Six Cylinders Motoring Notes - A small win today!

[Six-cylinder]

I had a look at the Metro this morning, cleaned the points and regaped them.  The engine fired quickly and I took it for a 10 mile drive with no misfire. I then tried to restart it on the drive and the starter turned slowly and it would not catch. This was the original problem I was having when it was in storage.

I have put it on charge and will see what the morning brings.

[Zelandeth]

5 minutes ago, Six-cylinder said:

I had a look at the Metro this morning, cleaned the points and regaped them.  The engine fired quickly and I took it for a 10 mile drive with no misfire. I then tried to restart it on the drive and the starter turned slowly and it would not catch. This was the original problem I was having when it was in storage.

I have put it on charge and will see what the morning brings.

What's the gap setting you're using?  Just slightly puzzled it didn't seem to change anything when I did that, and wondering if the gap I set it to (from one of the Crypton data books that came with the engine analyser) was wrong.

[hairnet]

id told him it was a f reg so thats about right (no idea where i thought that up from lol)

land cruisers are actually trucks with smaller bodies so the agri comment is valid

 

 

[Six-cylinder]

2 hours ago, Zelandeth said:

What's the gap setting you're using?  Just slightly puzzled it didn't seem to change anything when I did that, and wondering if the gap I set it to (from one of the Crypton data books that came with the engine analyser) was wrong.

15 thousands of an inch

[chaseracer]

On 19/02/2023 at 17:33, Six-cylinder said:

Back in the 1980s I sold Sparkrite electronic ignitions and we had a failure rate of 2.5%. I understand points, I can test and if I carry the parts can easily fit new ignition components. The electronic boxes are a mystery to me.

They've moved on a bit* in the past four decades, Chris!  The Dyane's 602 motor has had 123-Ignition for as long as I can remember, and the 720 has mappable 123-+.  Never a problem.

Might be worth a go on the Metro.

[Six-cylinder]

10 minutes ago, chaseracer said:

They've moved on a bit* in the past four decades, Chris!  The Dyane's 602 motor has had 123-Ignition for as long as I can remember, and the 720 has mappable 123-+.  Never a problem.

Might be worth a go on the Metro.

Our Citroen DS has a 123 that it came with 14 years ago, but I still worry one day we will have no spark and that will be  a tow truck.

[Tommyboy12]

I have had an electronic ignition crap itself on me while on a road trip round Wales. Was in a converted points dizzy on the Mini (45D dizzy). The set was around 8 years old when it died and it wasnt the module itself. Something surged and blew the fuse in the fusebox but not before it burnt out the ignition module. I swapped in a set of points and carried on my way before buying another electronic module when i got home. That set of points lives in the car again just in case but I am more than confident in electronic ignition modules.

[Six-cylinder]

The Metro made it to my favourite garage today and then refused to restart.

The off load battery voltage was 12.6v and cranking dropped it to 8.5v. Duff battery or excessive current draw from the starter?

I have handed the problem over now along with oil weeping head gasket.

[Zelandeth]

21 hours ago, Six-cylinder said:

15 thousands of an inch

Book here says 20, though I'd not have expected five thou to make a massive difference.  Guessing either I actually fouled up setting the gap or there was some gunk on there I failed to clean off.

These things are sent to try us!

Slow cranking should at least be an easy enough one to diagnose.

[Snake Charmer]

1 hour ago, Six-cylinder said:

The Metro made it to my favourite garage today and then refused to restart.

The off load battery voltage was 12.6v and cranking dropped it to 8.5v. Duff battery or excessive current draw from the starter?

I have handed the problem over now along with oil weeping head gasket.

I would start with a drop test on the battery and spruce up the terminal connections, clean the chassis and engine earths plus starter cable connection. Are the ashtrays empty?

[grogee]

4 hours ago, Snake Charmer said:

I would start with a drop test on the battery and spruce up the terminal connections, clean the chassis and engine earths plus starter cable connection. Are the ashtrays empty?

