and you thought Audi electrics were odd

[Phil Payne]

> And I own an MG and 2 Audis... I have heard of this electrical fault
before.
> There is another good one involving the parking brake. Basically, if
the MGB
> is off (no key in ignition, etc), and you pull up the handbrake, the
car
> will start. Something to do with a voltage regulator if I remember
> correctly. Another Lucas wonder...

I worked with the Lucas development engineers in the late 1960s.  They
were designing a range of alternators and I was enamelling the wire
they were winding into the coils.  Lost of issues, especially with
lubricating the wire so it would withstand the treatment it got on the
way into the product.

Believe me - Lucas engineers are a seriously maligned group.  There's
nothing wrong with their products at all - I would take many of them
over Bosch, for instance.

The problem is at the interface between Lucas' sales team and the
British car manufacturer.  You will note that the former is still in
business - not the latter.  At the time, Lucas was exporting heavily
and you never hear of Lucas products contributing to French or German
vehicles' unreliability.  Same with trucks, where Lucas was the market
leader.

The problem was chronic underspecification by a limited number of
manufacturers.  When told they needed a 40A unit for a particular
vehicle, they would try and stretch a 30A unit.  Or they would add
electrical load and keep the same alternator to save money - this
happened numerous times with heated rear windscreens, a novelty at the
time.  And fog lights.

If you've got a car with a Lucas alternator, just try adding up the
maximum load and seeing what the Lucas plate on the alternator
actually says.

And we drink our beer at the same temperature that we drink red wine,
for the same reason - we like to taste it.  American beer is drunk
below 4 degrees Celcius because human taste buds cease to function at
5 degrees.  Our beer tastes good warm or cold - try yours warm.

--
  Phil Payne
  http://www.isham-research.com/quattro
  +44 7785 302 803
  +49 173 6242039