Scimitar will not start

Post by **Roger Pennington** » Wed Feb 27, 2019 8:26 pm

I suspect you may have flattened the battery - not completely, but flat enough that it's just got sufficient energy left to light the light, and give the solenoid a kick (causing the click) but not enough energy left to actually engage the solenoid and turn the engine? Try it with the headlights on, and you'll probably find they go dim at the same time. I'd suggest you give the battery a charge before trying again.

noel6071 · Post by **noel6071** » Thu Feb 28, 2019 10:31 am

It appears to have been the battery that went flat, its turning again, there is fuel coming up I took the pipe off the carb so fuel is not the issue, there is no spark going to the plugs only spark I can get is at the points contact.

Post by **philhoward** » Thu Feb 28, 2019 10:38 am

Sounds like either coil, cap or rotor arm failure?

Have you been able to get a spark from a plug if just connected to the coil (not the dizzy)? If so, then the coil is working and the problem lies in the cap or rotor arm. If not, then sounds like the coil has died.

noel6071 · Post by **noel6071** » Thu Feb 28, 2019 11:09 am

There is a very faint spark from plug lead one I checked it while the car was turning over, I have a spare rotor and that was still the same also tried another coil.

Post by **Old and Slow** » Thu Feb 28, 2019 11:11 am

If you are getting a good spark across the points (contacts) in the distributor then this suggests there is current flowing in the primary circuit in the coil. But there is a capacitor (aka condenser) next to the points which is supposed to suppress the spark, i.e. it shouldn't be a big spark.
If you can connect the main HT lead (high tension - i.e. carrying about 25000 volts!!) out of the top of the coil to a spark plug instead of the distributor, with the body of the spark plug connected to earth (the metal of the engine) then when you use an insulated screwdriver to push open the points and every time you do this you should see a spark at the spark plug.
This will eliminate the coil as the source of your problems.
Hope this helps - you are a bit too far away for me to pop round to have a look....

Post by **Old and Slow** » Thu Feb 28, 2019 11:18 am

Your post turned up while I was typing my comment...
If you have a weak spark at the plug, it is possible that under compression in the engine it won't fire the mixture, but I'd think this is unlikely.
It sounds like you have both fuel and ignition available, so it could be either the choke or the timing.
Is it possible you've disturbed the ignition timing by moving the distributor round a bit?
To compensate for a lack of choke, as suggested earlier, pour an egg-cup full of fuel down the carburettor.
Fingers crossed you get to the bottom of this - very frustrating problem.

Post by **philhoward** » Thu Feb 28, 2019 11:18 am

Indeed, Philip - it's that long since I had anything with points, I'd almost forgotten that. If it's arcing across the points (due to a failed condenser) you'll get a weak spark - possibly not enough to actually run. Strength of spark being a factor of dV/dt (the quicker the circuit is interrupted, the better it is - which is why electronic ignitions "produce" a better spark as they turn the primary current off quicker.

Post by **Roger Pennington** » Thu Feb 28, 2019 11:41 am

In his original post he did mention that he'd changed the condenser, however you can't always assume that a new item works - I had a starting problem towards the end of last year, which Richard Carter kindly had a look at and diagnosed a faulty condenser - something that I'd changed only a few months before, after my previous breakdown in August......

so it may be worth re-trying the old one, or another new one?

Post by **JoeySully** » Thu Feb 28, 2019 12:01 pm

Are you sure the rotor arm is fitted correctly ? it is possible to close the cap with the rotor arm 180 out. The distributor shaft will spin inside the rotor arm as it gets stuck between two of the points. it wont turn when the cap is fitted but will appear to be working when the cap is off.
It will also give a spark to the nearest spark plug and give the illusion all is working well. Yes this has happened to me

and took a lot of head scratching before i realsised what i had done.

Post by **AJL Electronics** » Thu Feb 28, 2019 1:20 pm

I went out to a "Car won't start" last week. I found a faulty HT lead and a faulty plug, both on number 3. However the point of this message is that I also found that the distributer cap was on 180 out so didn't seat correctly and also the coil was wired backwards. Things that are worth checking on your car. Use an inductive timing light, first on the king lead, then each plug lead in turn and observe the flash which should be regular.

noel6071 · Post by **noel6071** » Thu Feb 28, 2019 1:47 pm

I checked the coil as mentioned by connecting the main ht lead from the coil to a spark plug grounded against the engine head and opened up the points there was a good spark, I checked each individual plug leads all have spark although it is faint. The condenser I did try another one but it was old so not sure if it was any good there was a new one put on the car a few months back, as I mentioned previously the car was running fine until it backfired and wouldn't go again. The firing order is as it should be the timing is the only thing that was just set manually through spark plug chamber 1. I also changed the dizzy cap just to rule that out. The manual choke is not operating it appears to have came off the carb the accelerator cable has also snapped hopefully its not a difficult job to fit the cable.

Post by **philhoward** » Thu Feb 28, 2019 1:52 pm

Without any choke, you're going to have a right time getting it to fire from cold, irrespective of how strong or weak the spark is.

noel6071 · Post by **noel6071** » Thu Feb 28, 2019 2:09 pm

philhoward wrote: ↑
Thu Feb 28, 2019 1:52 pm
Without any choke, you're going to have a right time getting it to fire from cold, irrespective of how strong or weak the spark is.

If anyone has the manual choke a picture of where its connected to the carb be much appreciated.

Post by **Roger Pennington** » Thu Feb 28, 2019 2:44 pm

The problem is that all GTEs originally came with autochokes, which means that unless someone has bought a complete replacement DGMS (manual choke) carb for your car, yours could be one of a number of conversion kits. what might be better would be if you could post a photo of yours, as it is at the moment, then someone will probably recognise it and could advise in detail?

rebel alliance · Post by **rebel alliance** » Thu Feb 28, 2019 5:14 pm

: 20190228_170909~2.jpg (119.49 KiB) Viewed 1302 times

Here you go, a nice weber made in there spanish factory as supplied by Fast Road Cars for £215 on occasions