Morris Minor Owners Club

Does car start with a push?

My first line of thought would be to Hit Starter motor with No 1 Adjustment tool (largish Hammer) It could just be stuck.

Can sometimes also be freed by sticking car in gear and rocking backwards and forwards a little.

Re: 'Hit Starter motor with No 1 Adjustment tool'
What does the starter motor look like? Couldn't see a pic of it in Haines (not labelled, so not sure what it is)

P.s. Will try rocking thing.
Fab

Ok Here goes, I'm not being Sarcastic just trying to think of terms that are easy to understand

Its the horizontal cylinder thing under the Distributer. About the same size as the dynamo but low down in front of the drivers feet

Tap it (Like you would a choclate orange) so not a beating but also not too lightly.

Hope this helps

The position assumes that you've got a Later Minor with the A series Engine (i'm pretty sure you have) I'm not sure where the Sidevalve engines starter is

Thanks, will do.
I've been thumping something square and on the far right
near the air filter...

Err the wiper motor?

The starter motor is the cylindrical object on the bottom left hand side of the engine as you look at it. On the picture it has an arrow pointing to it.
If it is jammed the usual method is to put car in second gear, take off hand brake, turn off ignition and gently rock the car forwards and backwards so that the wheels can move a couple of inches.
Terminals are shown on front of starter unit so check the wires onto these. If you need to take these off it may be wise to take of the wires on the battery.
Good luck
Dave

Many thanks.
Moggy in pic looks amazing...very inspiring. Mine is such a mess
by comparison. Great to be able to see everything so clearly.

Pity it is not mine!
I usually take pictures of concours cars so that I can get the details of where things should really go!
Dave

That's a pity DAVE I was just about to make you an offer!

Had roadside jump start other day and drove for 8 miles. But after stopping wouldn't start again. Of late had to jump start car. Tapped starter motor (when I found it). There's a green and orange wire hanging loose from a bundle that all seem to have a home (to/from coil, distributor, etc.) can't see where it goes.

There was a thread on here at the end of last year where I asked about a mystery wire red / green that was hanging around in the area you describe. The consensus was that this was probably a wire which would connect to an oil pressure sensor on the oil filter IF YOU HAD ONE. Apparently most cars dont so just tape up the ends and forget it like I did.

Thought it was a green/ yellow for both oil pressure and oil filter sensors?

Red/ green is indicators I think.

Green and orange doesn't ring any bells though

If the engine isn't turning, and you know you've got a good battery (they might seem to charge fine, but actually be toast and breaking down under any sort of serious load), then first see if you can spin it on the handle (to make sure the engine isn't sticking for some reason).

Then try running a lead (good jump lead is ideal) from the starter motor mounting bolt to a good earth on the bodywork (nice clean bare metal, shock absorber might do the job).

If it still won't turn on the starter and you've tried hitting the starter a few times, it's time to take the thing off I suppose and see if it'll spin off the car.

I'd be tempted to think it's earth lead or internally had it batteries myself - Battery is pricey but easy, earth lead is quite easy if you're handy with a spanner or two (I ran one from the top starter mounting bolt to the lower right shock mounting bolt using an off the shelf battery lead, works beautifully)

Thanx. New battery, tried and tested etc, so doubt it's that...
What do you mean by: 'I ran one from the top starter mounting bolt to the lower right shock mounting bolt using an off the shelf battery lead'? Do I need to make a new connection?
By running a lead, do you mean a wire. If so, can it be any kind of wire? Sorry to be so dim, but I don't know what all these things are / terms mean yet.

I think "packedup" means a wire like the yellow one shown on picture below (doesn't have to be yellow!!!!)
Sorry if I gave you wrong info re your spare wire in my previous post.

Dave

Cable should be a good thick cable like ones which go onto your battery and it should have terminals on each end shaped like a washer (round with a hole in) such that the bolt which holds the starter on can pass through one end and the bolt which holds the shock absorber can pass through the terminal at the other end.
Undo the top starter motor mounting bolt and put one ring terminal around the bolt and then put the bolt back into its place and tighten up. Then undo one of the shock absorber fixing bolts, you will probably have to tap back the washer behind thebolt head which will have been turned over to stop the bolt being undone, put the ring terminal over the bolt and replace the bolt into the shock absorber and tighten up. When tight tap the washer back against the bolt head using a hammer and an old screwdriver. Job Done.
Make sure all bolts and terminals are clean before reassembly.
Sometimes you can buy another type of earth strap which is like a plaited copper strip about an inch wide and this also will have commectors with holes in at each end. Most motor factors / car shops will sell them and will call them "earth straps" you just have to make sure you get one which is long enough to fit as per photobut also has a bit os "slack" in it so that the engine can move relative to the body of the car (sorry I couldnt draw a curved line on the photo!)
Either type of strap will do but make sure you have good, tight connections.

Mmm? Should this be done to bypass the starter motor? Is it (ghastly pun coming up) the missing link?
Have tried the square shaft manouvering thing, no joy. Will read over the 'why' for the cable and the terminals...this is all a bit new (though shouldn't be, should have learnt all this years ago)

Im gonna go and have look later.

246gts wrote:I think "packedup" means a wire like the yellow one shown on picture below (doesn't have to be yellow!!!!)

That's exactly the sort of thing I meant

Far easier to rig up than trying to replace the earth strap that lives buried under the car somewhere, so much better (if not original) for someone not that spanner adept

Have to make sure the damper bolt is put back in nice and tight and the tab washer is knocked back over, tht's about the only tricky bit I think.

Doing that doesn't bypass the starter, it gives the power drawn through the starter a good route home that might no longer exist in the original fittings if they've corroded or otherwise failed.

I wondered about battery or connection/ earth failure as I assume the car started after a jump (when the roadside came out to it).

Thinking about it, if the water pump or dynamo were seizing up that might give similar symptoms, but there'd also be a hellish power loss when driving I reckon!