Ignition Woes

[Josh]

Gave the car a quick splash at Bodywash last night. Couldn't get it started initially to move it out of the bay when I was done so I just pushed the little critter out into the public carpark where I always chamois it dry.

After about 5 minutes I kicked the engine over again and it started running fine. I left it running while I chamoised down the rest of the vehicle so than anywhere else with water where it shouldn't be would dry out from the heat of the engine.

About 2 minutes after I started it the engine stopped dead in it's tracks. Refused to start again, even when I left it a couple of hours and returned with a bit of Inox to give the dizzy a quick hit and a pen light to check for blown fuses just in case. It was too cold, too dark and too moist to do anything about it so I parked it up and left it for the night.

Ugh... I'm going back now. Cross fingers for me.

[Brayden]

Check the points - I've found that the GT coil is murder on them.

[Josh]

Same here.

I went right through the ignition system with Colin on the phone today.
After cleaning the points and cap, there was a good spark present at the points and at the coil.

The engine still won't start, but Colin and I suspect that the engine's been well and truly flooded by now. The battery is really tired after all the cranking over in the past 24 hours so I've left it for later tonight when a mate gets off work and I jumper off his car and give the engine a good cranking over.

[Josh]

Alright...

I've excercised a great degree of humility and patience with regard to this matter, but now I have the shits.

With jumper leads from my mate's Laser firmly attached we cranked and cranked and cranked until the residents in the area started to turn on house lights. I carefully removed each and every plug, cleaned and tested each individually - on their corresponding leads to ensure nothing was missed.

I have a good, strong spark at every plug without fail.

Sure enough, the plugs appeared wet and reeked of petrol upon removal, so we cranked the engine for 30 - 60 secs without any choke and the throttle wide open and were still after that time unable to perceive even the tiniest pop of ignition. What the feck is going on??

At least we were able to whip out the ye olde steel tow cable and do a discreet home tow job back to my place without any authorities becoming involved. The poor baby's now sleeping in the safety of her shed where the local goons cannot harm her.

[fritz]

Did you try to crank the engine without the plugs in?
That worked for me with my two stroke go-kart, but I think you need to make sure that all the plugs are grounded to prevent you from stuffing up the electrics?

[Josh]

And so the saga continues...

I replaced the condenser this morning, and crimped the fuel line as per Colin's advice and cranked the engine over until it fired and used the remaining fuel in the carby... OK!

Uncrimped the fuel line and cranked the engine until it start again and then ran for a few minutes at mid-high revs. That worked a treat. All was well in the world again!

... until it stalled.

crank-crank-crank-crank-crank-crank-crank-crank-crank-crank-nothing.

Pulled out cylinder 1's spark plug to get some idea of the state of affairs in the combustion chamber and it looked perfect! Grounded it and cranked the engine over with the plug exposed and... no spark.

Feck it. Feck it up that tiny pea shooter exhaust.

Time for lunch.

[evilgidget]

What brand of points are you using? i've had chronic problems with almost all types i've tried, with the exception of the Echlin ones with the vented contacts. What seems to happen is either the lead breaks, or the crimped contacts are just poor. Will go intermittent, either producing misfire, or just dies completely. Also check the contacts on the lead between the coil & points, just in case.

[Josh]

Spent a good hour under the hood this morning with a mate handy to turn the keys for me and keep charge up to my battery via a set of jumper leads. Eventually traced the problem back to the venerable Bosch GT40R transformer. It appears it has an intermittent fault, which I've temporarily remedied by re-fitting the old oil-filled OEM coil.

Over the next week and a bit I'll clean the GT40R up and dry it out over the heater. Will try and re-fit it next weekend and see how we go.

Sufficed to say, if after drying it right out it proves to have cooked itself, I'll be less than impressed, especially given the lengths I usually go to when ensuring I DON'T wet ignition components when cleaning the engine bay. Let this be a word of warning to us all...

[Colin]

you drownd it at the car wash (mean bastard) give it mouth to mouth and get the water out of it

[Josh]

[mblover]

I have had this argument with a mechanic mate of mine lots of times I hate engine bays being hosed down I have had to go to lots of breakdowns where people have washed engines and wet the motor.my mate always said he's never had a problem until he washed a falcon down and wet the coil,no go.

[Josh]

If only solvent-based cleaners didn't eat the paint!

[rdooey]

i wash my engine with a karcher high pressure washer.but before i do,i spray water dispersant[wd40 or rp7 or like]in the distributor,HT lead conectors,coil & plugs.when i have finished washing,i blow all the connectors & distribuor out with compressed air,then spray with water dispersant again.never have any trouble starting again.