Hopeful of a Fix

[JOE FULTON <piper_pa20@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

My son brought the AMC Spirit (iron duke/auto) back to
me last weekend after putting a couple thousand miles
on it in the Bay Area.  It was gratifying to note that
the engine is still running well, although he said the
rear end was beginning to make some noise.  I'll have
to check that out.

However, the battery would run down quickly if the car
sat for awhile.  He noted that an interior light had
"mysteriously" come on when they went to charge the
battery and said he thought they had not left it on. 
They jump started the car and brought it home to me. 

After letting it sit for several days, I when to start
it and found the battery stone dead.  When a charger
was placed on it there was a mysterious buzzing in the
dash on the left side by the headlight switch.  I
immediately assumed that there was some sort of short
in the headlight switch and installed a new switch.
While I had the dash disassembled, I tried charging
the battery again.  The buzz was still there.

Turns out it was coming from the anti-dieseling relay
found on the Iron Duke cars with A/C.  It's function
is to activate the A/C compressor clutch for a few
seconds after the engine is shut off to ensure that
the engine does not "diesel" or run on.   It took me
awhile to figure out what this device did (and what it
was) but it is explained in the TSM.   Thankfully the
part number was stamped on the relay.

I checked on Partsvoice and found one in WI (part no
3236131).  I hope this cures the problem.  Since the
noise was obviously coming from this device and it
contains a transistor and capacitor, I strongly
suspect this unit.  

End of blog.

Joe Fulton

Salinas, CA