Yes, you're right about that. Usually, the nichrome wire from which they are made is very durable, and permanently spot welded to the electrical tab on the end, what loosens up is the screw receiving threaded part, but it can indeed develop some crud that can foul up the resistance. Since we're dealing with less than an Ohm here, very little crud can cause a big change. Note that I made another of my all too common errors regarding starting woes caused by ballast resistors. As Bob Merritt pointed out, a bad one will cause the car to fail to start in 1956. Mea Culpa! Dick -----Original Message----- From: mailing-list-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:mailing-list-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Eric Sent: Wednesday, June 01, 2005 10:31 PM To: mailing-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: IML: Ballast Resistors It's been my experience that the terminal connectors start to fit more loosely than they should after 30-40 years of use. I take a small metal pick to release the holding tab inside the female connector to remove the plastic terminal holder, recrimp the rolled sides of the terminal connector, and then brighten up the male connector tab on the ballast resistor. This tightens the connectors and while not I'm not an electrical engineer, it seems logical that this keeps the ballast resistor's rated resistance true. I'm thinking that loosened connectors increase the resistance. Can any EE's confirm this theory? The only other way that these ballasts would fail is if the resistance wire breaks in two, to my knowledge. Eric Portland, Oregon ___________________________________________________________________ --- [This E-mail scanned for viruses by Declude Virus] ----------------- http://www.imperialclub.com ----------------- This message was sent to you by the Imperial Mailing List. Please reply to mailing-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx and your response will be shared with everyone. Private messages (and attachments) for the Administrators should be sent to webmaster@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx To UN-SUBSCRIBE, go to http://imperialclub.com/unsubscribe.htm