Engine won't fire. Any ideas?
Discussion
caduceus said:
Don't have a multimeter. But will check the other things in the morning. Whip the plugs out first. Then check leads, etc.
Seems funny there was only a fuel smell from ONLY the N/S exhaust pipe....
Fuel smell..........suggest this is irrelevent as the exhaust headers join at the Y piece and split at the silencer box to make two tail pipesSeems funny there was only a fuel smell from ONLY the N/S exhaust pipe....
Steve_D said:
Looks like the odds will be opening out on my bet so I'm going for a spread bet on
'Ignition leads in wrong order'
Steve
I had this after my rebuild. 'Ignition leads in wrong order'
Steve
Only problem as i turned it over, and it was only for 10 to 15 secs, it misfired and banged so loud i almost sh
t myself, and then there was an almighty explosion with smoke rising up from the back of the engine.I had managed to blow the valley gasket almost inside out and oil was pouring out all over the bellhousing.
Steve_D said:
From the noise on cranking I'm placing my bet on dizzy 180 degrees out.
Steve
I've checked the dizzy cap this morning. There is only one way it can got on, as there is a cut out and tab to align the cap with body. Also the dizzy body itself has that regulator thing on the front that points to the N/S part of the aux belt. So that's right.Steve
If that's what you mean
I'm assuming I got the timing wrong when I first put the dizzy in.
- Take off oil filler cap
- Rotate the crank, past the inlet valve opening and closing, then as the exhaust valve starts to move turn until the balancer hits TDC. Or something like that (can't remember exactly, as I phoned V8D on how to do it).
- Then put dizzy in correct position as when it was taken out.
- Place rotor arm pointing to cylinder 1 lead on cap.
I'm just going to find a guide online on how to do it again, and repeat the procedure. Then re check the leads and try firing up again.
Just so fed up of having to go over stuff again and again
Edited by caduceus on Wednesday 15th February 07:48
I thought that it was only possible to get it either correct or 180 degrees out, if that's the case just swap your leads around to fire in that order and start the car before you start taking the dizzy off again.
(Never done an rv8 one, don't think that it'd kill anything by doing that)
(Never done an rv8 one, don't think that it'd kill anything by doing that)
Edited by s p a c e m a n on Wednesday 15th February 09:08
Just got it to TDC on the firing stroke. Took off the dizzy cap, and it was pointing to cylinder 4! 
God knows how that happened. When I did this the first time round I set it at 1
Maybe I was on the pop at the time.
Going to take out dizzy and drop it back in with the arm pointing to 1 again. Although I just read on a Landy forum it's best to set it near number 8 so when the gear teeth notch together as you push the dizzy home it'll slot nearer to number 1.
God knows how that happened. When I did this the first time round I set it at 1 Maybe I was on the pop at the time.
Going to take out dizzy and drop it back in with the arm pointing to 1 again. Although I just read on a Landy forum it's best to set it near number 8 so when the gear teeth notch together as you push the dizzy home it'll slot nearer to number 1.
Made this error 25 years ago when reinstalling the 3.5 V8 in my MGB. Don't remember the details now but the whole lot had been put back together 'one plug out' so to speak. On reassembly I followed the book and it didn't work. A bright light moment insued 
(it was a long time ago) and I moved all the leads round one place on the dizzy cap. Turned the key and bingo! (There was some logic at the time but the finer details escape me now.)
Sounds like you may well be onto this by now.
(it was a long time ago) and I moved all the leads round one place on the dizzy cap. Turned the key and bingo! (There was some logic at the time but the finer details escape me now.)Sounds like you may well be onto this by now.
Yes, I suppose I could have moved the leads around two places clockwise, but I had to do the whole rotation of the crank to TDC firing on 1 to find out anyway.
I'm praying this will be what the reason for it not starting. But I would have thought there would have been at least one or two pops at some point during all the attempts to get it going.....
I'm praying this will be what the reason for it not starting. But I would have thought there would have been at least one or two pops at some point during all the attempts to get it going.....
Easy to cock things up big time, as the oil pump is driven off the bottom of the distributor- (this is pre serp- I assume the serp is the same anyone?) and has a big notch you have to align in the dizzy cog to get it to seat into the oil pump. The problem starts as you remove the dizzy and it has a helical gear, so it turns the oil pump as you pull the dizzy upwards. You have the reverse issue when you put the dizzy back in, and the whole affect is the you can easily get the oil pump to move to a different position so the dizzy now sits back down some distance around from where it started as it locks into the oil pump.
