Question I have a 1976 MG Midget which will not start at all anymore. My dad and I have been working on vehicles and motorcycles for over 10 years (he has been working on them 30+ years) and this, after 4 days of pondering/working, has us stumped...
I took it to work... only a 2 minute drive and was about to drive it home after my shift and it would not start, but finally did after about 8 tries, then ran crappy for about 10 seconds, the oil pressure really jumped (to 80), so I shut it off incase of major mechanical error. so I pushed it home assuming it was fouled plugs (since it had been running really rich) so I cleaned them and tried it again, didn't help the starting at all.. after getting that done, I noticed that my water pump had gone bad from all of the leaking it had done overnight. so off to the store I went to order a new one.
Long story short everything electrical (cap and rotor, plugs, points, plug wires, coil, etc.) have all been replaced and the wiring between the plugs and coil has been replaced.. the plugs show blue flame, so it should be ready to go. the resistor however is showing that there is A LOT of juice running through it, is this normal? It is timed to TDC, the lifters have been properly spaced, the plugs gapped, etc. We also checked the carb (a zenith), took it apart and properly put it back together (we assume from how we took it apart), everything seemed fine, but when we sprayed Starting Fluid (Ether) down in it, still no luck starting (it should have at least done something with that sprayed in there, even if it didn't want to start)...could it be that it is too lean or what? it makes a very nasty sound when starting or trying to (starter maybe?)... obviously everything that should have fixed it didn't, do you think it could be a huge vacuum leak? it acts as if that is so. There appears to be nothing majorly wrong with it mechanically, judging how the timing chain moves the cam and lifters just fine and dandy. WE NEED HELP!!! please tell us some good news!
AnswerScott:
You need to go at this in an orderly and logical fashion, not simply do this, change that, take this apart, etc. until you (hopefully) find the problem. That approach is not only expensive and time-consuming, but will also drive you crazy and make you hate the car after awhile.
Engines run on three things plus timing. Air, spark and fuel (gas). Assume you have correct timing or make sure it is correct and that your valves are correctly adjusted. Once you have manually set the timing and adjusted the valves, then you need to check each cylinder's compression with a compression gauge. If you have acceptable compression, and are getting a spark at each cylinder spark plug lead, pull your fuel line from the pump and place it (or an extension hose from it) into a bucket or container and BRIEFLY turn on the ignition to see if the electric pump is moving fuel. (If you have a mechanical pump (I'm not sure on a 76 midget?) you'll have to actually have to crank the motor over with the starter/battery to see if fuel is produced. Once all these are correct. The engine should fire and run.
ALSO, check all grounding points on the engine to make sure it is getting a good ground. It is possible you may also have a problem with your ignition switch and/or ignition ballast resister. If you can test them with a volt meter or test light/probe then go ahead and do so. For the switch you might want to jiggle the key a bit when testing to see if you lose your reading - at the run or start position. If so then the switch is bad.
When you say you took it to work and then it wouldn't start for about 8 tries, and then did start - it makes me think of an intermitemt electrical fault (switch?) or a bad (loose) ground. Good luck!
Brian
