Bright sparks

Starting and lighting problems required expert electrical investigation.

- Dougie Rankine

Last month, after a promising start, the Foden lost all its electrics. A wire had broken off a terminal on the starter, but when I put it back on, nothing was working. I wasn’t convinced about some of the other connections at the starter, but when I tried to remove the main nut on the end, the solenoid disintegrated. I was able to order a replacement from Dingbro, which was good news as the starter itself is in good condition.

I fitted the new solenoid, checked the connections on the various wires, but still the truck had no electrics. A bit of messing about with wires (I had one clamped in place with vice grips) and I was able to get the ignition lights on. I could bridge the starter to get the engine to start, so at least we were mobile again! Curiously, no lights were working at all, and I now had an ECAS fault, and an EBS fault coming up on the dash.