So to start from scratch, so rotate the engine to top dead center with number one on compression. You can tell the compression part by loosening number one plug, and you should hear it leak on compression as you turn the engine.
Now turn the rotor arm so its back from about 15' anticlockwise from pointing at number one takeoff on the dizzy and try and fit it. The rotor arm should rotate to near the correct position as the dizzy slides down.
If it wont sit fully down you need to get the oil pump in the correct position to mesh with the dizzy- you can crush a bit of metal tube so you can lock it into the oil pump slot to turn it- bit by bit until it meshes. Lots of trail and error. Having got the basics right the rest needs to be done with a strobe.
So to start from scratch, so rotate the engine to top dead center with number one on compression. You can tell the compression part by loosening number one plug, and you should hear it leak on compression as you turn the engine.
Now turn the rotor arm so its back from about 15' anticlockwise from pointing at number one takeoff on the dizzy and try and fit it. The rotor arm should rotate to near the correct position as the dizzy slides down.
If it wont sit fully down you need to get the oil pump in the correct position to mesh with the dizzy- you can crush a bit of metal tube so you can lock it into the oil pump slot to turn it- bit by bit until it meshes. Lots of trail and error. Having got the basics right the rest needs to be done with a strobe.
It's sorted now (well, pre-start at least). It's a serp engine so the pump is driven from the crank, not the dizzy. Probably a little easier in that respect. When I lined it up to go down I had the rotor pointing nearer to cylinder 2, so when it slotted in, the rotor turned nearer to 1. Then just turned the dizzy body a little to line up exactly at 1.
Just awaiting a friend to come over to sit in the hot seat and keep the revs up while I check for leaks and bleed the coolant properly. Praying it starts this time. Otherwise I'll be finding a tree and a bit of rope :/
Just awaiting a friend to come over to sit in the hot seat and keep the revs up while I check for leaks and bleed the coolant properly. Praying it starts this time. Otherwise I'll be finding a tree and a bit of rope :/
caduceus said:
........But I would have thought there would have been at least one or two pops at some point during all the attempts to get it going.....
No pops but those hesitations during cranking was that cylinder trying to fire when it was coming up to compression. The fire then tried to drive that piston back down against the starter hence the hesitation.Steve
Set off yesterday with a clean engine bay, dry roads.
100 miles later there were muddy water splashes and dust all over the engine bay.
Total dog's breakfast.
Sometimes I think the Rover V8 engine is no more than an old geezer, watching our efforts and laughing at us in a knowing way...
100 miles later there were muddy water splashes and dust all over the engine bay.
Total dog's breakfast.
Sometimes I think the Rover V8 engine is no more than an old geezer, watching our efforts and laughing at us in a knowing way...
She lives again!
Started first time, and with a bit of dizzy tweaking she was purring, loudly...
Solid 50psi dropping to about 45 when it was hot and fan kicking in. Temp wise it never got to 100 degrees. Just topped out at 90 and fell to around 60/65. The y piece to where it joins the main exhaust was glowing cherry red at one point. Then it seemed to just disappear. Not sure what that was all about.
She sounds beautiful. I forgot how great these cars sound.
Thanks for the support guys. Means a lot.
Cad
Steve_D said:
No pops but those hesitations during cranking was that cylinder trying to fire when it was coming up to compression. The fire then tried to drive that piston back down against the starter hence the hesitation.
Steve
Hurrah! Glad it's sorted! Steve
In my case it did idle (if you could call it that) really roughly but would not rev at all. Took me ages to figure out the problem. With all leads 'one place out' I was actually surprised it fired at all with the timing 45 degrees out!
At two places out you don't stand a chance.
wuckfitracing said:
Have you had the distributor out ? If so is the rotor arm pointing to the lead on the distributor cap that goes to number 1 cylinder when at the top the compression stroke. Might sound daft but I know of several people who have done this wrong (not me).
Happy you sorted it, can I add you to my list of people that have done this
Thanks chaps.
This is how hot things got during the 20 minute cam run in
I'm assuming it was a combination of the exhaust wrap not letting the heat disperse from the manifolds, and over-fuelling whilst the ECU works out the new cam and far from perfect timing...?
It DID settle and disappear after about 15 minutes.
This is how hot things got during the 20 minute cam run in
I'm assuming it was a combination of the exhaust wrap not letting the heat disperse from the manifolds, and over-fuelling whilst the ECU works out the new cam and far from perfect timing...?
It DID settle and disappear after about 15 minutes.
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