Starting problems

[blue1]

Please can someone help with a starting problem.

If i leave my mk1 invader parked up for a few days, its struggles to start and I sometimes drain the battery when it turns over 4-5 times.
I have a battery disconnect and I always use it and my manual choke is working. It is really bad when the weather is cold.

Any ideas?

[Tony Hayward]

Knackered battery, knackered alternator,knackered starter motor, too many short journeys. One or more of these.

Tony

[Greybags]

If you use the battery isolator so there is no drain on the battery when the car is standing, then it certainly points to a battery thats on it's way out ...

Is the battery a few years old????


Easy to check the charging system, connect a meter across the batter when the engines running and it should show 13-14 volts, less than 12v and the alternater is probably suspect.

Hope this helps..

Grahame

[blue1]

i forgot to mention the following:

The battery 1 month.
New Alternator, charging around 14v.
New distributor cap
New rotor arm
Condenser and points are fine, clean and adjusted.
no sparking of leads.

I have no problems if i use the car everyday it will start first time.

[Greybags]

A battery can only lose it's charge if something is drawing the charge from the battery externally, or the battery has an internal problem, or it is not being fully charged after use... Short journeys or faulty alternator..

At 14v the charging system seems fine, are the journeys very short after starting the car and not giving the battery a chance to fully recover????
It takes about 20 - 30 mins of engine running time to restore the charge used to start an engine.

All batteries will lose charge slowly, over a period of months, but to do it over days means something must be drawing current.

If the isolator totally isolates the battery then to lose charge that quick still suggest a battery problem.

Might be worth getting it checked at a battery specialist.

Might also be worth totally disconnecting the battery one evening after running the car, if it flat the next time you try to start the car then the car electrics have been eliminated and it has to be the battery, if is has kept it's charge while being disconnected then the problem must lie with the car wiring, perhaps the isolator switch is bnot fully disconnecting???

I always keep a battery conditioner connected to the car when it is in the garage as the electric clock and the radio memory will always take a small amount of juice from the battery, and will reduce the battery power over a couple of weeks.

Best of luck

Grahame

[trippdl]

Hello Blue -

I had a similar problem with one of mine - the previous owner had said if I didn't switch it off at the isolator, it would drain the battery, so that's what I did, and it drained it anyway.

Eventually, it was discovered that the wires that by-passed the isolator switch, for the 'keep-alive' circuits in the radio memory, clock and alarm were the problem - at some point, something on this circuit, probably relating to an alarm, had been disconnected; bare wires were left dangling (but hidden beneath carpet), and whenever the sunroof leaked (one of those 'orrible glass ones), and the carpet underlay got wet, it made a circuit to some of the rivets that connected the fiberglass to the chassis, and Robert's your mother's brother, as they say...

The point is, that until I was frustrated enough to really start tearing things out, I never would have found that problem, it was well covered-up. I know that the immediately previous owner had no idea, as he was as mystified as I was. If the weather had been dry for a while, even a circuit testing meter wouldn't have shown the drain, and who would have soaked a carpet just on the off-chance?

If it is not such a big aggravation that you decide to tear everything to bits, get one of those rechargeable starter sets, and just plan on giving it a boost when you run it at the weekend...

[Waylison]

I agree, sounds like battery or a drain on the battery.

Just another thing to check.....if your ignition still has a ballast resistor then check that the condenser with the points is a ballasted set. My MkII had had the ballast resistor taken out and an ordinary coil fitted, but they had left the original spec points and condenser in the cap, so starting was difficult, but then ran fine once started and the engine struggled to rev over 4000rpm, this was all down to the condenser being wrong.

Battery......check that the plates in the battery are all covered with battery acid, even some sealed for life batteries have removable caps to check the fluid level. Usually under the label on the top. Even a new battery can die if it gets too many boost starts when flat.

[Tree man]

Also check your earthing strap off the engine and the one from the battery. A poor earth can give the same symptoms as a battery with no umphh but will obviously read healthy when the battery is checked with a multimeter

[blue1]

I think I have narrowed it down as my car caught on fire yesterday when I was struggling to get it started.

I had a battery disconnect (red key type) on the earth lead and it caught on fire after the fifth attempt to get it started. Next thing I knew there was some smoke and then a blue flame. I took my t-shirt off and put out the fire.

I have connected a new earth lead and it started first time on a low battery.

But I would like to put a battery disconnect but any suggestions?

[Waylison]

These are simple battery isolator switches that allow a small current to trickle feed the radio for memory etc, or you can totally unplug everything.....

http://www.frost.co.uk/item_Detail.asp? ... ubCatID=26

Good job you spotted the fire

Good Luck.

[Greybags]

Lucky you for getting it out before any damage...

Looking on the bright side at least you found the fault

The switch must have developed a High Resistance, dirty contacts perhaps..

I would just put another one in as it is better to have the switch for security than not at all..

Really glad everything was OK ...

Grahame

[Admin]

Blue1, now check all the earth wiring under the dash!
Sorry but just caught up with this one - I though earth lead about half way though the second post.
Been there and done all that (while using the car every day), finally after new batteries, solenoids and rebuilt starter motors. The robust looking earth lead turn out to have internal corrosion, that finally manifested itself as blue smoke from under the dash.

[blue1]

After all my efforts I am still having starting problems.

The only good thing my battery is not going flat.

Roger the spares secretary said the it could be fuel going back to the tank after a few days and he has suggested that a hand primer might work to bring the fuel back to the carb. Anyone has any thoughts?

Again after a week parked on the street the car struggles to start and it takes me about 5 minutes to get it started. The next day it starts first time.

[trippdl]

An electric fuel pump located next to the tank works wonders - turn the key, listen for the tick, tick tick, then brmmm,brmmm!

[blue1]

Just to update you on my starting problems.

I found the causes:
1) the hose from fuel filter to the pump had a cut in it and when I started the car it was sucking up air not petrol.

2) I had to rewire the coil as not enough power to start and it would go dead.

3) As explained before bad earth.

Now the car starts first time after a week left outside on the road with no cover and a week when it has been raining.
Check your hoses!