Who the heck is "LUCAS" and why does that word all of a sudden fill me with dread???

Don't sweat it too much - on your 98 Disco the electrics are mostly another company called Rists. If you were to carry anything electrical, a spare ignition amplifier, and maybe some HT leads would be good.

The legend of Lucas, the Prince of Darkness refers mainly to the wiring and components of 60's, 70's and 80's British vehicles made by the Lucas company ( Lucas - Prince of Darkness - Lucas Electrical Humor Jokes ). By the 94 update LR had their act (mostly) together and that era Disco's are pretty good. With the exception of relays to drive headlights, Disco 1's don't seem to have problems except if you go swimming in the car.

Joseph Lucas founded a metalworking company about 1872, with ships lamps among the products. From there it moved into bicycle lights, and by the beginning of the 20th century was making electrical equipment as well. In 1914 it gained a long term contract with Morris, and in 1926 Austin, the same year that they took over their main competitor CAV, although they kept the CAV name until about 1980.

In 1938 they took over Girling, but retained the name. Rotax, also an electrical equipment competitor, was taken over in 1926, the remaining competitor Simms being taken over in 1968. Cross licencing agreements with Delco, Bosch etc. entered into in the 1920s ensured that no other overseas competitor could tread on their turf in Britain. By the 1930s, if you built a car in the UK you had little choice but to use Lucas or build electrical equipment yourself.

Lucas quality and design seems to have gone downhill from the postwar period, with major problems seeming to emerge along with the centralising of the British motor industry as it was conglomerated by Leyland from the 1960s onward - at least partly this is Leyland's fault not Lucas, as they tried to push manufacturing costs down, with no effective competition. As with Leyland, militant union action and incompetent management combined to ensure the demise of the company.

Lucas as a company appears to have folded in 1996.

John

I recall dismantling a 1980 RRC alternator with a failed bearing many years ago.
The bearing was made in Yugoslavia.

Now Czechoslovakia (then) was well know for bearings but Yugoslavia????

It looked like BL had insisted on the cheapest cheapest crap that could be found, and this on a premium priced car.

As we all know the alternator is the seat of all LUCAS evil and where they initially inject the smoke.

Regards Philip A

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...15/01/1032.jpg
carry one of these with you at all times!

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Originally Posted by mike 90 RR

:D ...... Thats what the cartons for ...... :D

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gota have something to drink while your waighting for a tow

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Originally Posted by jazzaD1

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...15/01/1032.jpg
carry one of these with you at all times!

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That must be a superceded part, I could not find the part number.:p:p:p:p:p The stealership did have some TD5 injector loom oil in a can, he advised to carry it in case of emergencies:p