Hi Folks,
I had a strange Lucas experience: after starting the car, about one minute of idling later, a nice cloud of white Lucas smoke escaped from the ignition switch housing. (at least I think it came from there) I switched off the engine and could hear the starter motor running out - like it was running at very slow speed parallel to the running engine. There was no sound of starter / flywheel engagement - the starter seemed to mill a bit on its own…
After checking with a multimeter I restarted - all ok. Ran the car for one hour with lots of engine starts (my Bentley driving cousin had a try with lightweighs) - everything fine.
Someone ever had that happen?
Anna

I’ve just taken the switch out of my S4, and 2 things come to mind. Firstly, the wires are very close together on the switch, and it would be easy, if the insulation had broken down a little, for something to short across the terminals. Secondly, the back of the switch is very close to the metal heater casing, at least on the S4 where it is positioned higher up the dash than the S2. A factory mod was to insert a piece of rubber between the switch and the heater! This may not be a problem with the S2, but as the back of the dash is very busy, check that you don’t have a stray wire that could short.
I guess that as the switch could be over 40 years old, it’s internals could be very tired also.
Whatever you do, disconnect the battery when the car is not in use, and I’d cerrtainly think about putting in a new switch as a precaution…but check the surrounding area for any nasties.
The S2 I recently bought for restoration had a dash fire, cause unknown, but the centre of the fire was in the area of the switch…BE VERY CAREFUL.
Mark
I recently replaced my ignition switch. No white smoke but it had become intermittent. Pulled it apart and it was just worn out.
Got a replacement from an MG place. They use the same switch in later (Mark II?) MGB’s. Wasn’t expensive.
The early MGBs use the same switch as the Mini which look the same as the Elan but don’t have an accessory position.
Peter
66S2
Anna,
My car came with the steering column locking ignition switch. One modification I made was shortening the steering column. Big improvement however the ignition switch was now half way to the firewall! I could not start the car with the seat belt on so I picked up an ignition switch from a local British car place. They told me it was for a TR-6 as it did have the accessory position as well as off, on, and start. Despite being equiped with a steering column switch, the car came from the factory with the “D” hole in the dash. Installation was tight as the previous listers accurately described. I had to bend all of the male connectors to make it fit. I can now start the car with my seatbelt on! Before binning the switch, you could take it apart to see if it is rebuildable otherwise replacements (MGB, TR-6) should be readily available. I paid US$37.45 for mine. Good luck.