Club 80-90 Forums

ok, I placed a full charged battery on van. The van has been stood for a few months now outside.

Engine turns very slowly, no firing.

My plan is

1. clean all the electrical connections at the starter motor.
2. clean up all the main earths.
3 replace the starter motor.

Am I barking up the right tree,

Any ideas suggestions appreciated.

Does anyone know the part number for the starter motor and where to get one?


Cheers Chaps and chapesses

you will need to be taking your old one with you , they are an exchange unit, so identifycation shouldnt be an issue.
GSF seem to be the easiest place.

make sure you change the bushing when you change the starter, if indeed that is your problem...........

lack of use will have speeded up corrosion of the earth points.
the gearbox nose mount is the crucial one, but dont overlook the actual battery earth connection where it joins the van.

Have the battery 'drop tested' by your local motor factors/ garage, by the sound of things it may have a dead cell.

Q, is the battery water level OK ? if not top up before charging,,:shock: Unless it is a sealed one..
..............................................................................................................

If battery has a dead /poor cell this can be checked by your lass turning the key into the start position while you look at the water covering each of the cells,,,,,,,,,if any of them are bubling during engine being cranked usually indicates that the battery is buggered .

I'd be starting with this point before anything else.


Regards


Fritz,,,,,,,,

I've about 4 batteries in the garage.

Is there a minimum size, strength ?

065 is the usual one for the vehicle. You can go higher if you run alot of entertainment system etc.

Check it's not just the HT leads and distributor cap/arm that needs doing. Alot cheaper and easier than doing the starter motor.

GSF part numbers:

92150 Dist. cap
92621E HT lead set (N.B. you need to uscrew the spark plug nipples to fit these)
SB95001 Set of spark plugs

Total with post: £27.62 (approx)

What you propose to do will in my opinion eliminate your fault.
Given that you have tried different (charged) batteries my money would be on a duff starter.
In my opinion drop testing is a very crude and poor test of battery condition, a brand new but only partially charged battery would fail a drop test. A more accurate diagnosis is testing each of the 6 cells specific gravity.
1.280 fully charged.....1.050 flat.....all cells should be relatively close and a dead cell reads much lower, much more accurate that a drop test.
Martin

a worn starter bush will give you those symptons and cost about a quid.
Starter out, 12mmtap into bush, turn and pull if it isn't already in bits.
Fit a new bush on a 10mm bolt with the nut screwed on to make a shoulder. Grease it all up and try it.

Go through your earths though, especially the 13mm bolt that attaches to the body near the battery. Take it out and clean it up

I've had the same problem on a 1.9 petrol engined crewcab.

New starter, new ignition gear and more.

Like Laurie said - check the battery to body earth (remove it, clean up the connector and body underneath it) then tighten it down. If there is any looseness it will cause a problem.

Mine looked tight, but on fiddling the last 2 threads of the bolt let it move around. I fitted a new bolt and all seems OK now.

poshbuggers wrote:I've had the same problem on a 1.9 petrol engined crewcab.

New starter, new ignition gear and more.

Like Laurie said - check the battery to body earth (remove it, clean up the connector and body underneath it) then tighten it down. If there is any looseness it will cause a problem.

Mine looked tight, but on fiddling the last 2 threads of the bolt let it move around. I fitted a new bolt and all seems OK now.

Yes all that is very good advice but you don't say if you are able to start it at all. For instance does it bump start easy enough? My CF sometimes would stop at a roundabout/traffic light and fail to start again as if the battery was flat although it bumped easy enough. Luckily enough I had a second battery which could be switched in but I never really got to the bottom of it. My (current) 2.1 DJ had all that slow turning stuff but did start as it happened. A new starter I think from JK did the trick straight away and came with a new bush which I extracted and fitted using M8 studding and sleeves/washers.
Cheers
Wolfie (PAKA Smiffy)

No I can't get the van started. Just slow turning and no firing.

I disconnected the pipe that pumps fuel into the carb. - No petrol coming out

So I disconnected the pipe putting fuel into the pump and sucked the petrol up. Then reconnected it.

I am right in assuming that if the engine is turning very slowly then the fuel pump will struggle to suck the fuel from the tank and into the carb?

slow turning can also be caused by the timing being too far advanced, but this normally only shows up when warm, so i didnt mention it (Sounds like smiffys CF had this)

if you havent run the van for ages, the petrol pump maybe at fault, its a long way to suck from the tank, drop a egg cup full down the top of the carb.
Also remember this decaf unleaded petrol "goes off" and wont explode if its too old, so try some nice freshly picked petrol.

still think its the earths or battery connections tho.......

Bit of a cheats way (used to do it on bugs) is a capfull of petrol straight down the carb. Few attempts at that often kicked the engine into life long enough to pump fuel through. Starters DO get lazy too and if they're going to fail (like batteries) it will be in the winter months - ask any garage.

CovKid wrote:Bit of a cheats way (used to do it on bugs) is a capfull of petrol straight down the carb. Few attempts at that often kicked the engine into life long enough to pump fuel through. Starters DO get lazy too and if they're going to fail (like batteries) it will be in the winter months - ask any garage.

Well I suppose you could use Quickstart (Mainly an Ether spraycan) or even more direct put a small amount of petrol down each plug hole using a drinking straw as a pipette to measure it . About one inch is about right. But if you can't spin the engine very quickly it will all come to nothing. Before you do this though spin the motor over with no plugs (on electronic ignition make sure the plugs have the leads on and are sitting on the matal of the engine as open circuits can damagethe ignition module etc) Spinning it with no plugs will loosen it up and clear any gungeification from the works. Regarding the previous post I have not found petrol to deteriorate over winter as I do not drain my boat (Ford 1600 XFlow) but over several years you will find corrosion in the carbs and fuel sytems if the engine isn't started. In your case I suggest you go back to basics ie:
Compression, sparks - at the right time!, fuel etc. Whatever happens though you must have it turning over nicely on the starter.
Regards
Wolfie (Smith)

Many thanks everyone for the sound advice.

I'm sure lots of people all over the country will have a similar problems as vans get stored over the winter.


I'm starting at the begining , I've just got back from the motorist discount store with a hydrometer. £1.97

I'm off to the garage

Many thanks everyone.

I had similar problem last year and it was the starter motor bush....