Very hard starting my morris after storage

[ron77]

I have a Morris that has been laid up for the winter....I left a full tank with fuel preservative, and took out the plugs and sprayed some gear oil in and sealed the holes with a moisture absorbing set of plugs. I got it started again but only with a great deal of trouble. it runs VERY rough (chugs and misses) until it reaches operating temperature, then it is fine. This has happened every time for the past week. Could it be the fuel preservative? I still have a relatively full tank of the original petrol, and have cleaned and re-gapped the plugs. Have done nothing with the dizzy or points.

Any thoughts about why the very hard start/rough warm up until operating temp? I did not have the same problem a year earlier.

[Stig]

I've no idea about fuel preservatives as I've never tried them, but I suggest you try cleaning the points. I often had trouble starting my Sprite after a lay-up and found the points seemed to get surface corrosion or something which increased the resistance. Since changing it to electronic ignition it's not been a problem, though I did have to flush the carbs through to get rid of the gummy petrol this year.

A warm engine is more tolerant of poor sparks than a cold one. Does it run OK under load?

[chickenjohn]

On standing you can also get corrosion build up on the distributor cap contacts. Take the dizzy cap off and scrape the four contacts with a blunt screwdrives or coin to remove the white corrosion. Car will now run a lot better!

[bmcecosse]

Never heard of 'fuel preservative' - what is it ?? But could well be 'old' fuel - only way to find out will be to try some 'new' fuel! Also worth checking the SU carb - is the piston free to rise and fall ok ?

[Kevin]

I have a Morris that has been laid up for the winter....I left a full tank with fuel preservative, and took out the plugs and sprayed some gear oil in and sealed the holes with a moisture absorbing set of plugs.

Like others I have not head of a fuel preservative, also why did you put gear oil in the bores instead of engine oil and I assume you turned it over slightly before leaving it, and what are moisture absorbing plugs and what are they supposed to absorb ?

[katy]

Another posibility is that the gear oil has gummed up the valve stems, causing them to stick when the engine is cold.

Regarding: "Fuel preservative", in this country we call it Fuel Stabilizer. I've used it for a number of years, and never a problem w/it. It keeps the modern fuels from degrading while in storage, up to a year.

[ron77]

I will try to clean the points, and, eventually, top up with new fuel. I bought a kit in London for storage which included moisture absorbing plugs for the value chambers. Maybe just makes me feel better. The fuel stabilizer is POR.

[bmcecosse]

Well - we have heard of POR 15 as a rust preventive coating....... sometimes used to coat the inside of petrol tanks......... but never as a fuel preservative ?? Are you sure ??

[Kevin]

Hi Ron I assume its the stuff Frosts sell
http://www.frost.co.uk/item_detail.asp?productID=8233
Still puzzled by the moisture absorbing plugs though as I dont recall seeing rusty plugs even with a car that has stood for years, and if you have squirted a bit of oil in the bores I dont see how they could.