Another car, another problem

With both. I have tried with the handle when the electric starter wasn't successful, with no luck. But once (and just once) when everything was cooling down and the engine had been switched off for over an hour, it wouldn't start on the starter, but then I put the handle in and checked the spark off the coil lead as I turned it over (a good spark) and then I reconnected the HT lead and turned the handle round to line up the prongs (?) with the slot in the bumper ready to withdraw the handle, it started. I put this down to more cooling as a result of raising the bonnet. But having started it, I drove home - there is a limit to how long they want cars to sit in a supermarket car park. Yes it would have been nice to switch it off again and see if it restarted, but I didn't dare, in case it didn't.

There is oil in the dashpot. The piston does slide smoothly. I didn't know there was a float chamber breather! Where is it?

Jim

Reply to
Jim Warren
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Little hole in the float chamber cover, I think, though on some SUs (I'm used to Reliant ones) it's a pipe. If that teensy little hole clogs up the heat of the engine can evaporate the petrol, built up pressure and flood the engine. Been there, done that.

Ian

Reply to
Ian

I have just taken the top off the float chamber, the float and needle moved easily and the fuel level inside was about right. But I wish I had read your post before I did that, and then I could have looked at the teensy little hole (I didn't notice it). Because if the pressure floods the engine, then the excess would disappear into the manifold and I wouldn't notice it.

Unfortunately, I have other things to do now, so it will have to wait.

Jim

Reply to
Jim Warren

More than 15 thou, less than 20 (I couldn't be bothered to fiddle with all the very thin feelers!)

One thing that wasn't obvious though was how the engine earths (though I only looked from on top and not from underneath). Is there supposed to be an earth braid from engine block to body?

There obviously is a connection because the starter motor spins and the dynamo charges. A meter shows a resistance of almost exactly 1 ohm from battery terminal to manifold stud, so there obviously is a low resistance path. I just can't see it.

Oh, and for those interested in the battery voltages, the ones I posted before were after fiddling with the starter etc for a fair while, running the battery down.

So I started the engine, ran it for a quarter of an hour at enough revs to get a decent charge out of the dynamo and then measured: With engine running and dynamo charging: 14.1V Ignition off and engine stopped: 13V

I am happy with those readings.

Jim

Reply to
Jim Warren

Hi My guess would be the coil but I am reminded of a similar problem on a Moggie 1000. You set the points correctly but due to wear in the distributor spindle the points gap was erratic. Check the gap in several positions and check the gap when it will not start. It's a long shot but it had me going round in circles. Being pretty tight I averaged the gap in several positions - not for people who are fussy!

Alan

Reply to
Roberts

The car now has a brand new coil, and it hasn't made any difference at all. It is about to get a new set of HT leads, because the ones fitted are too long and wind round each other to use up the slack. So thanks for the distributor wear idea - I can certainly check that out.

The trouble with buying a car you are not familiar with is that it is almost impossible to tell what has been altered unless you can compare it with a known unaltered one. So for some information I am relying on other owners to advise me. And the other thing I wondered was whether there should be something between the exhaust manifold and the carb to protect it from the heat? All the diagrams in the workshop manual start with the assumption that the carb is off the car, so I can't see what the installed state looks like. It just seems to be very close to something very hot, and I wondered if that might affect hot starting. When the engine is running, there will be a cooling draught from the fan over the carb, but there is scope for a vapour lock once the engine stops running. Also, how does air get into the petrol tank to replace the petrol pumped to the carb? Is there a vent pipe, or does air go in around the petrol cap. I ask because it has a replacement cap, and I can't see any vent in it.

Jim

Reply to
Jim Warren

I've been watching this thread with interest - had one or two cars/bikes both ancient and modern that had similar problems.

Here's a thought - run the car until she's warm. Stop, try to re-start - if the fault occurs, try whipping the filler cap off the fuel tank.... If she starts & runs then that's your problem - need a new filler cap..

I had a Golf once that had a similar fault - turned out to be a blocked vent in the filler cap - and the pump couldn't suck petrol through against the vacuum in the tank. Leave it for half a hour and the air found its way back in again and all was well... until the next time...

Nothing to do with the engine heating up - more to do with 'using up petrol' from the tank...

