Morris Minor Owners Club

OK, I'll give that a go later today... Just to clarify, how do I flick the points? By hand or using pliers? Apologies for my ignorance!

With a screw driver normally.
The points need to be closed, then just open them with the 'driver.

Or turn the engine on the handle....

Another way to test the HT side of the coil is to remove the king lead from the distributor, using a well insulated set of pliers, hold the lead about a 1/8 away from the cylinder head, turn the engine over on the starter and do you get a nice new fat blue spark across the gap?
If not then its time to try a replacement coil, if you do get a good spark check through the components of the ignition one by one until you get a good spark at the plugs.

^^Which is exactly what we have been suggesting......

bmcecosse wrote:^^Which is exactly what we have been suggesting......

Yes I know, I did read the thread from the begining. I was just trying to offer a simplistic explanation of how to get to the bottom of a potential ignition problem as suggestions are offered but the O/P is no further forward with finding a solution. It seems that when a solution is given, more questions are asked.

Richard, what a great name, Trickydicky

Your test method is a lot simpler than what I suggested.

Lets hope this car & Motown soon gets what they deserve " nice day's out without hassle"

Roy.

I'm only asking further questions to clarify what I'm being advised to do, I understood the coil test instructions from yesterday/ this morning but hadn't had the chance to try until a couple of hours ago...
There is a spark from the coil lead but still nothing at the plugs. I've checked the connections at the cap and everything seems sound - the leads are fully butted in and screwed down tight. Is there anything that can be done to improve the connections in the cap?

I am currently in the same boat as you with a non-starter.

New cap and/or rotor arm. It's most likey to be useless rotor arm.......assuming of course that the HT leads are connected to the plugs in correct order.

Oh dear, JowettJavelin, hope you get yours sorted soon!

bmcecosse - the cap is brand new, as is the rotor arm - should I get another of each just in case?

motown_junk wrote:Oh dear, JowettJavelin, hope you get yours sorted soon!

So do I!

There is nothing more infuriating than a car that won't start after everything has been checked several times. I reckon rotor arm too for my situation (no point you buying another brand new one) - it's the least I can think of as there isn't even a cough or splutter of life.

With fuel and a spark there MUST be some explosion (hopefully in the combustion chambers) - it's just getting the spark in the first place and at the right time.

@ motown... Sure the rotor is the correct one for the cap - and it 'could' be faulty. Is the carbon brush present in the cap? Are you SURE you have the correct HT lead on #1 plug, and the others then following round 1342 anticlock around the dizzy cap?

Apologies if I have missed it. Have you changed the condenser yet? If so then have you connected the wires correctly so they are not shorting?

He reports a spark on the king lead........

The dizzy in your photo is a side entry cap which is designed for copper cored HT leads.
The leads you have installed may have carbon impregnated cotton cores and may not be a satisfactory fit.
They won't give a solid enough connection, inside of the cap where the screw passes through the HT lead.
If you want to stick with the side entry cap, you will have to use copper cored leads, with screw on resistors that fit onto the spark plugs.

Don't give up your winning.
Roy.

^^^^ Not so - carbon string HT leads are perfectly ok with side entry cap - used them like that for many years. You do need to make sure the leads are fully seated in the cap before tightening the screws.

bmcecosse wrote:He reports a spark on the king lead........

*she

re: HT leads - the set I removed were carbon core, so I replaced like for like. I'll check the seating again and the order later this morning.

All the new bits I've got have come from ESM and I did double check that they're the right ones.

Just a quick update - still no joy but haven't had much time to give everything a proper look over. Hopefully the coming bank holiday weekend will yield some results.

Best of luck this long weekend, If I were you I would write a little check list the double check the simple things that you may have overlooked or accidentally put back wrong.
However you must get a spark to the plug which is probably "driving"(you wish) you up the wall.

Keep in touch and fingers crossed.
Roy.