S1 Starting Problem

[Greg]

Unfortunately due to work commitments and a broken throttle cable my S1 Fulvia 1.3S Sport has been stood for about four months. Once I had a bit of time and got the new cable sorted I tried to start the car only for the engine to turn over and then not fire. The last time the car was used it ran perfectly without any problems clocking up about 250 miles over a weekend so I don’t think it can be anything to serious. 

I’ve tried the classic trick of pumping the throttle to get it started, the car is standard so doesn’t have an electric fuel pump, but nothing. I’ve checked the plugs and they are in good condition, and they spark so I am reasonably sure it isn’t an electrical issue with the coil, points, condenser, etc and I’ve got the engine to fire for a very short period of time with easy start so the only thing I can think of is that the carburettors, standard Solex 35’s, are not getting any fuel. I’m guess because the car has been stood for a while, the fuel could have evaporated or gravity has allowed the fuel to fall from the carb’s. As a result I guess I need to prime the carb’s, so can anyone please advise me on the best way to do this and get the fuel going to the carb’s again?

[chugga boom]

often mechanical pumps wont draw fuel unless the diaphram is wet with fuel, the best way we have found is to fill the carbs with fuel with a fairy liquid bottle or similar straight onto the fuel pump outlet pipe of the pump, then poor a little back down into the pump, it maybe worth cranking the engine over with the fuel pipe off after to see if the pump has primed, sometimes the main fuel line or filter in the tank can become choked starving the pump of fuel, also when filling the carbs make sure they fill propperly as sometimes the float valves can stick, a gentle tap with a hammer shaft will normally free them off, good luck jp

[Scott]

This certainly sounds like a fuelling issue - and priming the carbs as Chugga Boom has suggested is where I'd start.

My own Fulvia often stands for a while between uses. A modification I made, following an article in Viva Lancia! by the esteemed Andrea Nistri some time ago, was to fit an (inexpensive) electric fuel pump in line with the fuel supply hose. The pump is activated by a button in the car. I simply switch on the ignition and push the button and fuel is sucked up from the tank by the fuel pump and dumped in the carbs. I then start the car - and it always fires first time. With the car running fuelling is undertaken by the normal mechanical fuel pump - the little electric pump is used just for starting. This simple and inexpensive addition saves wear and tear (which used to make me wince as the engine turned over and over on the starter motor waiting for that fuel to apepar) and alleviates that slightly 'fingers crossed' anticipation! 

[Greg]

Thanks guys, I will have a look and hopefully it will prove simple to solve.

[fay66]

I've had a solid state electric pump fitted near to the tank at the rear for the same reasons as Scott, and it works perfectly, no more grinding over and over,
One point I hadn't really thought about that a friend pointed out with using this system, is that previously with the big grind the oil pressure built up before the engine fired, now it doesn't

Brian
8227

[lancialulu]

I'd recommend the Nistri mod electric priming too, and you have a back up if the mech pump failed while out on the road!

Tim

[lee69]

Picked up the 2C today after nearly 9 months at Tanc's. Unfortunately it's suffered from standing for prolonged periods and wouldn't start, even with a new battery fitted. Fuel's getting to the carbs, but there's no spark at the plugs, so we came away today, with the car on my hired trailer and newly purchased ignition bits and bobs - contacts, HT leads etc.  But at least I now have working brakes on 4 not 2 wheels and a functioning handbrake! Unfortunately they had no appropriate plugs or distributor cap in stock, so I'll have to sort these myself. Can anyone advise the best plugs for a 1298 engine and does anyone have a spare distributor cap they'd like to sell? 

On a more depressing note the rotted sill (driver's side) is much worse than I expected, but I have someone lined up to do the work, then it's just the wheelarches, door bottoms, various scabs and dings to sort - if and when I have some spare pennies 

[Scarpia]

I think NGK's (BP7ES) are ok. My coupe with the same engine runs fine on this but I'm not sure if the set up on the saloon requires the same plug types ?

