic..wonderfull machine is ´nt it?

Ringa, I see you have an early chassis. The wiring of the rectifiers has changed over the last couple of years (as well as the mounts) I'd check how it is now done by malvern hq.
Glad you had a good trip.
Charles

Ps I love the spare tyre on top of the battery, am definitely going to adopt that measure.

Charles From those pics how did you work out Ringa has an early chassis ?
I am sure you are right , just intrigued.

I am getting my second rear sprocket fitted at the dealers this week , at 3500 miles. Hope it quietens it down to what it used to be ....

My car is June '13 with the 3-mount rectifier, but I will go looksee at the 2014 car in the Bell & Colvill showroom tomorrow and see what they do differently. What's clear though is that the earth wire and strap need to be supported to stop them flapping like bar-stewards and causing the eventual failure where they bolt onto the frame.

@Q8 - my rear sprocket has the lip on both sides to keep the belt true, but it is very worn indeed. I also need a new rear tyre (5400 miles), so I can see two jobs for one afternoon coming up sometime soon.

No triangulation behind the engine, above the steering rack. An upgrade that would exist on a 2014 design.

The sprocket noise, is that a chirping noise for you? A slight change to belt torsion seems to alter the chirping from mine. I guess the teeth and sprocket have to be perfectly in phase or they stick to each other while they are supposed to seperate causing resonance? Wd40 kills the chirping for 20 miles.

Chirping sounds too bird like and restful - the sound mine makes is more like a knackered and overloaded old spin dryer on fast cycle. Its def the belt - simply pushing the belt up and down deflecting it a few mm gives a small sample of what its like at 60 Mph !
The teeth on the rear sprocket don't look healthy either - with wear lines on all faces.
Roll on the all steel replacements , as fitted to the front sprocket, which dont wear out.

I was at the factory yesterday, the motor is in for an annual service and MOT, and noticed in the M3W shop that the rectifier is now fitted at 90 degrees to the earlier trikes. I hope that helps.