Just had a look at the filler cap on my '64 Traveller (looks like the original cap) and it does have a venting arrnagement biult into the cap. There are two small holes 'inside' the sealing ring - which seem to vent to another larger hole 'outside' the sealing ring. If your replacement cap doesn't have vents then this could be the answer....

Now if somebody could just tell me where the rattle's coming from 'somewhere in the region of the steering column' then I'd be a very happy bunny !

Good luck Adrian

Reply to
Adrian

Not as far as I can see from the pictures in Ray Newell's excellent "Original Morris Minor" book, but those were the days when petrol was proper petrol, not the present benzene-ring rubbish we now get. Midgets certainly had a heat shield.

Yup.

The same book shows a saloon with its petrol cap hanging on its chain, and it clearly has two vent holes on the inside. I've only once come across a car which was trying to evacuate its tank, and there was a distinct "whoosh" when I opened the filler cap. Certainly worth checking, though I'd have expected it to show some signs of petrol starvation before its failure to re-start.

Reply to
Kevin Poole

It's usually possible to cut them - prise open the terminal, remove and remove the 'hook' that goes down the middle. Cut to length, insert the hook and carefully crimp back the connector.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

Thanks for the thought, but I had already fitted the replacements by the time I read this.

Jim

Reply to
Jim Warren

Depends on the type. Some used to have screw-in connectors which were a doddle to change. Unscrew, cut lead, screw back.

Reply to
Steve Firth

That will either be the bushes in the steering column.

The rack needs adjustment on the pinion.

The bush at the other end needs replacing.

r
Reply to
Rob.

Thanks for the reply...

I have a set of the felt bushes for the steering column - guess that's the first / easiest thing to try.....

Now where did I put that box of 'round tuits'

Thanks Adrian

Reply to
Adrian

Weren't they the leads with the copper wire core? I've not seen any of that type for years.

Jim

Reply to
Jim Warren

I could most likely sent you some.

Its taken me over 6 months to pull the motor on the MG, just to lubricate the spigot bush in the flywheel, couldn't drive the thing as it would not allow the gearbox input shaft to disengage, hence couldn't change gear.

That's bloody modern mechanics for you, didn't use any lubricant on the spigot after a gearbox rebuild. (Modern cars usually have a ball bearings in the flywheel.) Fully trained on VW Audi Landrover Volvo Jaguar, but lost the basics.

So I now have a spare tuit.

r
Reply to
Rob.

I had a box-full... but now I can't remember where I put them

Thanks for the offer - anyway....

Trouble with the Traveller is it's now our only car - so somewhat disinclined to do anything that might result in her being off the road.

It's the tourist season out here (such as it is since the suspension of the Swansea-Cork ferry service -

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and so I'm out & about at the open-air markets every weekend, and a couple of big week-long exhibitions coming up also - any 'serious' maintenance jobs will have to wait until September - by which time I'll have mislaid that box of tuits again

What fun!

Adrian - West Cork, Ireland

Reply to
Adrian

You might find simple lubrication insufficient. The old style (1950-60s) spigot bearings were supposed to be left immersed in oil for 24 hours before fitting, because they were slightly porous and absorbed enough oil over that period of time for them to be lubricated for life - or at least for the life of the clutch when the bearing could be renewed as a matter of course at the same time.

I don't know if the modern ones are made of the same stuff, but if they are, just squirting oil on it won't be enough and it will eventually grip the input shaft again.

Jim

Reply to
Jim Warren

It was actually replaced about 6 years a go and lubed up then, when the engine was rebuilt. (They are or were sintered bronze, as in the rear of the Lucas generators.)

What happened to the gearbox was the input shaft and cluster knocked teeth off, so I replaced the parts plus installed better parts of an old box as well, went through the overdrive did modifications so it worked better.

Now my son helped assemble and replace the engine/gearbox as a unit. Hence the problem forgetting the grease on both the spline and the spigot.(new input shaft)

Hint - with the sintered bronze bushes, especially in the generators, before assembly you can pressure oil them. (soaking takes too long unless you have spares lying around)

Place the bush on your thumb, fill with oil, place your index finger on top and squeeze. This forces the oil through the bush, you can visually see it come through. Job done.

r
Reply to
Rob

Thanks for the tip. Saved in case needed.

Jim

Reply to
Jim Warren

Yes, those were the ones.

Reply to
Steve Firth

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