Magneto Question

[ROBERTHOOPS]

Yesterday I drove my ’22 roadster out of my barn and under my carport to wash it. The car started right up, and the engine sped up when I switched it to mag as it always did. After washing the car, when starting it, the engine coughed and it made a bang/clank noise before starting. When I switched it to mag, the magneto was dead, so I drove the car back to the barn and parked it. I believe that it flung a magnet but would like some suggestions as how to determine that is what happened.

Thanks in advance, Robert

[John kuehn]

Remove the transmission cover and see if you see anything loose or broken. Have you tried to slowly turn the crank, key off off of course, and see if you hear anything clanking or etc?
It may or may not be a magnet but could be anything at this point.

If your certain it’s something in the transmission area you need to remove the transmission cover to see what happened. It could have damaged the mag ring also if it something got loose.

[dhosh]

Have you checked your coil box for dampness/leaks?

That bang klank sounds scary to me, though! Yep... Jack up the rear end, open the trans inspection plate, and have someone slowly hand crank (with the key off, and out of the ingition) the engine while you look for missing or broken bits.... And more noise!

[kmatt2]

Robert, By the way you drscribe this incident it is like your 22 Rd has electric start. Does the starter still crank the engine over ? Have key off incase it is a broken magnet. If no crank you may have broken the starter drive and damaged the mag field coil. Before you check the magnets looking threw the inspection cover as others described remove the starter drive and then the starter. Now in addition to checking the mag threw the inspection cover you can check the mag and the part of the field at the starter. If you find a damaged magnet you'll have to remove the engine and take it apart and be glad you caught it before the big bang.

[ROBERTHOOPS]

Thanks to all of you. I appreciate your thoughts.
When the engine made the noise, I stopped it, then restarted it and discovered that the mag was not working. Then I drove it from the carport to the barn, about 150 feet. When I got there, I stopped and started the engine 2 or three times to see if the mag was still not working. It didn’t work and there were no unusual noises.
I plan to remove the inspection cover and look in there with my inspection camera to see if I can find anything. If I don’t, I’ll remove the starter and see if I can find anything that way.
I’m 86 years old and getting slow doing things. I probably won’t be able to get to this until next weekend or so.
Thanks again for your help and any more ideas will also be appreciated.
Robert

[Oldav8tor]

Robert - 86 eh? At least you are still doing! Many people younger than you have already given up the fight so you have my respect. I hope your inspection turns out well but regardless, the best of luck!

[ROBERTHOOPS]

I couldn’t be happier. I finally got back to the car, planning to figure out what the problem was. I decided to start it and drive it to the carport which is in front of my workshop. It was a bit cold, but it started right up. When I switched it to mag, it ran as it should. I thought that the bang/clank noise was not a backfire so I’m still a bit concerned about it. I’m guessing that perhaps something got wet when I washed the car but don’t understand that noise.

Thanks again for your help.

Robert

[R.V.Anderson]

I heard a noise like that as I was going down the road in my late Dad's unrestored '23 coupe. The engine didn't miss a beat and it was still driving fine. When I got back to my shop I found that the fan had shucked a blade. Common with the early riveted fan but unusual for the late style. There was no excess vibration from it; the fan was spinning 'round merrily as ever. The blade kissed the inside of the new radiator's fins but didn't puncture anything.