Ok every time I think that finaly she's more or less reliable and I can enjoy her as a daily drive I have to go back to basics.

I few days ago it was raining overnight and the car was under the rain, she usualy has little problems starting in the wet but in the morning she just wouldnt start. I was in a hurry and pretty annoyed so I guess I tried too many times, got the battery down a bit. At this point btw the coil and the dizzy seemed to be dry and she had atleast 5hrs in some sunshine and moderate wind to dry out before that.

I recharged the battery overnight, it seems to be fine and is fully charged, I havent strained it enough for the lead plates to be bent . But the car just wouldnt start it turns over perfectly, but when the starter engages it pops out straight away, several times you even get this continuous in and out.

Theres fuel to the carbys and charge to the dizzy, the plugs are clean and the gaps are right, it hasnt rained for the last 3 days.

In the past this sort of thing happened when there was a short on unfused instrument like the rev counter but this time I'm pretty sure the wiring is alright, just to be sure I've disconnected the tacho, and took out the 2 fuses from the fuse box + disconnected the charge to the spotlights which are fused separately. Still nothing.

Any ideas? I'm just about desperate.

OK i had exactly your problem. It was when i connected the new tacho. The two leads that go to your tacho are male AND female bullet connectors. Connect these together to form a loop.
Try starting now.

Thats what fixed mine; turned out my tacho was the AUS make not the UK make which was what the replacement one was supposed to be.


Will.

No no, unfortunately its not so simple. It might be the case depending on where your tacho is wired from but it shouldnt be closing a loop in the ignition. And my car is a round nose so the tacho wiring is non original anyways.

put your fuses back in. Pull off the coil lead and put a spark plug on it and earth it. Turn motor over and check for spark. Then do the same for your plug leads. Make sure the carbon button in the dist cap is not stuck or has fallen out. You have to check the basics, ie fuel and spark and compression. You need all three to work.

Bob

Theres spark, I think you can check the leads including the coil lead just against the block (well I did). The button is fine too, at first I thought it doesnt move far enough, but its a new cap and the button is perfect. The fuel pump is fine too.

I need some one who knows the mini starter system well to tell me what happens when the starter disingages.

I'm pretty sure now that its a short circuit, as I couldnt find anything else. The crack goes fine, the battery is fine, the dizzy is working, I've tried a milion differnt settings on the carbs, but still nothing.

The car was actualy given a basic test by an auto electrician as I was looking at bigger alternators a few days before that, and it was fine.

It virtualy dies everytime the starter engages - as in it spins, the starter engages, dead with that whirring noise. Sometimes you can hear the starter engaging and disingagin several times.
I'm probably describing it absolutely wrong, but I dunno enough about the mini starter.

Any ideas? I'm beyond desperate.

Have you tried clutch-starting it? Sound like the starter could be passed it, or the ring gear or something. I had a problem with mine where the starter worked too well - it kept engaging whilst driving along (made the whirring noise like you describe). As a temporary fix I took the starter motor out completely and drove it 'racing style' by clutch starting it every time. I squirted some WD40 on the starter motor ring gear and put it back in and it hasn't troubled since - but I've no doubt it will and I'll have to change starter motors.

I would look at what Anto said and see if that works, when you cranked the engine over heaps you may have burnt the brushes out in your starter which will give the click of the bendex gear engaging with the ring-gear on your flywheel, but with U/S brushes the main starter won't engage properly and turn the motor correctly, or at all. Other than that I would look at timing and fuel.

Hope that helped!!!

_________________
Andrew
1974 Leyland 998 Clubman S
Red with White roof.
In need of work (Work being done!)
SWEET!!!!

these are my thoughts from another thread, "mini s*it its self". maybe your alternator problem is kinda like mine



a couple months ago i was driving through Auburn at 12am and my engine just died without any sputtering. it was farkn scary, especially in Auburn with low cars done-up sick mate style speeding past and staring

called dad, slung rope around the iron engine cover underneath to the back of the prado and tugged back home. (the thing that pissed me off was even though my car wasnt running, the miles ticked over)

next day called Davo and Stevo, told me to check:

1) take out a lead, shove a screwdriver down it, hold onto the rubber, put the screwdriver shaft near the engine head. start engine. if it sparks then theres something wrong with the fuel system, if no sparks then something wrong with electrics

2) fuel pump if you heard sputtering. (unhook fuel hose just before carby, put a cup under and turn the car over. if fuel flows, then go to next point)

3) take carby out, blow through all channels

4) check wires. a tiny short wire from alternator to dizzy was poorly connected, vibration of car slowly worked its way apart. this fixed everything.

5) open up dizzy cap and clean white chalky shiet where the thing spins around

my engine still turned, but wouldnt fire so 4) fixed it

_________________
Inconspicuously Conspicuous
Appreciation without Depreciation
forever chasing clearer skies...

A faulty condensor inside the dizzy can also give trouble, worth a cupla bucks, just replace it. Have had this fail intermittently ages ago.