Brian makes a good point.All this "bursting instantly into life" is fine if the oil has had chance to circulate.If a car has stood for a while (which many of ours do) I think its not such a bad thing that you need to turn it over a while before it fires up and give the oil chance to reach all the parts it needs to.Otherwise you place considerable forces on metal to metal surfaces give, that the oil has "drained down"

[fay66]

Hi Lee,
Pleased to hear you've got your Berlina back, although I would have thought it would have been returned to you as a running vehicle

What engine it is that you have in your car now, do you know the engine type or what the engine was out of? I would think it more than likely the the 1298cc engine you have came from a Coupe, bearing in mind the 1300cc engine in series 1 Berlinas was only fitted to the GTE, and there wasn't very many of them about in the first place.
Was the engine out of a series 1 Fulvia or series 2? I suspect series 2.
What plugs are currently fitted? as Peter didn't appear to have a problem with them on the Historique Monte Carlo

Brian
8227

[Greg]

Right I’ve had a go at the car and have had a little success but still not started. Right first I filled the glass fuel filter container with petrol, and then took off the fuel pipe from the filter to the fuel pump. This went well but after a short while I realised the fuel was coming out as I was putting it in, as far as I could see, from the pump, well at the join just in front, so as a result it drained down the sump and on to the floor, I cleaned this let it stop and evaporate. After for a while I removed the pipe between the carbs and used it to add fuel directly into each carb. After this I removed the carb end of the pipe that goes from the carb down to the pump and tried to fill it. This time it seemed to work and the pump didn’t leak fuel anymore. To check this I filled the pipe from the filter end down to the pump and it still didn’t leak. Is this wishful thinking but I am guessing that this was dry and so had contracted allowing a leak to form, but now that it has fuel again it has expanded plugging the hole or is this a big issue potentially causing flames and fire etc etc?

After this I tried to start the engine and after a few tries it tried to kick into life, well went “bah bah” as if it was just about to start, so I pumped the throttle a few times and it did the same. Then I added a bit more fuel to the pipes to see if this helped, it didn’t seem to. This happened a few time until it wouldn’t even try to start and the starter motor just turned over the engine. To check if fuel was getting to the carbs, as I had stripped down the air filter I could look down the carb barrels to see if there was fuel being injected into the carb when the throttle was pressed. On three of the four it was but the one at the back (Number 4 cylinder I Think) refused to inject the fuel, am I correct in thinking this is the “pump injector”? Well that’s what it look like when I reference my the solex cross-section I have, just in front of the butterfly poking down from he top as you look down the barrel. If so what can I do about it, do I need to take this out and clean/renew it? And if I do that will I alter the setup of the carbs?

Also I suspected that I may have flooded the engine pumping the throttle and dumping fuel in the cylinders so had a look at the plugs. They were wet and had a strong fuel of petrol so I am guessing that this is the case. As a result, for ease, I propose to replace them with new ones. I am currently using NGK BP6ES as I found the car easier to start with these instead of the NGK BP7ES I had used before. I guess just replace them with the same (BP6ES) again? Also the coil I am using uses a ballast resistor and appropriate coil, both are reasonably new, but could this cause me any problems?

Once again many thanks for your help

[Richard Fridd]

hi lee 69, which dist. cap. do you need?got some in the loft/ autojumble +complete dizzys

[lancialulu]

Re plugs for a non HF 1298cc lancia engine NGK recommend BP7ES, but if fouling is experienced up the heat range to BP6ES.

I have always used 7's after trying the equivent champion N7Y's which always gave starting proplems after a lay off. Changed to the NGK's and always had good starting.

On Gregs problem - it hasnt been proven that the fuel pump is working. With the spark plugs out and the ignition disabled (unplug the coil lead and the distributor points lead to the coil crank the engine to see if fuel is being drawn up by the pump. On S2's there is a fuel return pipe so easy to see. I guess in S1's you will have to rig up a container to pump into, or see if fuel is in the transfer pipe across the pair of carbs. I assume this will be transparent as standard rather than an after market rubber fuel pipe which you cant see what is going on. It could be that No4 Accelerator pump is not working, or it just hasnt any fuel in the float chamber to pump.

