Lankytim

So after faffing about with the 2cv the headlights started to not work/all work at the same time. After extra faffing it was realised I’d assembled the switch stalk incorrectly. It now seems to be all working… except the wipers, brake warning light and indicators have now stopped operating. I think they’re all on one circuit so I need to do a bit more investigating.. The fog lamp works on sidelights but not on main beam… is this an MOT issue? Theres no indicator tell tale but there is one for the hazard warning lights.. Also there’s no main beam tell tale on the dashboard. I’m not sure if it needs one at this age.. Slowly getting there! EDIT! Cleaned the fuses up (again) and the indicators and wipers, brake warning light are working again! The hazard warning lights have stopped working now though, the telltale light illuminating but nothing else happening..but the oil pressure light has come to life which has never worked before. So everything works, just not at the same time.

The fog lamp on the 2CV has been inoperable since I picked it up so I had a crack at getting it working. The original 80s fog lamp was pretty corroded inside and looked like it came from Halfords. I dug around in the garage and found a more robust example in a box. I vaguely remember it coming from a stash of Triumph 2000 spares about 20 years ago. Lucky I kept hold of it, I knew it would come in handy. With it adapted to fit and wired up it still didnt work. There’s no feed to the switch but a live run to the back of the switch results in the lamp and dashboard telltale working. Something needs further investigation, the lights will only work with the main beam turned on so something is obviously amiss. Some extra aftermarket wiring was tracked down and removed. I think everything is now standard with zero giffer mods. Something else to add to the shopping list is new side repeaters. The originals have corroded to death but were easily removed. Aftermarket equivalents are around £30 a pair and look like they’d suffer from water ingress. I’ve got a pair of Rover P4 indicators which would work… do I want to drill the wings to fit them though?

I keep forgetting what a handsome motor the Mk1 Laguna is. They’ve really died out now but there’s still a giffer motoring around in a silver one locally, complete with 500kgs of stick on tat, plus a couple in the abandoned 1990s breakers near here.

There was a spark at the plug lead ends, looked a bit yellow but strong enough.

I remember seeing a 2cv that belonged to a member of one of the FB groups stripped after being stolen, everything removable had disappeared but the owner got their car back at least. I’ve got a 123 Bluetooth electronic ignition gizmo that I still need to fit to mine. You can disable it via an app on your phone. They look a pretty good piece of kit. https://ecas2cvparts.co.uk/products/123tune-2cv-bluetooth-new-live-tuneable-electronic-ignition-kit-see-important-notes

I was expecting something to happen, usually I get burnt eyebrows at least. Perhaps it was flooded and the plugs weren’t producing a spark. The fuel exiting the fuel filter at least tasted like petrol. Degraded fuel smells a bit of lemons and has an odd colour and it certainly looked /smelled fine.

The fuel filter is on the bulkhead (or I think that’s what it is) it looked fine but might be worth checking again. It was the banjo bolt on top of the filter I unbolted to see if any fuel was present.

As I understand it the 827 came from the seller with a spare fuel pump rattling around in the boot (along with some other bits) That would make me suspicious straight away, was there already a question mark over the fuel pump and a spare was obtained before the Rover was sold? The previous owner of the Rover removed the air box from under the battery tray, maybe there was an earth from the starter relay that was unbolted too? He mentioned something about arcing? I wish I could’ve hung around a bit longer and got stuck into it more. I love getting to the bottom of my mysteries like this. I was reading this thread, similar symptoms but no spark and it still cranked on the key., turned out to be a bad fuel pump. https://www.mg-rover.org/threads/1989-sterling-827sli-crank-no-start.874076/page-2?nested_view=1&sortby=oldest

I’m still wondering if the fuel pressure is too low. Releasing a union should provide a spray of fuel as the system depressurises should it not? There was fuel there but it simply dribbled out, which turned into a slightly more pronounced dribble with the ignition on. I’d look at running a live feed to the pump to see what it does and if that doesn’t do anything, fit the spare pump in the boot. That said we still don’t know if the injectors are opening and closing (maybe not if there’s no fuel pressure)

There’s a live at the relay that’s switching on and off with the ignition key, along with a permanent live and presumably an earth (should’ve checked the continuity on that tbh) and the switched live going to the starter solenoid. It’s odd, maybe the incorrect relay is fitted? Holding the relay closed operates the starter. There’s a spark at the king lead and then at the plug end. We should’ve removed the plugs to inspect/clean. A fuel union was undone on the filter and fuel dribbled out. With the ignition on fuel was slowly pumped out. Should be it be high pressure? A bit of progress at least! Greet meeting fellow shiters and finally meeting the beast!

Could you get any parts you fancy couriered to MA BolloXs house? Also, don’t let the anxiety put you off, remember the Avenger we A framed back from Essex? We absolutely pissed it and that had been off the road for something like 57 years. (Ish)

More French Fancy Fettling. Today I was mostly glueing the weather strips back on to the bottom of the doors and removing the fuel tank for cleaning/replacement of rubber fuel line. Can’t be far off an MOT.

My Dad is in Moseley/Hall Green so I might be able to drop by when I’m next visiting for an hour.

I removed some obsolete wiring from my 2cv today. There was some sort of cold start gizmo which wasn’t connected to anything and the radio which was totally dead. The wiring was a real mess and the interior looks much better for not having it cluttering everything up. Behind the radio were some long lost titbits, I wonder what’s on that tape? The interior looks much better now and there’s no wiring to get trapped in doors/seats/ under the wheels etc.

You could park your car on my Dad’s drive in Birmingham and MEGABUS it down to Stansted (no idea if that’s realistically possible)