Thread: my old girl wont start...

Others will be able to give you a more detailed response, but before you start doing things that sound a bit risky, like shorting things out, I will offer a couple of basic possibilities.

The clicking is probably the starter motor.

It clicks if there is not enough power reaching it from the battery to make it work properly.

The most common reasons for that are simple things like dirty or loose connections on the battery terminals or poor connections on other wires to the starter motor.

Check that connections are clean and tight.

thanks VNX,

I'm pretty sure that the clicking is coming from the alternator though, i can hear it click. it is by no means old, so i beleive the problem is somewhere else.

the cabling does need a bit of attention though i think.

for starters...

remove and tape up both the wires from the alternator, and that eliminates that the only thing that could be happening with the alternator for starting is if its got something cactus inside and a winding is pulling on something like a magnet (that being what they are and all)

now remove the power cable from the back of the startermotor. tape that up too.

next take a known good battery (or park up alongside the rover a car with minimalistic engine tech so you can use the battery from that) and a pair of jumper leads and hook the negative up to the good battery and grab a good earth, theres a couple of ally protrusions on the bottom that are great for jump start earths when your doing this.

now hook up the positive cable to the back of the starter where the cable came from and then hook up the positive to the battery when you hook up you should get a nice fat spark and then the engine should start to wind over and lurch the rover forwards cause you forgot to put it in nuetral. If your really unlucky it will also start and proceed to run through your house.

if it doesnt wind over now dont panic the series III has a magic bit of kit that lets you start the engine with only 6v on the battery, its called the crank handle.

once you get it turning then its only fault finding for spark and fuel from the carby....

that any help?

thanks Blknight,

ill get into it and ill let you know how i go

Clicking? In time with when you turn the key to start it? That should be the solenoid working. It can be a 1-2" cylinder shaped thing, bolted usually to the battery carrier/air cleaner mount. If that's what's clicking, it is working. But main current from here to the starter motor isn't reaching its ultimate destination. Check all terminal fixings.

The alternator - the alloy cylinder shaped thing about 5" in diameter, runs off the fan belt - has bugger all to do with starting.

Hope this helps.

Dan.
69 2A 88" pet4, 74 3 109" pet4, 68 2B FC pet6.

....if you can get someone to show you how...

they can be dead easy to start with the crank handle...

Originally Posted by 87County

....if you can get someone to show you how...

they can be dead easy to start with the crank handle...

A word of warning on crank starting -

This (2.25 petrol) engine will, if in reasonable tune, start easily with the crank handle. But there are a couple of points

1. Always, Always, keep your thumb on the same side of the handle as the fingers, and pull, not push - if it fires before Top Dead Centre, the fact that you are hanging onto the handle will not stop the engine turning backwards; if you hold it as directed it will just pull out of your hand, and if you move the hand quickly enough it will not hit the back of your hand on the way round. If you have the thumb on the other side, the same will happen except that in pulling out of your hand it will break the thumb.
Similarly, if pushing down, it may have to break your wrist to pull free.

2. Hand priming using the priming lever on the pump will make hand starting easier.

3. Making sure the ignition timing is correct is a good move.

John

Originally Posted by JDNSW

A word of warning on crank starting -

This (2.25 petrol) engine will, if in reasonable tune, start easily with the crank handle. But there are a couple of points

1. Always, Always, keep your thumb on the same side of the handle as the fingers, and pull, not push - if it fires before Top Dead Centre, the fact that you are hanging onto the handle will not stop the engine turning backwards; if you hold it as directed it will just pull out of your hand, and if you move the hand quickly enough it will not hit the back of your hand on the way round. If you have the thumb on the other side, the same will happen except that in pulling out of your hand it will break the thumb.
Similarly, if pushing down, it may have to break your wrist to pull free.

2. Hand priming using the priming lever on the pump will make hand starting easier.

3. Making sure the ignition timing is correct is a good move.

John

yep ... all good & well warned John, that's why I qualified my short note with something like "get someone to show you how...", figuring that being correctly shown is easier than trying to set it all down in writing

regards - Laurie