Tim

[lee69]

Thanks for the advice guys, I'm back over to where the car's now stored on Wednesday (25 miles away, but secure and dry) and will check the dizzy type, plugs and engine number.  The main problem has been the length of time that the car's stood idle over winter - entirely my fault, Tanc's did their best today and to be fair did finish the car some time ago, when it was all working fine.

[nistri]

Well, many thanks to all of you who wrote nice comments about my suggestion for the electric fuel pump to prime the carbs.

I have stripped several Fulvia engines which had not been moved for considerable time and always found an oil film on the bearings. The oil pressure that is built up during cranking is very small, while with a good oil pump driven by the engine firing speed the pressure goes up immediately (within a few seconds). It is also fair to say that a number of oil pumps have now passed the best...Prolonged cranking produces a lot of wear on the flywheel teeth and will never put up significant oil pressure for the camshafts. So using an electric fuel pump to prime the engine is not a bad idea. It is also VERY useful to make a good earth connection of the battery neg lead to the gearbox: usually this is very dirty and has high resistance. Amazing to see how doing this will improve starting (if the gearbox has also a good ground to the engine, of course).

Plugs for 1300 cc engines: I always use NGK BP7ES for all the 302 and 303 engines I have. However, I have not seen any bad behaviour with the more widely available BPR7ES. If I have a bit of extra money, I go for BPR7EIX (expensive). All plugs must be precisely gapped to Fulvia specs (0.55 mm with standard ignition, 0.65 mm with electronic ignition). Points should have 57 +/- 3 degree dwell angle. Ignition timing should be spot on 8 (or 2 teeth before TDC for S1 engines). Many distributors are now worn and have a large axial play which should be eliminated (0.1 mm max) with suitable shims. Otherwise, you get erratic timing typically seen as different static timing values depending on cylinder 1 or 4. With a strobo light one would notice a flickering timing mark at idle. Oiling the distributor through its special hole is a useful servicing operation to prolong its life, although it will not eliminate existing wear.

If the engine won't fire, I would check the condensor, measure the coil resistance with an AV meter, and look carefully at the distributor (points, etc). If the fuel hose between carbs is transparent, it is easy to see if petrol reaches the carbs. Otherwise, disconnect the inlet pipe at the carbs, put it safely in a clean glass jar, (with coil lead disconnected) see if petrol is flowing when cranking. If the carbs throttle pumps are clogged (quite common), the car will run badly but will run (with poor acceleration). Most carbs are (largely) unbalanced and account for unhappy running but not for lack of starting. To the best of my knowledge, carb balancing can only be done with vacuum meters despite a lot of interesting stories on how to do it by ear or other empyrical solutions.

It is not difficult to check if a spark reaches the plugs by removing the plug lead, placing it near one valvecover bolt and looking for a spark when cranking (use thick rubber gloves for this).

If nothing of all this will help, it is necessary to check the engine compression with a tester.

Good luck
Andrea

[Greg]

Thanks guys for the reply they are very helpful.

I've decided that due to the leak from the fuel pump, from the gasket i guess, i am going to replace this first, for peace of mind and obvious safety reasons, then have a go at this again. As I said at the start I've checked the spark by taking a plug out and seeing if it sparks which is does, so I'm still thinking that it is likely to be a fuel issue. Unfortunately the pipe between the two carbs is not clear so has obviously been replaced at some point so I guess i will have to put the end in a jar or something to see if the pump is pumping. I guess it is fine to disconnect the pipe that runs from the pump to the carb and use this to see if the fuel comes through?

Am I likely to encounter any problems with changing the pump? I would prefer not to have to remove the carbs, dynamo, etc, but looking at it, access seems to be a bit of an issue as everything is tightly packed down that side of the engine.