She won't turn over!!

[bigease]

I went to start my Minor this morning and nothing!

The battery is fine, and she was running fine when I cam home in her last night, but this morning when I turn the key all lights are up and bright, and pulling the starter does nothing! If I put the starter handle on the front it is jammed solid and will not move even a little bit.

This would seem to indicate to me that there is something mechanically jamming the engine, and although I am getting better at the mechanical stuff I am not sure where I should start. Is it possible that this has been caused by the starter motor jamming? There is no sign of loss of oil, I have just done an oil change and the levels look alright.

Any pointers you lovely people can give me would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers

John

P.S. She is a 1958 saloon with the original 948cc engine, and was running lovely yesterday.

[chesney]

It is possible the starter's stuck in, try rocking the car gently in second gear to see if that shifts it.

[chickenjohn]

Check the obvious first, is the car in gear?? In which case you won't turn it on the starting handle.

After that, did you run out of water and seize the engine?? The main indicator of this is pinking all the time from the engine when it was last running.

Try bridging the contacts of the solenoid with an insulated screwdriver.

Other than no oil and no water it is unlikely an A series engine will just seize up like that with no warning.

[bmcecosse]

Pretty much as the others have mentioned - try to rock the car in gear - handbrake OFF, IGN OFF, and car on a level surface of course. Then try again with the starting handle... You must get it turning on the handle before trying again with the starter.. You can also free the starter by turning the little square on the end with a spanner - it should turn easily. If still no go - take all the plugs out - does the engine turn on the handle now?

[bigease]

Thanks for the input gents. As it is the wife's birthday today I will have to wait a day of so to try your suggestions. I'll report back later in the weekend.

John

[bmcecosse]

Leave her in peace to enjoy her Bday, while you fix the Minor !

[bigease]

Sorry to be slow on the feedback. It was a week before the opportunity arose to take a look....

Under your advise I put her in second and gently rocked her, after around 30 seconds there was an audible ping and the engine freed up. I guess it must be the starter so I will have that off and give it a good clean. She starts and runs fine now, so thanks for all your advise.

Cheers

John

[bmcecosse]

Inspect the Bendix carefully for any cracks in the casing. Clean it well and degrease - then add NO lubricant! Some will say to rub with a pencil lead /graphite powder stuff like that - but I can't see that lasting more than a couple of starts anyway!

[bigease]

Thanks for that.

Matches what I did

It looks in pretty good order, but a bit dirty, so I used some degreaser and gave it a good clean. Then reassembled with NO lubricant at all. I hadn't heard of the graphite thing before, but like you can't see it lasting.

Cheers