Thread: Holden 186 Motor

You should pull the choke out before you start it, then give the throttle a pump and then a touch of throttle when you turn the key.
It should fire up instantly!

Cheers, Mick.

Originally Posted by whitehillbilly64

Hi,
Have had the Holden 186 running real smooth at idle.
Ran a cleaner through the water system, after finding the Top hose was gunked up to the thermostat.
Where is the water temp sensor, on my 186 ????
Can you tell me the year of the motor from the serial No ????
should I replace and put back in a thermostat ????
First start up seems hard. Fuel seems to be draining back to tank from pump. Glass bowl fills during cranking, but needs a drop of fuel down carby to start. Will change the inline fuel filter tomorrow.
Any ideas on this ????
Thanks for the comments.

whitehillbilly64

Temp light sensor will either be on top of the head just back from the carby a bit or it may have been screwed into the housing just below the top hose.
As for the fuel draining back you just need to put a kit through the fuel pump as the valves in it are leaking. You also may have a leak in the plug on the bottom of the carby that is causing the bowl to empty overnight, thus making it hard to start your engine. A kit through the carby and one through the fuel pump and it should be good as gold!

Cheers, Mick.

Thanks for all the replies,
A few Technical Questions.
I found the water temp sensor at the rear of the block behind the carby, with a spring like wire, leading to a gauge, to the left of the dash panel.
With the cleaning and thermostat, I have 90/92 oC, at fast idle for 15 mins. Creeps up a bit at idle.

Coil question again. Resister
Written on the old coil was ' 12v use with resistor ' It did not work, so got one which read the same.
With Gilbert running at idle, I have 13.5 at the battery. Alternator Working
With ignition on, motor not running, I have 12v positive, 12v negative, but running at idle, I have 14v ???? at the positive side of the coil. 8.5 at the negative side.
Does this voltage mean there is a resistor fitted somewhere, or do I need to change the coil to non resistor type ????
Also where is the oil pressure gauge and sensor located ????

whitehillbilly64

oil pressure switch is just above the oil pump/filter


as for the resistor,
with the ignition on, short the - terminal of the coil to ground and measure the voltage at the + side of the coil.
only short it out for a few seconds, coil may get warm


if you get 12v at the + then there is no resistor.


if you get ~9v at the + then there is a resistor.


That's the only way I can think of checking.

A resistor will be cheaper than a coil.
Aaron

Do as jboot suggests. Using a coil designed for a resistor without one will work until the coil burns out or the points burn out, both of which are likely to happen fairly soon.

Note that if fitted, resistors are not necessarily obvious - some of them were simply a resistive wire.

Coils with resistors are a legacy of the US practice of sticking with 6v electrics long after (almost) everyone else had gone to 12v, and were introduced to provide an adequate starting spark while the voltage was very low when cranking.

Correctly installed, the coil resistor is shorted by special contacts in either the ignition switch or the solenoid, so as to allow full battery voltage at the coil while cranking. Since the Landrover does not use a resistor, unless very special care has been taken in the conversion, this special circuitry does not exist, so there is no advantage in using a 'resistor' coil, even with a resistor.

The Holden engines usually fitted to Landrovers had a twelve volt electrical system, so the only reason for fitting the resistor system to the engine was to allow the use of a smaller battery, although I suspect that the real reason was simply "we've always done it that way".

John

The EH Holden had a resistor in the harness. In Showroom Stock road racing in the 60's we used a six volt coil. Twelve volts at the coil when starting and nine volts running. Never had a problem with coils or points. I continued this practice on road going cars for years. My Blackhawk ignition analyser showed a definite improvement in high tension voltage at the plugs.

Thanks for all the replies.
The Coil, using jboots suggestion, showed 11.57 volts, on the Positive side of the coil, earthing out the negative side with ignition on.
From what has been said, and seeing the ' use with resister ' 12v coil, is on loan, to buy if it worked out, the easiest solution I think will just be to get a none resister type and fit it, as they are around $35 from the local auto store.
The resister type might have been pulled out of something lying around, at the time, and was put in without checking it out.

I also found the oil pressure sensor.
What type of gauge was used ???? It looks as if a wire with spade connector was used, on the sensor pin.
Would the wire have just plugged into the Gauge.

whitehillbilly64