Ive got a non-starting situation that's got me stumped.

I pulled the left rocker cvr on the Statesman (standard WB, on petrol) this morning, disconnected the HT lead at the coil while cranking the engine over to see what was happening at the rockers.

Put it all back together, took a while to locate the rear rocker cvr bolt and so had knocked the coil a bit with my arm... but nothing drastic.

Anyway, put it all back together and no go - despite nearly flattening the battery and booster battery pack, and leaving it for a couple of hours in case I'd flooded it. Starter motor turns the engine over, there's fuel spraying into the carby and I am getting a fat spark from the coil lead when earthed at the dizzy end and also at no.1 spark plug when pulled out and earthed.

The dizzy is not bolted down tight (haven't found a spanner that'll fit in there yet, though did manage to tighten it a little) so I thought I may have knocked it somehow (don't really see how, though) and so I turned it a little each way to see if that had an effect (will have to set it properly now, I know). No difference - the engine is not giving a hint of firing.

Despite the lifter noise yesterday the car was otherwise running fine; no hint of the non-starting problem, although I've noticed I have to pump more fuel when cranking from cold than when I bought the car.

The Max Ellery workshop manual I have for the VK (which I think is the same blue 308? Ignition description seems same as WB) says that if you have pulled the HT lead and turn-over the engine as I did you stand a good chance of damaging the module. Bugger.

I've checked the dizzy cap and rotor (the coil lead attachment on the dizzy looked a little chalky with corrosion, nothing bad but cleaned it up anyway) and all the HT leads; I thought the connector at the coil end of the lead may have swivelled around in the insulating end cap and so not attached properly at the coil but it made no difference when I secured it properly.

The coil looks fine as far as I can tell - the spade terminals appear fine, no oil leaking out of it or cracks.

I will go though the step-by-step test procedure in the Ellery manual tomorrow, and if that doesn't shed any light I'll just go stump up the $95 for a new module. I am hoping I won't need to do that.

Is there something I'm missing here?

I reckon its flooded,let it dry out ,disconnect the fuel line to the carb,get a can of "start you barsted"(true name!)and hit it!if you got any spark ,that will do something.trust me.it sounds funny but do it an see...jim
P.S FUEL + SPARK + AIR ***ALWAYS MAKES FIRE!

Jim in Adelaide...Hindsight is bad vision!

Edited by user Friday, 9 April 2010 5:23:55 AM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

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i recon its flooded, try holding the acc pedal flat to the floor while you crank it

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Yeah did that for ages, didnt work, although Im starting to think flooding may be the problem.

I havent worked on a carby car for ages but have flooded em plenty of times over the years and this isnt responding to the starting procedures I used to try.

Thanks for the ideas, Ill give em a go tomorrow.

Hi If all else fails try fileing or replacing your sparkplugs, It is not so common now, but back a few years ago some severly flooded engines sparkplugs could end up with a clear varnish like deposit on them that tracked the spark to earth via the surface of the porcelain and not accross the air gap. I think it must have been some fuel additive. Cheers Oily

Just tried again this morning, same result as yesterday. No go, no hint of firing. Still getting a nice fat spark off the coil lead, it seems to be getting plenty of fuel.

Plugs are new NGKs, but noticed no.1 was wet when I pulled it out yesterday. Will try plug clean next.

Okay, now for a dumb question. If the dizzy rotor button is pointing towards no.1 firing point on the cap, it is firing no.1, right? I know the way I should verify is to see if no.1 piston is on the compression stroke, but when checking timing a couple days ago, I couldnt locate the pulley mark with the timing light. Checked just now and I think the timing mark is 180 degrees out (ie pointing towards the ground towards the passenger side) with rotor button pointing at no.1 cylinder. It is a big line of white paint someones put there, but I think I can feel an intent in the pulley also.

I havent pulled out the dizzy at any stage.

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Whilst spinning the engine over see if your getting spark on your sparkplug leads?

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Yep, checked that yesterday, and it was getting spark at no.1 lead and then also across the plug gap when I connected it and earthed it.

With the timing, I guess Im just jumping at shadows. Youre right Jim, it was running fine with the dizzy and timing as it is.

If you havent moved the dissy, dont worry about the harmonic balancer, it has probably rotated on itself. Replace it later, its quite common.

If the plugs are wet, its flooded. Either clean & dry them, or replace them.

Dr Terry.

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The best argument against democracy is a 5 minute conversation with the average voter.

It will still start with no oil pressure to the lifters, it will just be noisy.

Dr Terry

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The best argument against democracy is a 5 minute conversation with the average voter.

go! go! go!...lol

Jim in Adelaide...Hindsight is bad vision!

It was the coil.

Put in a new HEC716 and the engine fired up straight away. Its lifters are as noisy as and it has a hesitation off idle but Ill sort those out later...