Hi all.
As you can see I have plenty of time on my hands so I thought I would pass on an experience to all bush mechanics and bush auto sparkies in case you experience this problem.
Some years ago I towed a trailer sailer yacht from W.A. to the Whitsundays for my holidays, Ahhhh them were the days!
My vehicle at the time a 6 Cyl petrol Toyota FJ45 with a gas conversion as a second fuel system.
Back to the narrative.
As I was pulling in to a Servo in small country town in NSW I noticed that the air-conditioner fan appeared to be working in conjunction with the amount of revs of the motor.
Strange but gave it no thought. I refuelled and tried to start the motor.
All I got was a very, very slow laborious cranking! Out came the multi meter. 13 plus volts. I tried bypassing every thing I could think of. While under the bonnet I even checked power the the coil and the Dizzy, all OK
I connected a jumper lead direct from the battery to the starter, some success as the motor turned over a smiggion faster but would not fire. Even if it did get it to fire up I could not risk travelling in this handicapped manner.
I even took the battery leads off cleaned the terminals and poles, still no joy.
I swallowed my pride and called out an Auto sparky. I told him what I had done by way of
first aid. He consoled me by telling me that I had done all his checks for him and the was only one thing left to do.
Wait for it...........I should have remembered this as I had the same problem with my EH Holden 20 odd years before!
He took out his pliers and cut off the battery lead terminals, replaced them with new ones and Bob's your uncle! I worked like a charm.
The entire problem was caused by UNSEEN CORROSION within the actual terminals.
And there you have it, simple. When all else fails, look to the actual battery terminals.
I hope this little saga helps someone some day. :)
Regards