Morris Minor Owners Club

Hi
I have a minor saloon 1098 which has just undergone major surgery this week-engine,gearbox and clutch.It has an electronic starter motor fitted.
When it came to turning the engine over for the first time there was no spark, so although the engine sounded as if she wanted to start, couldn't (sorry if the description is poor). Basically we think the problem is electrical, however we have bought new distibutor cap, leads,spark plugs and coil - still nothing

Any help PLEASE

Many thanks in advance

Liz and Steve

What is an electronic starter and why do you need one?
Have you any fuel? Is the fuel pump ticking?
Is the firing order correct, 1 3 4 2 anticlockwise?
Remove a spark plug and with the plug attached to the plug lead and held against a head bolt with insulated pliers, turn the engine over on the starter with the ignition on and the car in neutral with the handbrake on. You should get a spark

Hi
thanks for the reply
we have tried that test with the pliers and there is no spark

Any more ideas?

ps - meant electronic ignition

You should put the original points back and see if it then sparks.

Double check your connections. Do you have a multimeter to check that you are getting 12volts to the coil (white lead). You can also check the resistance between the temrinals on the coil (with all leads disconnected) and report back - but the coil is almost certainly OK.

Take the HT lead from the coil to the distributor, leaving it connected to the coil, remove the distributor end and hold that close to the block using the insulate pliers, and then repeat the test as for the plug. This will prove whether the coil and electronic unit are OK - you could have a duff cap or rotor arm. If still no spark, then swap the electronic unit for points and condenser and try again.

Once you have a spark, then make sure that you have the timing correct; but one thing at a time.

Poppet - Just to let you know that I've deleted your duplicate post in the 'restoration' forum as it will get confusing if replies are posted to both threads

ok - so far we now have it firing intermittently in the carburretor(sorry re spelling) and a puff of smoke coming out of the air cleaner ?

It won't fire in the carb, only in the cylinder, but you might have some blow back. It sounds to me as though your ignition timing is way out, or you have the plug leads on wrongly. Go back to basics: Set points gap (15 thou) then turn engine by hand until No 1 cylinder (the front one) is nearing TDC on compression, then look at timing marks and align correctly; now set the dizzy so that the points are just opening. Fit the rotor arm and note where it is pointing. This is the lead for the No 1 cylinder. Now work round anti-clockwise 1-3-4-2.

How did you get it firing, what was the problem with the no spark? You're almost there, so keep calm and carry on.

As before - if it's firing at all - there MUST be a spark. Swap the plug leads round - move then round one place on the cap at a time (retain 1342 order of course) and see if it fires up.

Thanks once again. We have done all the above but still no improvement. It has been suggested that the timing chain might not be on properly?

Extremely unlikely unless it was done just before it stopped running.
You say;

When it came to turning the engine over for the first time

The first time after what?

Ah - well if someone has been messing with it.......... you didn't indicate that. There is an easy check to that - do you seriously think that's a possibility?

To be fair it was stated that it had undergone major surgery! You might class that as someone 'messing' with it, I suppose.

Poppet, can we clarify: You said that engine clutch and gearbox had received surgery. Are these new reconditioned units from a recognised specialist? Are they second hand units? Are they from a donor car - and were they running in that? Are they units on which you have done a lot of work yourself? If the engine has been assembled correctly, then there is no reason why it shouldn't run. Do you have a compression gauge? If so, it's worth just checking that; but most importantly, can we please have a full history of what has happened so far - even down to why the units were swapped anyway?

I assumed this was just a 'transplant' with known running units - not any remedial work undertaken....... It's very unlikely the timing chain would be wrong - although one lad did find that recently on his engine.

It wasn't bad enough to stop it running as I recall.
Doesn't mean that it couldn't happen though.

Hello

We are up and running
Thank you once again or all your help.

Just to fill you in on some of the details some of you have requested:
the reason for the 'transplant' was that the current engine (99,000 miles on the clock) had a major oil leak and she was having trouble with jumping out of second gear. It was either time to repair or change.
We had decided to repair when we visited a car show and someone who deals in Morris minor parts had an engine/gearbox and clutch for sale. A friend knew the dealer as 'sound' and so we took the plunge and made the purchase.

After all our hard work (including help from you) we ended up calling in a local mechanic and the issue was certainly to do with timing. The plugs have now been re-arranged and the dizzy moved.

Other details I'm afraid I can't supply you with at the moment as the 'main man' (Steve) hasn't downloaded all the information to his apprentice (that's me - Liz)

Well - thanks for the update.. but we did suggest re-arranging the plug leads (I assume thats what you mean) and adjusting the timing. Anyway - it runs now and that's the main thing !! Good luck with it.