Electrical gremlins

As a new owner of a TR I am ecstatic. However, my first ride reminded me of the gremlins that lurk in these cars after making a quick stop and encountering a heat soaked starter.

With that said, i read through the forums and immediately obtained the CE electric relay that was suggested and wired it in. Considering it was new to me I wanted to set a baseline so I also put in a new battery.

On my first start after the relay install, it started much better with a much louder click than I had heard before. I warmed it up, drove it for a few and then took it back home to test the hot start issues. It didnt start, just lots of loud clicking from the starter that was clearly now getting a lot more power than before.

On that note, I wanted to ask for some reference values as I still havent located the testing parameters and resistance values for many of the electrical bits.

Thus far I have tested the following:
1. The tachometric relay does not appear to be functioning. Energizing it out of the car does not provide any click. Jumping terminals 30 and 87 in the fuse box does not allow it start either, but I do hear the fuel system activating, which doesnt happen with the relay installed. However, with 30 and 87 jumped, I dont get the starter click. With the relay installed I get the starter click but no start. Either way I confirmed it doesnt work in terms of closing the circuit.
2. Flywheel sensors (TDC and speed I believe): both ranged from 725-735 ohms.
3. Thermo time switch: 60 ohms - seems high no?
4. Water temp sensor (behind TTS): 25 kohms
5. Protection relay in black box: Something inside is loose and is rattling around but when I energize it, the switch clicks so it appears functional. I also jumped 30 and 87 on the socket and it did not allow the engine to start. I also tested the other relay next to it that looks like the TTS and it closed when energized.

Does anyone have the manual and page where those values are? I cant search the manual I have downloaded thus far quickly and wanted to get the values of all important sensors, etc to test.

Thanks a lot and I look forward to being a part of the community.

 

Normally its the case but with the TTS issue having occurred at the same time it was hard to fathom that the starter would now have died since it started momentarily prior with no sign of issue or weakness then displayed this. Due to the myriad of other concerns its hard to believe its just one thing well.

 

Steve,
Phenomenal info on the relay. I did triple energize it and got a click but only once.
With that said, I removed the starter from the car and tested it on the bench and there lies the bigger issue.
When connected to a car battery, the voltage drop was from 12.6V to 8V then to 6V at which point it stopped spinning.
It was basically on its last leg and thus the intermittent problems which lacked consistency.
I am going to start with replacing that and hope the rest is ok for now.
It seems Rockauto has a great price on a reman replacement for now, only $212.

 

So new starter installed, battery charged and nothing.....except for the same click click click.....
I jumped the fuel pump relays and they noticeably start priming.
I also performed the starter pin 30 to 15a jump with the motor off, ignition on and do hear a noise but its not the loud whooshing sound I hear when I jump the fuel pump relay. But the relay in the right rear black box does click.

 

Steve,
I have seen those pics before and will attempt. I need to find someone to crank so I can test at the moment.
I just checked the spark wires and #6 is showing 28 kOhms, definitely not a good start.

 

A quick update:
•I have rechecked all plug wires and in general after cleaning some up I obtain from 0.8 kOhms to 2.8 kOhms.
•The coil plug wire to the spring loaded center pin shows about 0.5-0.6 ohms.
•The spark plugs look 'newish' and have a gap of .025
•The cap and rotor doesnt look bad, no oil, no dirt, the same thickness
•I have disconnected all plugs in the bay, cleaned them thoroughly and lubricated them with a conductive metal lubricant for electronics and will let them dry overnight.

 

Steve,
I performed step 4 above for the water/coolant temp sensor and there appears to be an issue.
Testing the ECU connector closer to the front of the car at its 2 and 21 pins I get 7.35 kOhms.
Testing the ECU connector closer to the rear of the car I get OL and then if I move the pins around inside the connector I get an unstable figure around 15 M Ohms.
If I move the connector on top of the sensor while testing the resistance at the ECU connector the values fluctuate so it could be a loose cable.
Thoughts?

 

I just completed the starter 30 to 15A, ignition ON jump test. I did not record 12V at the violet wire up front or at the water thermoswitch.
All I got was a small, fluctuating mV value.
I did confirm that the protection relay is switching, as well as 1 of the small relays during the jump test.
I do hear the fuel pumps and smell fuel when doing this as well.

 

I just checked the water/coolant temp sensor, male pin to brass body and got nearly identical readings, 7.28 kOhms and 20 kOhms respectively.
Thus, its dead.

 

I tested the Thermo Time Switch, each male pin to engine block and obtained the values of 61 Ohms and 1.6 Ohms for each pin.
That appears to most likely be poor as well, no?

 

I replaced the starter entirely.
As for the violet and the thermoswitch, I used a local chassis ground. I re-positioned it a few times but anything is possible. A few of the tests have required re-positioning.
I did not test the 87 terminal on the protection relay, I only felt it for the click.

I am doing all of these with the ignition ON but without the engine running while performing the starter jump from 30 to 15a.

 

ok, I rechecked during the starter jump test. The results on this car are very tough to confirm. The connections need to be cleaned and perfected, as well as quite tight with the multimeter to get a good reading.
Thus, I confirm 12V at the 87 terminal of the protection relay and 12V at the red terminal of the water thermoswitch upon jumping.

It seems as if the water temp sensor is the big issue at the moment.

 

I obtained the new coolant temp sensor and have it installed.
While replacing that I removed the TTS and checked resistance again.
The W terminal shows 1.3 Ohms and the G terminal 61.2 Ohms.
I know W is supposed to be close to 0, is 1.3Ohms poor enough to warrant replacement or to cause poor start issues?

 

Got it.
So everything in the engine compartment seems to check out for the moment, except perhaps the alternator.
With the car parked I am seeing a big drain.
I have performed 2 tests, the series negative battery cable connection, which showed about 2.6A and the test light illumination across the negative terminal.
However, upon pulling every fuse, neither of them show any marked reduction.
The light does not dim and the meter only shows a gradual reduction in amperage as time goes on. Over a few minutes you will watch the drain go from 2.6A to 1.8A, for example.
Have you seen any drain such as this that was not caused by the fuses? Perhaps the alternator diode or some ECU connection?
I did remove all of the ECU connections on the passenger side rear as well but not immediate reduction in amperage.