From the Rolls-Royce experimental archive: a quarter of a million communications from Rolls-Royce, 1906 to 1960's. Documents from the Sir Henry Royce Memorial Foundation (SHRMF).
Ignition faults on customer chassis and the issue of non-faulty components being returned for repair.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 37\1\ scan 192 | |
| Date | 8th May 1931 | |
| X3199 Wor.{Arthur Wormald - General Works Manager} from Hs{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair}/LSW. c. Hy.{Tom Haldenby - Plant Engineer} c. Bft/Mr. Brock. Hs{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair}/HSWl/AD18.5.31. X8783 X3199 IGNITION FAULTS ON CUSTOMERS CHASSIS. When a customer's car reported with ignition trouble is examined by our Repair Depots it appears to be invariably the practice to remove units indiscriminately and return them to Derby as faulty. For instance, coils and condensers in particular are returned as faulty but when tested here are found to be O.K. Dealing with ignition coils alone, of 188 coils of various types (not latest type, only 3 of these having been returned) received back here this year as faulty, only 86 were found to be faulty, the remaining 102 being O.K. This becomes an expensive procedure involving freight charges and waste of time each end as well as in some cases causing annoyance to the customer. Apparently there is genuine ignition trouble in these cases but not due to the units sent back as faulty. The trouble may have been cured by (a) Moving some connection or other which was faulty. (b) Cleaning and readjusting plugs and contact points. It will be remembered that on the 20/25, plug point setting is vitally important to avoid misfires on the pick-up. From time to time we have been asked to diagnose ignition trouble of this kind by the Repair Dept. but owing to insufficient evidence and lack of facilities for obtaining a first hand examination of some of the chassis in question, we have been unable to say definitely what the trouble has been. When we had two or three mysterious failures of sequence starter automatic switches we were able, after Cricklewood held up one car for our examination before touching anything, to trace the trouble and prevent further recurrences. | ||