Morris Minor Owners Club

OK, I knew this new car wasn't a great starter when I bought it but its really annoying the fug out of me know....

When cranking on the key it will crank and crank and crank before doing the stopping and whirring thing you sometimes have to do this 4 or 5 times before it will fire. It makes no difference whether the car is hot or cold whether the choke is in or out.

Sometimes though you just flick the switch and it starts, no hassle at all!

I've bought a carb rebuild kit and a full engine service kit from BM so will attack it with gusto later in the week but does anyone have any idea what could be causing it? I'm not an expert on the mechanical stuff but my thinking is timing. Any suggestions?

I know the carb must be a bit clagged up as the lift pin doesn't lift...

Don't worry about the lift pin, its the piston that needs to rise and fall freely. Sounds to me like plugs and points (and maybe cap & leads) should sort out the issues.....

The fact that the lift pin is stuck though is a bit of an indication to me that the carb itself probabally isn't in the best of health.

I'm still not entirely convinced that its just cap, leads, points etc as it runs very well (albeit slightly tappety) when it fires up...

Sounds like ignition woes to me........ But easy check - next cold start - tip an egg cup of petrol down the carb and then crank it - if it starts right away then the ignition is fine - it must have been fuel feed problem!

Remove the air filter and lift the carb piston with your finger. It should drop with an audible clunk

Well, despite the bits from BM not arriving (ruddy parcelforce) I've had a tinker today. Cleaned up the rotor arm, replaced the condenser and re-gapped the points and it now whirrs slightly and then starts. Not perfect but its one hell of an improvement!

Great success!

And, Fail. Its gone again.

Thinking about buying an electronic dizzy and having done with it. Will try swapping the coil first tho

When cranking on the key it will crank and crank and crank before doing the stopping and whirring thing you sometimes have to do this 4 or 5 times before it will fire. It makes no difference whether the car is hot or cold whether the choke is in or out.

Sometimes though you just flick the switch and it starts, no hassle at all!

Sounds like you may have a loose electrical connection.

It's 'never' the coil.........

Well, the coil does look like its seen some action (serious serious dent) so I think its worth replacing anyway

dan check you have nice tight connections on the coil my car was running strangley in june i found that the coil spade connectors on the coil were slightly smaller than on the wires .

Ahh - well you didn't mention physical damage earlier.......

Well, plugs changed and its now starting straight away.... This is ruddy weird!

I'll try it again in the morning and see what happens....

were the plugs fouled? gapped correctly? etc...
are the HT leads Ok? (swapping the plugs might simply have given you a better HT connection)

I've always found that changing the HT leads every couple of years really improves running

i was going to say leads, also plugs, when i gapped and put new plugs in, much better performance across rev range both stopping and in motion. also if plugs are dirty, clean them up, will make a difference.

also, yes to new ht leads, it all seems to sum up and improve mpg/reliability/idle etc. can make a hell of a difference.

And its doing it again

Time to get some more HT leads methinks...

Did the Ht leads sort it?