Morris Minor Owners Club

kennatt wrote:,I see you have cleaned the points,without trying to be condecending,did you put them back correctly,its easy to misplace the small insulator and thereby making a direct earth in the points this would prevent the coil from working.

Hi it's a bit cold to be spending time in the garage today but I fitted new points yesterday and again tested power to the dizzy - there appears to be some via the black/white feed wire. Can you just confirm exactly what insulator you mean and where it should be?

Probably the little top hat type insulator at the points. Forget about ignition switch etc -run a wire direct from battery to coil + terminal - and a wire from the - terminal to the dizzy. Also a wire direct from battery to fuel pump. Now - does the pump tick? Does the dizzy produce sparks???

Hi Roy, since my last post I have also checked wiring to ignition switch and polarity of dynamo (long shot!). I also replaced points and both insulators are fitted and gapped as they should be. I'll do some more direct wiring tests as you suggest tomorrow morning.

Ok as usual some steps forward some back.

As BMC suggested I took new wire from positive battery terminal to positive terminal on the coil and a new wire from negative coil terminal to the dizzy. On turning the ignition key I got lovely healthy sparks at the points and through to the spark plugs. But, every time I made or broke a connection at coil or dizzy with these new wires I got a single spark at the terminal.

Just for good measure, the dizzy terminal broke off - it had clearly been bent about in the past so I guess it was always going to fail eventually.

I also took a wire direct from battery to the fuel pump - it appears to be as dead as a dodo.

what should I do next?

That's perfectly correct then - the condenser charges up and when you take the wire off - it discharges back through the coil - hence the single spark. As for the pump - you need to clean the points and get it working. Meantime you could of course pour a good egg cup of petrol down the carb and crank the engine. It should start and run for a few seconds.....

I'm relieved there's nothing wrong with the coil Any idea where the fault might be with the normal wiring? Have cleaned the fuel pump contacts but still no joy there.

Maybe it's seized...probably need to do a strip down. All shown in the workshop manual.

bmcecosse wrote:Maybe it's seized...probably need to do a strip down. All shown in the workshop manual.

Yes probably, what a pain. For sake of time I'll probably fit a new one then strip down the old one and keep as a spare. Still don't understand what's up with the original ignition and pump wiring though.

Worry about that later - get it running first.

if with power to the pump,when you pull the pipe off the carb does it pump petrol through,obviously into a container,

No pumping at all unfortunately.

I have managed to find the two toggle switches I mentioned earlier in this thread that had both been originally situated under the dash.

One switch has two cream wires - one with original pump eye terminal on the end, the other wire seems to have gone to a soldered joint on the original pump feed on the loom. Simple then.

The other switch has heavier gauge blue wiring - one wire earthed through the dashboard, the other wire with an old bullet connector. I need to find out where on earth in the loom that fits!

The first is obviously a fuel pump kill switch. The second MAY have been connected to the horn (and it's feed switched through the Ign) so whenever the Ign was switched on -the horn would blare!

bmcecosse wrote:The first is obviously a fuel pump kill switch. The second MAY have been connected to the horn (and it's feed switched through the Ign) so whenever the Ign was switched on -the horn would blare!

I think I like the sound of that!

ahh,so it did have a hidden switch,as a suggested,I have one on mine and I accasionally forget it and after a long off the road,takes a bit of head scratching when it refuses to start. Untill the light comes on.

kennatt wrote:ahh,so it did have a hidden switch,as a suggested,I have one on mine and I accasionally forget it and after a long off the road,takes a bit of head scratching when it refuses to start. Untill the light comes on.

yes the switches and wires were in a box of bits. Doesn't explain why wiring is still dodgy but I was pleased to see sparks at the plugs over the weekend. I'm sure I will trace the fault eventually.

Encouraging sign - new fuel pump ticking over rapidly connected to original wiring and key at position 2, but no fuel being drawn through it yet - I've got 5 litres in tank maybe I need a bit more?

I the pick up pipe inside the tank has rotted out - yes! Normally it would feed on 5 litres - if sitting level. If you put your ear to the tank filler - can you hear it sucking??

It now has 10 litres of fuel Roy should i have filler cap off to hear it suck or should I try to hear where tank to carb pipe attaches to tank?

I also tried pouring a small amount of fuel directly into where pump to carb pipe joins the carb. Still nothing,

what should I try next?

Filler cap off - ear directly on the pipe. Perhaps not tonight now........

Is the tank to pump joint fitted properly,if not it could be just sucking air and not drawing fuel.