Author Topic: Dorothy Perkins prima - cold start lamp not working  (Read 412 times)

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Dorothy Perkins prima - cold start lamp not working
« on: 16 February 2013, 04:27:38 pm »
Hi folks, I am still trying to sort out the electrix on my new arrival 2a 88' with Dorothy Perkins prima.
A blown fuse for the break lights made the cold start lamp staying on (and very bright) constantly. Changed the fuse, breaklights work again - but the cold start lamp does not. Not that it effects the starting greatly but I need to know if I have messed things up by fiddling with all the bodged kables and that .... I have volts on it when ignition on and when the relay clicks, the voltage drops (as it should I suppose). However, the volts are more in the mV range, probably not enough for the 3w bulb. What could be the reason for that? cheers! 
88' 2a 1965, galv chassis, Dorothy Perkins Prima, heavy oil & veg oil, Fairey winch

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Re: Dorothy Perkins prima - cold start lamp not working
« Reply #1 on: 16 February 2013, 04:44:44 pm »
Only a physical inspection/voltmeter intervention of your individual wiring loom and conversion will tell you what the fault can be. Nothing to be done over t'interweb I'm afraid.

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Re: Dorothy Perkins prima - cold start lamp not working
« Reply #2 on: 16 February 2013, 05:09:05 pm »
True that. Problem is I don't know what I am looking for.. the wire from ignition to bulb works, from there two wires, one to the stabiliser, the other through the b/h which I can;t find on the other side... but I suppose that is going to the relay, from there to sensor? ...more investigation I suppose... 
88' 2a 1965, galv chassis, Dorothy Perkins Prima, heavy oil & veg oil, Fairey winch

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Re: Dorothy Perkins prima - cold start lamp not working
« Reply #3 on: 16 February 2013, 06:13:53 pm »
Does this help?



More info can be found here: http://www.nhua.co.uk/conversion/Dorothy Perkins.htm

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Re: Dorothy Perkins prima - cold start lamp not working
« Reply #4 on: 17 February 2013, 01:12:32 am »
Thanks, FenTiger! Have looked at that one before and then forgot about it... Will give it another go an try to translate that onto the wires I can find... for some reason it does not look as tidy behind the dash and behind the bulkhead in my one...
88' 2a 1965, galv chassis, Dorothy Perkins Prima, heavy oil & veg oil, Fairey winch

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Follow up: today, after driving without problems, parked the beast for a while, then, after restart, smoke coming from the engine bay... the cable to the glow plugs fried...argh... its the brown/white one to the glow plug control unit. I hope it was just a short-circuit but might be something else... have to check. But what kind of cable is (was) that? Would 27Amp do which I have, or do I need higher resistance? the Haynes manual shows nice diagrams but does not tell me what sort of cables are used... :banghead
88' 2a 1965, galv chassis, Dorothy Perkins Prima, heavy oil & veg oil, Fairey winch

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I have put in the 27amp wire and so far has not burned off... the old one looked rotten at the plug so hopefully that solved it - and it starts easy. What worries me is that I don't seem to have any current coming out of the glow plug control unit while glowing, but hopefully I am just too slow turning the key and putting the meeter on...the cold start lamp still does not work so maybe the control unit has indeed packed up... will see if it keeps on starting... mot next week...
88' 2a 1965, galv chassis, Dorothy Perkins Prima, heavy oil & veg oil, Fairey winch

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Can you hear the relay knocking off, there should be a clunk.

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..yes, can hear the relay clicking after 20secs or so, and I have current to the unit, just can't measure any coming out of it, but maybe thats because it just lights up for a few seconds?
88' 2a 1965, galv chassis, Dorothy Perkins Prima, heavy oil & veg oil, Fairey winch

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Update: Not only the cable but the ballast resistor was burned out, and probably the glow unit and the relay. Got a used glow unit assembly of the bay and it seems to work ok now - no further burn outs so far... still cant get the cold start lamp to work properly but I don't care at the moment. Too many other things went wrong in the meantime... the diesel tank was so rotten that the engine died on me couple of times due to blocked fuel lines/filter. After a lot of tinkering I had to put a new tank in and also put pre-filters in both lines to be able to check how the fuel looks like (could not get all the dirt out of the new tank after putting it in - shitpart did not fit..)... also, two new solenoid valves were needed to get the two-tank system to work again - this works fine now and I actually ran it on veg oil a few times already. Last few days I tried to mend a snapped bolt in a rear hub flange which was leaking and to tighten the steering (no avail yet, feels like the box is shot) ... still lots to do but at least it runs ok now.
88' 2a 1965, galv chassis, Dorothy Perkins Prima, heavy oil & veg oil, Fairey winch