My Car wont start.

spidersonmars

:eek: Can Anyone help? I bought a 1974 Rover p6 2200SC. She ran fine for a number of weeks. About a forthnight ago, during the cold spell things started to go wrong. The Car would not start. I found that the battery was running low so I recharged it. The car starts for about five seconds but then pinks out. I think it could be something I did. When I noticeed that the car needed to be refueled in order to get to the petrol station I put about 5 euro of unleaded in. Now aparantly my car can operate on unleaded but I have lead suppliment. In a moment of stupidity I added a capfull of lead supplement without diluting. I think this is the cause of my car pinking out. Has anyone got advice. Do I keep cranking the starter in order for the supplient to pass through or do I add more petrol in the hope it will dilute to lead supplemen t.

mustang68

Hmmmm... sounds like all of the lead substitute went in, have you tried looking at the carb yet? There are more knowledgeble petrol heads here that can help you.

MercMad

Where did you put the lead substitute ? If in the tank then dont worry !

Those Rovers have SU carbs, I think , and can be problematic starting rom cold !

To be honest the quickest way to start it now is to tow it ! Its possibly flooded and wont clear unless you replace the plugs and fit a properly charged battery !

If you can organise a tow it will go failry easy. Then bring it for a drive until fully warmed up. It'll need to have the carbs looked at to aid cold starting !

spidersonmars

Thanks for the advice. I'm new to the classic scene and plan to do a lot to the car. I put the lead supliment into the tank. When you mean tow is that the same as a bump start?

Dades

I've had problems starting too in the cold.
But I've found these are mainly due to the battery loosing it's charge in the recent freeze (and maybe a battery drain).

My baby uses twin carbs, which though take a little coaxing, spark up alright if the battery is juiced. The longer you leave the car sitting, the more difficult it will be to start up due to both the battery and the carbs. Try and run it as ofter as you can and if you know you can't for a few days, take out the battery and give it a charge while you're at it. (If you don't have a battery charger - get one - they're only €30 or so and are worth their weight in gold).

If you still have probs as MercMad says maybe you need your carbs looked at.
The main thing is to give it a good drive!

mike65

When you mean tow is that the same as a bump start

Yep. Ignition on, second gear, foot on the clutch and let it out at about 20 mph.

Mike.

kyote00

If it was my car (and it usually is ) then I go back to basics and check the following items....

Cars usually wont start for a few reasons....ignition, fuel and compression

a) check the earth connection to the battery is very clean and shiny ..... if you disturbed it when recharging the battery then it might be the problem....

Next step is to check you have fuel, spark and compression......

Spark first:

With car in neutral, remove a spark plug (no 1) and turn the engine on the starter while holding the end of the plug to the engine head (away from any fuel or wires) and see if you get a good spark....

Fuel next:
Check that you are getting fuel into the carb ---- somewhat dangerous but again while in neutral turn the car on the starter with the fuel line into a jam jar....you should get a good flow/spurt of fuel....

Check that any fuel filters are clean and not gunked up....

Assuming you have spark and fuel, next is to check the ignition timing (check you manual for this one).....

Assuming you have spark, fuel and reasonable timing, then a compression test is next

Oldmerc

I started to get that problem with the battery. If I leave it for the week it wouldn't start. Got a trickle charger, problem went away.

junkyard

If its been sitting around for a while you may need to add fresh petrol, the life goes out of it if it in the tank for a long time, clean the points, a new set of plugs and put a drop of petrol down the carbs and a fully charged battery. Also check the fuses that they haven't corroded, clean them up too.

Spit62500

Might be worth checking your choke cable - they stretch over time and can give you starting problems like this because you're only using partial choke. Pull the choke out fully and see if the jet is fully lowered (its easy to see this with most SU carbs). See if the jet will lower any more if you can move the cam (the part that the cable pulls) any more in the same direction.

The other possibility is that you've run the fuel level too low and have drawn up some gunk from the bottom of the tank. If this has happened, the jet may well be blocked and you'll have to take it out and clear it with compressed air.

If you can get it started with a tow (seems like the best suggestion at this stage) and it runs cleanly when warmed up then the jet is probably clear. If you still have running problems then you might want to check it next.

spidersonmars

Thanks, I got her going this morning and have brought her to work...the long way. It seems to be the points that are the problem. I going to replace them and use a sealant.

Thanks for all the help.:D

-x-x-O-x-x-

spidersonmars,

You should think about changing over from points to an electronic ignition system such as lumenition etc - they are not that expensive and they mean that you'll never have to adjust your points again (YAY!!!)

see here for suppliers

PS I think the kit you want is the "Lucas 25D4" - see the fitting kit application list pdf about halfway down the page for info

Alfasudcrazy

I find a common cure with classics that won't start after being left for a while is to give them a few turns (5 or 6) and then leave them for about a half an hour for the petrol to soak into the carbs.
Usually when you go back to them they then start fine.;)

MercMad

The only thing about switching from points to a non factory electronic unit is that if you are stuck in the ar5hole of nowhere ANY mechanic can tweak the points and get you going back to civilisation !

The same cannot be said for any of those electronic kits, and they DO fail !

My '64 Merc has points and always wiil, with a spare pair in the glovebox it can break down in the dessert and I can get it running again !

I find a common cure with classics that won't start after being left for a while is to give them a few turns (5 or 6) and then leave them for about a half an hour for the petrol to soak into the carbs.
Usually when you go back to them they then start fine.

...........whilst the routine may work the explanation is a little off. Petrol cant "soak" into the carbs but an engine that turns over slowly with a poor spark can flood easily, leaving it for a while can allow the excess fuel to evaporate but leave enough mixture there for a quick start !

-x-x-O-x-x-

That's a fair point Mercmad, however - to get round this I just carry a set of points & a condensor in my car tool box! The conversion takes about 3 minutes

Totally worth it IMHO

ds20prefecture

MercMad wrote:

The only thing about switching from points to a non factory electronic unit is that if you are stuck in the ar5hole of nowhere ANY mechanic can tweak the points and get you going back to civilisation !

The same cannot be said for any of those electronic kits, and they DO fail!

While this was and possibly still is true to a limited degree, as time marches on fewer mechanics these days understand how to set up a points/condensors system correctly. For a limited mileage classic I would definitely keep the system original but if you are using the car daily, electronic brings greater reliablity and less need for constant tweaking & timing.

I believe that the principal reason why some types of aftermarket electronic ignition get bad press is that they rely on the mechanical advance mechanisms of the existing distributor while replacing the switching provided by the points to a transistor based system. Hence they are prone to wear and the timing gets knocked out of whack.

Other types replace the whole distributor, and use a pre-programmed advance curve. This means that the distributor (and thus the timing) are not prone to "wear" as they are with a mechanical system. A good example, and one that I have used for the last 40000km is http://www.123ignition.nl If it is available for your car, it is a relatively inexpensive, easy to fit and easily removed upgrade.

Overall, in my book preventing a failure is much better than having the solution to hand, but depending on the car and its usage originality is more important.

adam01

Its possibly flooded and wont clear unless you keep turning the engine over.
but do not put yr foot on the gas or use the choke. it will clear and then start. i had the same problem with my stag . adam;)

MercMad

Well your right therte DS, time does march on and the point you made vabout finding an ol' style mechanic is quite real, hell its hard to find them when you DO have time to look !

There's no doubting the advantages of the electronic sytstems and I guess they will only get better as the costs of using higher quality components drops all the time. In fact the quality of the actual points themselves has dropped in recent years. I suppose the likes of Bosch have bigger fish to fry !