8 replies to this topic

[minidan]

1988 - 1275cc MG Metro engine


I broke down the other day , i thought i had run out of petrol as the fuel gauge was reading very very low. the engine spluttered a few times before dying. after putting in 5l of petrol i tried to start it again but the engine wont fire.

I purposely ran out of fuel a few months back in order to check where 'empty' is on the fuel gauge, and that time i put 5l of fuel in and it started up again instantly. but it never spluttered before running out - it just died in a second. ( just struck me as odd that it would do it differently this time round).

right, things ive checked...

fuel getting to carb, yes.
spark at plugs, yes
float valve in bottom of carb not getting stuck, yes
dashpot oil topped up, yes

after trying to start the engine for a while and then taking the dashpot off there is fuel dripping off it so its getting in there...
also checking the plugs and they are bone dry.

really confused now.

any ideas of what i can check next?

[Ethel]

Is it a Hif carb, not starting from cold? The choke is separate to the main jet & could be blocked with debris, especially if you ran the tank dry. Try a slosh of juice into the carb's mouth, if it tries to run on that think about stripping & cleaning the carb. You can also blow down the float vent pipe to see if fuel appears out of the jets - you'll need the choke pulled out 'n maybe some simulated flute playing to cover any of the extra vent holes on some Hifs.

[minidan]

Is it a Hif carb, not starting from cold? The choke is separate to the main jet & could be blocked with debris, especially if you ran the tank dry. Try a slosh of juice into the carb's mouth, if it tries to run on that think about stripping & cleaning the carb. You can also blow down the float vent pipe to see if fuel appears out of the jets - you'll need the choke pulled out 'n maybe some simulated flute playing to cover any of the extra vent holes on some Hifs.

Thanks ethel,

its an HIF44 forgot to mention that. before all this happened the enigne was as sweet as a nut lol, even starting on these cold morning with little choke. i think its got to be something to do with the running out of fuel. ive had the carb off twice now and all 'seems' to be ok.
when i broke down and filled up with some fuel of course the engine was still warm and so eliminates cold starting probems.

can you explain your last sentence lol?

oh by the way i have blown down the float vent pipe and i got covered in fuel , so thats not blocked either...

[minidan]

on closer inspection of the plugs, there seems to be a very very weak spark. could this be a dodgy coil?

[Ethel]

more likely a flat battery or dodgy connections.

All my poetic rambling was trying to say was if you try blowing down the vent pipe to force fuel out of the jets; a HIF has many more vents than a HS and you'll need to cover the ones you aren't blowing into to make any pressure to get fuel to show out of the jets.

The Hif choke jet is the little hole you can see between the main jet and the throttle. It's only open when the choke is used.

[minidan]

hi again, the battery is fully charged and the coil connections are tip top. the car has only bene on the road since May this year and its had a brand new wiring loom fitted from minispares. the coil is the only unknown factor, other than the HT leads as it was already fitted when i bought the car. (although it looks newish).

what else can cause a weak spark then? the only other thing could be old HT leads, and they are were on the car as well.

[huw_jenks]

What distributor and what coil are you using?

[dklawson]

Is your distributor fitted with points or an electronic ignition? If points, consider replacing the condenser and replacing the points. A failing condenser can contribute to weak (orange colored and small) sparks at the plugs. Contaminated points or ones where the gap has closed up due to wear can make for small sparks of too short a duration. These are inexpensive things to try.

[minidan]

Problem fixed, it was the coil.

i bought a new coil from my motor factors and plugged it in, tried the key and the engine burst into life instantly.