First classic and it's a Stag

[GDPR]

The handbrake should put one of the lights in the cluster on. The big red warning light is all to do with the PDWA (front/back split brake system). It should come on dimly with the ign on but engine not running. Once the engine us running and oil pressure is up, it should only come on if there's a fault in the split brake system.

If it's coming on with the handbrake then it sounds like it's wired incorrectly.

Cheers,
Mike.

Mine is a 77, and the warning light is wired to the handbrake and not the oil light.....

[mjb67]

Oh yeah the owner's manual talks about the difference between dim (test the bulb) and bright (broken brake line). Hmm. It looks pretty bright to me, I'll have to try ignition on, engine stopped, handbrake off to see if there's a difference.

[andy p]

well imo that switch was for your fog lights, mine also had the same switch and fogs before I removed them all

[Goldstar]

Hi Matthew and welcome to the forum, great choice of car and my second favourite colour

The heater valve is probably stuck or the cable has come out of its clips, or both. Relatively simple job to fix a search on heater valve will probably get you plenty of threads to follow for advice. You may have to fabricate a tool to get some leverage on the valve, I used a gate hinge and a bolt from a light switch which worked well for me.

My main advice as another relatively new Stag owner is to get a Repair Ops Manual (ROM - eBay) as the Haynes is ok for some stuff but is missing a lot of procedures that you will probably need to refer to at some point.

Good luck sorting the carbs out, a lot of guys here are v knowledgeable on the Strombergs so you will not be short of advice.

Paul

[Duane Pipe]

Hi Wilf,
I agree. My previous Triumphs (2000, 2500 and 2.5 TC only required a 'tad' of a turn on the carb adjustment and on the SU carbs (of which I am more familiar, it was only half a turn at a time) However my fuel consumption was in single figures so who knows what the settings were. Car is now running fine, starts on the button and fuel consumption much reduced. I had had to strip the carbs for cleaning and had set them up initially as per the manual. All plugs are now a nice shade of 'milk chocolate' so it is difficult to tell what was what. The engine had not been run since October and I know (from previous experience!} that petrol can turn to 'jelly' in the float chambers. Why did I not stay with Minis (20+ owned in all)??
Cheers,
Peter

[mjb67]

Thanks Andy that makes a lot of sense.

Thanks for the advice on the heater valve Goldstar, I think the valve is most likely stuck as the control lever is very stiff.

I think my fuel consumption is very bad (the top quarter of the fuel guage used in about 40 miles) , but I haven't really started measuring it yet - I have a suspicion that there's a little leak somewhere which I will want to fix urgently.

Oh yeah, another thing:

* Excessive steering wheel free play. Not really noticeable while manoeuvering but feels disturbingly light and unresponsive on the straight.

[mjb67]

petrol smell, check pipes on tank and filler neck are all on, failing that check boot floor to see if its wet as the tank might be leaking

As suggested by Andy P, the petrol tank is indeed leaking - there's a tiny hole in the seam between the top and bottom half, half way along the left side as you look at it from the back of the car. I've ordered the POR petrol tank repair kit from Frost.

[andy p]

should have said as I have a tin of POR 15 here that I never used after buying it

[SaskStag]

Here's my extra knob:

Is the top of the throttle pedal correct, or have you been working on it? Where is the the throttle cable clip and spring? Maybe I`m missing something, but I`ve just changed the throttle cable on mine and it was surprisingly easy to do. Note mine is LHD auto
IMG_0410.jpg IMG_0414.jpg
cheers
tanya

ahh, I see the spring now....

[mjb67]

I'm not sure whether it's absolutely right Tanya, I did have a scary moment about 5 mins into my first drive when the pedal went all flappy and the throttle was stuck on. It sorted itself out as soon as I popped open the bonnet though, and the educated guess is that the throttle cable got temporarily dislodged from its clip at the carb end.

I suspect that the current setup of the accelerator pedal is allowing me to push it down past full throttle.

[mjb67]

Jobs done:

* I'm missing the catches on the soft top, so I haven't tried stowing it yet.

New catches fitted. The new ones don't have slotted mounting holes for adjustment, so a bit of filing was required to get one of them to catch properly. I eventually managed to get the soft top stowed after my dad noticed that one of the bits on the top wasn't folding outwards correctly.

* Neither of the door locks work - driver's side won't lock, and passenger side won't unlock from the outside.

Turns out this is why the car came with three keys - two are for the ignition and one is for the door locks. Some lubrication on all the lock mechanisms has freed up the driver's side lock and it now works fine.

* Excessive steering wheel free play. Not really noticeable while manoeuvering but feels disturbingly light and unresponsive on the straight.

It seems a lot better after sorting out the pressure on the front tyres. Tyre guy suggested that the alloy wheels are a bit corroded, making a poor seal, and will want polishing-up when I get new tyres.

New job:

* In the mornings, battery voltage is lurking a hairs-width below 11V, and on a couple of occasions the starter relay has just gone 'click' rather than starting.

[mjb67]

I drained and removed the petrol tank fairly easily. POR cleaner went OK, then in with the POR etcher stuff (Prep & Ready), sloshed around and left it for 24 hours. Then drained and rinsed a few times with hot water. Next day I was going to do the sealant, but had a look inside and powdery flash rust had formed on some of the surfaces - presumably because the etch was insufficient and moisture from the rinse had been left overnight. Since I had no more of the etcher stuff I shook some chain around inside to rub the worst off, then rinsed it out with water, dried using a vacuum cleaner on blow, and poured the sealant in. Rotated the tank around to coat the inner surfaces, drained it out, cleaned the threads on the drain plug with paper towel. Turned the tank upside-down on the theory that if any more of the sealant puddles, it won't affect the tank capacity if it puddles above the level of the bottom of the filler neck. That's where I am now, I've got to leave it 4 days to cure.

I've also painted the outside of the tank with a can of gloss black Rustoleum.

The tank is pretty hard to drain, isn't it? The drain plug is by no means the lowest part of the bottom of the tank, so you have to keep sloshing stuff around to get as much as possible out.

I really hope the sealant holds. Given the amount of time I've spent dealing with what was a fairly tiny hole I'l be very frustrated if I have to splash out for a new tank anyway, and spending what will be over a week without the Stag running with perfect weather is very annoying! One of my colleagues thought that the smell of petrol fumes was just part of the character of a 70s car :-)