[DaimLan] Daimler V8 250 Saloon

I had two wires that had melted together in the console/dash. The
car has 2 fuses - 1 35amp and 1 50amp. The 50amp fuse appears to
have blown. I replaced it with a spare 35amp (50 not avail. in
Canada). Wipers, lights, work but fuel, oil, and water gauges do
not. Does anyone know if this is because it must have a 50amp fuse
or is it a deeper problem. Do the MKII Jags also have 2 fuses? - is
one of them a 50amp. Also, has anyone heard of a voltage
stabilizer (regulator)? What is the cause of the melting wires?–
Mr. T.
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Hi Mr. T: Best I can tell from comparing my MK2 with my Daimler,
electrically they are the same. The only differences I can detect is in the wiring
harness up under the bonnet–
the dist. and coil are at the back of the engine, the oil and temp. senders
are in different places, as is the generator. Inside the car, the rear
interior light is different from MK2, but I think that is about it.
When the wires inside the dash of my Daimler shorted out, the car caught
on fire, so you are lucky that all you experienced is general elct. failure.
But, the different fuse size will not be keeping your fuel pump from working.
You most likely have either a burned through wire or a corroded connection.
My wires shorted out inside the dash, just above the shifter and below
the wooden dash cap. (mine is a left hand drive car). After I took things
apart, discovered that either the metal choke cable (or maybe a heater cable, do
not recall which) had been rubbing against one of the large unfused cables from
the generator into the instrument panel. While there were no flames, there
was a lot of smoke from smouldering cloth insulation on the wires and the jute
material up inside the dash. I had lent the car to a friend to drive his
sister’s wedding. He first tried to put the fire out by disconnecting the
battery- continued smoking. Next, he used a dry chemical fire extinguisher. This
did not stop the smouldering either. He next used a garden hose. Of couse,
this put out the smouldering, but the combination of chemical and water is BAD
NEWS. It is very caustic, and the wet chemical destroyed any bare metal it
touched. I had to replace all switches, instruments, and other elect.
components. As I got the chemical off pretty quickly, it did not do any damage to
painted surfaces, or to my leather or wood. While not all wiring was ruined, I
went ahead and put in a new main wiring harness. A lot of work, but well worth
the effort, as it all looks very nice, but everything on the car now works–
which is not the case prior to the short circuit, what with bad connectors,
frayed wires, etc. As I could not get a Daimler harness in the US, particularly
one for a lhd car, I went ahead and used a lhd MK2 harness. Only changes was
as noted above- I modified the harness for the location of the coil and
distributor. The other unique locations took some planning, but no major changes.

All is well now, and insurance paid for all the damaged parts, so all in 

all, other than my time in doing the work, my car is much better in the long
run. Do caution everyone, though, not to use a dry chemical extinguisher
around your cars. Get either a CO2 extinguisher or whatever they use to replace
the Halon extinguishers. Once the dry chemical in a home or office type of
extinguisher gets wet around bare metal, the metal is history.
Regards, Bob McAnelly

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In reply to a message from Jagdad11@aol.com sent Wed 24 May 2006:

Elec circuits are not my strong point, but it seems (a) the oil,
water and fuel gaues are off the 50amp fuse not the 35amp and (b)
the live wire goes to these gauges from the lighting switch rather
than direct from the fuse and the wire goes through an instrument
voltage stabiliser before feeding the three gauges.

Try looking at wires connected to the lighting switch that may have
been involved with or close to the short.

John W–
JLW
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I had two wires that had melted together in the console/dash. The
car has 2 fuses - 1 35amp and 1 50amp. The 50amp fuse appears to
have blown. I replaced it with a spare 35amp (50 not avail. in
Canada). Wipers, lights, work but fuel, oil, and water gauges do
not. Does anyone know if this is because it must have a 50amp fuse
or is it a deeper problem. Do the MKII Jags also have 2 fuses? - is
one of them a 50amp. Also, has anyone heard of a voltage
stabilizer (regulator)? What is the cause of the melting wires?

The voltage regulator is a flatish metal package with a paxolin front
with two or three terminals. This is behind the instrument panel and
feeds a constant ten volts to the fuel gauge and one other, probably
oil pressure but I’m not 100% sure. Its purpose is to prevent the
gauges showing higher readings when the alternator is producing
a higher voltage with higher engine revs.

I think you will find that you have two gauges failed not three, and
that
either the regulator has failed due to the short circuit, or the
wiring has
been damaged.

If it was me, I would check the regulator by making sure the feed is
at battery voltage, if not then fix that wiring. If it is OK then
disconnect the load, i.e. is the two instruments and check if there is
about ten volts between the regulator output terminal and earth.
If it is full battery voltage or ground voltage then it is knackered.

To check the fuel gauge itself I would bypass the regulator
and connect it direct to the feed and switch on (but don’t start the
engine as you do not want too high a voltage).

The oil gauge is more difficult - you do not want to start the engine,
but without it you won’t get a reading. Concentrate on the fuel
gauge and the oil gauge will probably be fixed at the same time.

Roger Holmes
1969 V8-250, owned by my father and I since 1970.

[Commercial use of subscribers e-mail addresses prohibited.]On 24 May, 2006, at 17:46, Mr. T. wrote:

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In reply to a message from Mr. T. sent Wed 24 May 2006:

HI Mr.T. The 35 amp fuse you used is equivalent to the old 

british 50 amp unit.—Fwiw-GNB–
The original message included these comments:

I had two wires that had melted together in the console/dash. The
car has 2 fuses - 1 35amp and 1 50amp. The 50amp fuse appears to
have blown. I replaced it with a spare 35amp (50 not avail. in
Canada). Wipers, lights, work but fuel, oil, and water gauges do


DAIMLER : V8 SALOONS SAFELY FAST AND BUILT TO LAST
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In reply to a message from Mr. T. sent Wed 24 May 2006:

I cannot seem to locate the voltage regulator. Is it in the
instrument panel in the car or in the engine bay. I am not
technical at all - as you may have noticed. What exactly does it
look like? Any help greatly appreciated!!!–
Mr. T.
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In reply to a message from Mr. T. sent Tue 30 May 2006:

HI MR T, I think you are refering to the voltage stabilizer.
This item is located on the back side of the drop down shelf.It is
mounted on the right hand side near the front. It is a small
bathtub shaped device that has green wires attached to it.–Hope
this helps you out.—GNB–
The original message included these comments:

I cannot seem to locate the voltage regulator. Is it in the
instrument panel in the car or in the engine bay. I am not
technical at all - as you may have noticed. What exactly does it
look like? Any help greatly appreciated!!!


DAIMLER : V8 SALOONS SAFELY FAST AND BUILT TO LAST
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