My friends car has is stuck 40 miles away and refuses to start. He thinks the problem is electrical. I am taking him to his car tomorrow and if we can't start it I will tow him home.
If the problem is, as he suspects, an electrical fault on the low tension side of the ignition what would be a safe way of bypassing most of the wiring. For example ... Would it be possible to run a wire from the battery to the coil and then push start it
Seasons Greetings Thanks for your time
Is it a 35 year old Mini or a Bentley Continental? Makes a difference y'know.
Si
"Jim Burton @Eclipse.co.uk>" My friends car has is stuck 40 miles away and refuses to start.
Depends on what the car is. If it was an old moggie minor then yes, if it's something like the latest latest sprots car with whizzy bang electronic gadgetry type ignition then probably no. There is also the question of a ballast resistor or not deep ending on the type of car. Can you put a meter or test light between the coil live and ground to see if voltage is reaching it? Personally my experience is that side of the coil would be the least likely to cause trouble (although I have had that wire break off on the motorway at 1 in the morning). Do check that he hasn't run out of fuel though, it has been known.
Its a TVR ... I'm not sure of the year but its a relatively old one... a 350 Wedge Power plant is a Rover v8 with fuel injection.... that's about all I can remember at the moment
"Jim Burton @Eclipse.co.uk>" My friends car has is stuck 40 miles away and refuses to start.
And the car is wot???
Tim..
Hi Tim ... see post above (its a TVR 350 Wedge... V8 Rover engine)
...snip > And the car is wot???
If it's EFi then I think you're going to be stuck for a while unless it's something as simple as a fuse, obvious bad connection, or the inertia cut-off switch. Does the car have an immobiliser (especially an after-market one)?
Usual tests apply: see if you're getting sparks at the plugs, and with the coil disconnected, see if the plugs get wet from fuel when cranked over a few times.
Good luck!
Darren
Check for a spark. If none, my money would be on the ignition amp mounted on the distributor. I've had several fail on my SD1 with this system. The last replacement I got had a different harness plug which was supplied, but made swapping it a longer job.
Check also the pump is running. You can do this by removing the air filter and opening the flap valve by hand with the engine stopped, but ignition on. You should hear a relay click and the pump start up.
Thanks to all for replying.
Preliminary investigation showed that there was no feed to the coil when ignition was switched on and consequently no HT spark. (Windscreen wipers didn't work either.) There was a live feed to the ignition switch ignition switch which appeared to be working correctly in as much as when the key was turned one of the dead terminals became live Connecting a wire directly from the battery to the coil allowed the HT to work producing a spark at the plugs (also windscreen wipers worked) The engine fired up when dosed with Bradex Easy Start but wouldn't run and the fuel pump didn't appear to be running
Car towed home
Happy New Year to one and all
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