Fun with FAY

[fay66]

Last night I went to a local classic meet in Hitchin Town Centre.
However when I decided to leave I had great difficulty starting FAY, ( shock and horror) normally after priming and start up procedure she starts first time, I managed to get her out of the town centre but running rough as old boots.
I stopped and had a prod here and there, and played with the switches on my home built ( not by me) simple electronic box from a Maplins kit, that just takes the load from going through the points and gradually burning them, I got her going as normal and she came the 14 miles home like a little rocket, when I got about 1/4 mile from home she died completely, I managed to start her again, although not running right managed to get her home, where she expired
I took the fuel cap off and bounced her up and down but couldn't hear any petrol sloshing about. As the fuel gauge is very erratic I thought perhaps I'd run out of fuel.
I left her until this morning then undid the banjo bolt on top of the rear carburettor after running the priming pump, to be met by a spurt of petrol, so lack of petrol doesn't seem to be the problem
I then took out the plugs, and although not perfect they weren't bad, I've cleaned them ready for re-gapping, I'd pushed the plug lead and the cap down the respective plug hole so they were out of the way, in the meantime a passing friend had stopped so I asked him to press the the key to operate the starter, to see if the engine and distributor were turning , which they were, there was also a fair bit of compression as it blew the plug leads out of their respective holes with quite a bit of force, so compressions would seem to be ok.
It's been too hot to do anything else today so I'll have another look about 6am tomorrow, but does anyone have any suggestions?
It's a long time since I carried out my own work and the memory is not as good as it was, I think this is only about the 4th time in 19 years she's refused to start,  twice was due to me flooding the engine, once down to a flat battery, and once to a battery failing in the time between turning off to fill up with fuel, and attempting to restart after fueling.

Brian
8227

[lancialulu]

Check the fuse to the ignition circuit? Sometimes oxidised cause poor/zero volts through to coil. Not sure which on S1 Berlina but wiring diahram should help.

[fay66]

Thanks Tim, I'll have a look.
Brian
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[neil-yaj396]

You mention your Maplins ignition box. Could that have gone intermittent then failed?

[fay66]

You mention your Maplins ignition box. Could that have gone intermittent then failed?

Thanks Neil,
That's certainly a possibility as you should be able to flick the switches the opposite way and
 revert to points, tried that but it was still missing,.
I have my old coil with the ballast resistor somewhere so I'll find that and swop back if need be.
Brian
8227  

[GeoffJohnson]

Hi Brian
Something similar happened to me a few years back after a hot Classics on the Common. Turned out to be a combination of vapour lock and a dodgy fuel pump.
Did you try switching to Fay's backup electric pump when it happened?
Geoff

[fay66]

Hi Brian
Something similar happened to me a few years back after a hot Classics on the Common. Turned out to be a combination of vapour lock and a dodgy fuel pump.
Did you try switching to Fay's backup electric pump when it happened?
Geoff

Hi Geoff,
No not until later! yesterday I ran the pump then partly undid the banjo bolt on top of the rear carb and petrol spurted out.
This morning I gapped the plugs, cleaned the rotor arm and checked the inside of the distributor cap.
Tried starting with switches in the electronic position and in points only position.
But no joy, I'm going out shortly so I'll pick up  10 litres in a can and try starting again.
If she still won't start I'll take the distributor out, put a fresh set of points in along with the condenser removed when electronic set up fitted, and replace coil with old ballast resistor coil.
If she still won't start I'll call the RAC at home🙄
Brian
8227
 

[fay66]

Thank you everyone for your help, Fay restored to health.
I'd got to the stage that I was about to remove the Maplins set up and revert to my old coil and ballast resistor, but decided to take the distributor out and change the points, Something not easily done with the large rotor arm over weights and at an angle, ideal for dropping something that you can't reach when in situ.
That plan was frustrated as the access to the nut that holds the clamp made it near impossible to get off.
I'd already cleaned the old points, as she was running OK before this particular problem reasoned that they were probably OK.
Just about to start fitting the oil coil etc, when I remembered Tim had said about looking at the ignition fuse as there might be corrosion, if you've ever had to change a fuse on a series 1 Berlina you'll understand why my brain had ignored the suggestion to this point.
No easy slide the fuse box out as on coupes, no such luck, the whole of the centre panel with switches, ignition switch, and ashtray has to pull out and hang on the wiring.
Fuses are different to that shown in wiring Diagrams, even in my version for English Vehicles, in that fuses are numbered 1 to 8 from the right, not from the left as in most wiring diagrams, you then have to manoeuvre a plastic fuse cover off between a plethora of wires, although by this stage I could see number 1 fuse (RED) was blown.
Next stage was to remove and replace fuse using a pair of thin nosed pliers kept handy for this purpose in the glove box, as there's no room for short stubby fingers to do so.
Looked under the bonnet and the light on the box was on, definitely different and looking promising.
Made sure everything was where it should be, pressed the ignition key in and eureka she started.
What a relief!
Moral to the tale is check the simple things first,😁
Brian
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[Neil]

Brian, I am glad to hear you sorted FAY, these problems can be difficult to resolve and are often the simpler things to check can be way to the resolution,  this reminds me of assisting a fellow member a few years ago on the way home after the monthly meeting.  His HF spluttered and stopped in the dark of course on a roundabout on a main A road, we pushed the car out of the way into an adjacent petrol station, checked fuel, plug leads all in order, but no spark, then coil and other connections, we thought the alternator had malfuntioned too and the battery had died.. We bump started it, it ran for 10 seconds and stopped again.  Then checked the fuse box as most of the electrics had failed too at that point, easier in a S2 coupe, one fuse had some corrosion gave it a wipe and turned it in the holder and full health was restored in a few moments, the fuse had not blown. 

Moral of the story check your fuses for corrosion every few years!   Any idea why your fuse blew?

[Justin McArdle]

Well done Brian. Good to hear that Faye is back in rude health!!

[fay66]

Thanks fellas,
Still can't figure out why, coming back from Turin in 2013 I lost the horn for no apparent reason, but that was a fuse as well, probably old electrics surged for some reason🤔
Just glad she's sorted.
Brian
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[peterbaker]

Agree about simple things: Driving back from Monte Carlo during a blizzard earlier this year the rocker wiper switch on my 61  Flavia failed to 'rock'. After returning home, and after many weeks I found a replacement switch, a particularly nice design, only to find the original was in perfect condition, just a screw had fallen off and lodged at the back of the console.

[lancialulu]

Glad to have been of help!!!!

[simonandjuliet]

Glad you got it sorted and you can carry on using her again - the only problem with these irritating and intermittent breakdowns is that it makes you cautious for a while, wondering if you will get home next time !

[fay66]

Glad you got it sorted and you can carry on using her again - the only problem with these irritating and intermittent breakdowns is that it makes you cautious for a while, wondering if you will get home next time !

Yes Simon,
I was sweating a bit on Sunday, besides the weather! When I went to the Matching Green classic car show.
But confidence now restored😁
Brian
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