New set of floor mats should fix it

[Six-cylinder]

4 hours ago, Snake Charmer said:

I would start with a drop test on the battery and spruce up the terminal connections, clean the chassis and engine earths plus starter cable connection. Are the ashtrays empty?

The ashtray has no ash but is dirty.

13 minutes ago, grogee said:

New set of floor mats should fix it

Red or Grey?

[High Jetter]

Same as the seat belts!

[Joey spud]

That's a rare Ducellier distributor you have fitted there.

I vaguely recall Lucas were on strike or something so ARG had to source parts from elsewhere.

If you think Lucas stuff isn't great Ducellier was even more flakey.

[Six-cylinder]

 

Thank you to @Landy Mann for the replacement rear upper tailgate for our green Range Rover.

Being given this prompted me to chase getting the green Range Rover's return, I am told one months and it will be at the top of the list to get sorted by the Land Rover specialist it is with.

Little and Large! At secret meet up even bought the parts much closer to me.

[hairnet]

a leaking rusty pos and a swedish car

 

[wuvvum]

Is the number plate obfuscation so we can't see that this is the legendary D701SWL in the flesh?

[Landy Mann]

Good to meet you Chris, good to put a face to a name.

[bobdisk]

8 hours ago, wuvvum said:

Is the number plate obfuscation so we can't see that this is the legendary D701SWL in the flesh?

Zoom in and look closely, the bottom row ends with a "W",  and I think the top row ends with a "5". 

[Six-cylinder]

Not a good start to the day, I went to take the  Alfa 156 to a small gathering  near Leighton Buzzard and it would not start. It turns over with enthusiasm but did not did fire. It has been an old problem but I thought it had been sorted when an Alfa specialist cleaned all the connections.

With no time to even do basic checks I grabbed the Volvo V70 T5 for the trip. Since @Andyrew put some new used tyres on it for us it runs beautifully smoothly.

The car gathering was great with a huge variety of cars,  from a smokey engined Audi A3 TDi to a pre-war Daimler 2 1/2 Ltr saloon. I was a little out of area so 75% of the cars I had not seen before. 

 

[Six-cylinder]

Alfa still not starting.

Both mine and @Andyrewcode readers say no fault found.

 

[hairnet]

because french

[Six-cylinder]

Incoming - This afternoon the sun was shining for my first new car of 2023. Not show quality paint but all welded up and serviced who could turn down a MX5 for the summer ahead.

Strictly speaking  by 4 days this is my second purchase of 2023 but you will have to wait for the first one until I actually have seen it myself!

[Zelandeth]

52 minutes ago, Six-cylinder said:

Alfa still not starting.

Both mine and @Andyrewcode readers say no fault found.

 

Hmm...If it's cranking merrily but you're not getting any spark/fuel/either crank sensor seems most likely candidate.  

Got any ability to interrogate live data to see if there's a feasible engine RPM shown while cranking?

[wuvvum]

Brightly coloured slightly scruffy two-seater convertible are for winners.

[hairnet]

45 minutes ago, Zelandeth said:

any ability to interrogate live data 

 

 

[brownnova]

Strangely enough my MX5 wantage has crept back in in recent days… 

Need to sell the TF first! 

[hairnet]

1 hour ago, Six-cylinder said:

Incoming - This afternoon the sun was shining for my first new car of 2023. Not show quality paint but all welded up and serviced who could turn down a MX5 for the summer ahead.

Strictly speaking  by 4 days this is my second purchase of 2023 but you will have to wait for the first one until I actually have seen it myself!

you missed your other handbag car

 

[hairnet]

57 minutes ago, Zelandeth said:

Hmm...If it's cranking merrily but you're not getting any spark/fuel/either crank sensor seems most likely candidate.  

Got any ability to interrogate live data to see if there's a feasible engine RPM shown while cranking?

i saw a c15 that hadnt been started in 15 years be tow started

that would work

 

[richardmorris]

1 hour ago, hairnet said:

i saw a c15 that hadnt been started in 15 years be tow started

that would work

 

Don’t these alfas need a special red key to tell the ignition to fire? Perhaps it’s a battery?