12 replies to this topic

[urbantricker]

Hi,

Me and my brother are now stumped for ideas, Ill explain what we have done and what has happened:

- Had a normal 1275 in my mini and it worked fine

- Fitted a A series (not a plus) 1380

- Bought new spark plugs, leads and coil for it.

- Bought a second hand distributor (points) which at first did not spark and the engine wouldnt start.

- We bump started it and it started and the points and spark plugs were now sparking.

- Occassionally it wouldnt start and would need bump starting, so I figured it was the distributor so I bought a brand new distributor and this solved that problem.

- We then fitted a fuel pump and weber 45 DCOE, took it for a spin and it worked fine.

- I hadnt driven my car for about a week and then we to start it and it wouldnt.

So thats what has happened. And this is what we have checked:

- Points and condensor are brand new and it is sparking in the distributor.

- Rotor arm is brand new

- When we test for a spark, it will only spark when held close to an earth, but not when the earth surrounds the spark plug. I am not sure if this is neutral.

- I put my old carb on which still didnt start it.

- So I put the weber back on, checked there was fuel in the chamber.

- I have tried my brothers' jets in the weber (his car runs fine)

At the moment all it does is turn over, but I did leave it overnight and then in the morning without switching the fuel pump on i tried it and it gave a little gurgle, but then nothing after that. We thought it might need a fuel regulator.

Anyone else have any ideas?

Thanks a lot!

[bert998]

Is the battery fully charged?

[urbantricker]

Ah yes we had it on charge over night, forgot to mention that bit

[edjohnson]

Is your alternator charging?

And is the battery proven to be any good?

[bert998]

Is your alternator charging?

And is the battery proven to be any good?

I had this same problem for a good while, I even took the battery back to the shop (4 months old) to be tested. They assured me it was good. I persisted and tried lots of other things until i finally tried a different battery. Bingo, the battery was duff

[Jordie]

poor earth?

[minislapper]

Earth strap?

[Jordie]

you copying me slapper

[minislapper]

Great minds...... !

[Sprocket]

deffo an earth problem

[urbantricker]

Hi,

Cheers for your suggestions guys. But I think I have solved it.

When I bought the spark plugs my brother told me to get some bike engine ones, i cant rememebr exactly the ones he mentioned but apprently everyone uses these on their minis.

Well it was working on these before, but I have just put in two old mini spark plugs and it started first time, I am going to buy a new set of mini plugs tonight and hopefully it should be running nicely.

I will let everyone know....

[Jimmyarm]

When I bought the spark plugs my brother told me to get some bike engine ones

Interesting ! Dont they use these on the 7/8 port and 16v heads purely as nothing else will fit ?

What do the duff plugs look like ? Cracked cores by any chance ? Can we have a pic ?

[urbantricker]

I will try and do it tonight, have been really busy with work recently!

I was going to go and buy some new mini spark plugs, but I will get the pictures as soon as I can!