Starting problems

[spludge]

Help please. I'm having some problems with cold and hot starts by the look of it. The problem only surfaced today after I bought some tax and took it for its first outing of the year. The car's been laid up for the winter but started regularly and I didn't notice anything untoward until now.

From cold it took a fair few turns of the engine before it fired whereas it used to fire on the first turn. I stopped at a petrol station and filled up, it wouldn't re-start. A couple of good citizens pushed me away from the pumps and left me to sort it out. A few minutes head scratching and pulling fuses and relays didn't fix the problem so I waited a while longer maybe 15 mins in total and gave it one last try before calling the AA, it started. Off I went again and make another stop, again it wouldn't start after a couple of minutes wait so I leave it for 10 minutes and it starts on the next try.

Not a good start to the year, until now its been 100% reliable, damn. Any ideas?

K

[Gerald-TVR]

It could that that bldy yellow connector by the ignition switch

[spludge]

I did have a poke around under the cowl and the connector didn't feel even slightly warm but I will have a closer look in the morning.

K

[spludge]

Ok, I checked the yellow connector and all seems well there, contacts are clean and there is no sign of overheating. I've just run a test with a Gunsons FCR, the first time I've used it, and it reports no faults - at least I think thats what its telling me.

Had the same starting problems again today and I'm beginning to think that it makes no difference whether the engine is hot or cold. Seems to me if it doesn't fire on the first turn of the engine then no amount of cranking will make it run. I did check for a spark after a failed cold start this morning and of course it started straight away.

Once its running everything seems fine. I remain somewhat puzzled.

K

[Barkychoc]

A total guess Ken but I'm thinking weak spark - so if it goes it goes, if it doesn't the plugs get damp with fuel and you're doomed. Maybe check all HT & LT connections, maybe even try another coil if you have one kicking about.

Is there a resistor in the loom on the V6 for the coil anyone?
I'm in wild guess territory now but with ignition on check the voltage at the + on the coil - I think it should be 6 to 8 volts or so.

Try running a temporary wire from the + of the coil to +12v on the battery to see if it fires up.

[spludge]

Thanks for those thoughts Chris, I've done a little work and found a couple of things that might be contibuting to the problems. The distributor cap looks past its best, some erosion of the contacts inside and corrosion in a couple of the HT sockets, I've cleaned it up but it looks like a replacement is in order along with the rotor arm.

Don't think theres a ballast resistor, can't see one on the schematics. Voltage at the coil is around 12.3V which I think is ok.

K