hoping its just damp and cold

[Tiredoldgeezer]

Hiya guys, well jumped in the new toy this morning at 6am, started her up and reversed 12 feet into the middle of my street........she stalled..... and refused to start back up she is turning over, fuel pump primed, battery good, petrol etc, but not wanting to start, oil lamp went out?, anyway got the wife out of bed and we pushed the car back onto the drive. Car is outside at the moment and it has been a little cold and damp over the last 48 hours, but she started fine at the start of the week. So Im hoping its just some damp electrics, came home at lunch time and tried again and did exactly the same.........hmmmm....will try again over the weekend, hopefully it will brighten up and dry out a bit

[dmjw01]

Could simply be the cold-start problem. When starting from cold, the engine runs very rich and is prone to stalling. If this happens it can be very difficult to get it started again.

[Tiredoldgeezer]

OK, will look into it in a bit more detail, thanks for the sign posting

[lesstatt]

Yup i've had this, just leave it for an hour and will prob be fine, be very careful with the throttle for the first minute or so after starting from cold, too much and it will die just like yours did

[Tiredoldgeezer]

Thats exactly what I did, started the car and the revs plummeted and I panicked and touched the accelerator - stalled, going to try again tonight and not touch the accelerator this time and see if the ECU sorts itself out

[Tyre Smoke]

Is your battery 100%? A slight drop made my Chimaera a bloody nightmare. Everything looked okay, turning over fine, plenty oil pressure, just no go.

Can you hear the buzz of the fuel pump when you turn on the ignition?

[lesstatt]

Yup try it later and once started just gently rev it, i dont try and drive off for a min or two

[Tiredoldgeezer]

Fuel pump making the usual priming noise behind my head, battery should be ok, over the weekend done some long runs in it, and was out in it only 2 days ago, but always worth a check I guess?

[Tyre Smoke]

Try turning it over and not touching the throttle and/or jump leads.

You could always try the old Chimaera standby of cleaning the stepper motor, although I never did on mine.

[Tiredoldgeezer]

Well I swiped a 30mm spanner off my dad at the weekend for just such an eventuallity dropping dark now so I think it will be tomorrows project, but I will try and turn it over when I get home, around 5ish, so watch this space for either a cheer or a need for a strong drink

[lesstatt]

Im betting a cheer

[Tiredoldgeezer]

Thanks for the cheer but sadly no joy......and the battery is starting to sound tired tomorrow is another day so will try again tomorrow failing that the break down boys can come out and help me since I don't have any jump start leads at the moment. Will have by the end of the weekend though!

[dog man]

Check inside the dizzy cap..worth a look at the contacts and rotor. Or it might be the ignition amplifier module. This went on my old Dodge Coronet (which had electronic ign fitted) I had exactly the same thing, all running well then wouldnt start. If you check for a spark and fuel you might narrow things down a bit.

[scruggs]

Classic cold start 'problem' that is not actually a problem. It over fuels on cold start. You have to sit and wait for around 1 minute before driving off or you rich cut and flood it trying to re-start.

Get the battery charged up then press the accelerator pedal flat to the floor and turn her over. It will cough a bit at first.

The car is early 90's technology and not like modern metal. It likes to get itself sorted out before driving off. Just have to wait a minute, not really a problem.

[Tyre Smoke]

scruggs said:

Classic cold start 'problem' that is not actually a problem. It over fuels on cold start. You have to sit and wait for around 1 minute before driving off or you rich cut and flood it trying to re-start.

Get the battery charged up then press the accelerator pedal flat to the floor and turn her over. It will cough a bit at first.

The engine is '50's technology and not like modern metal. It likes to get itself sorted out before driving off. Just have to wait a minute, not really a problem.

Fixed that for you.

[pincher]

scruggs said:

...press the accelerator pedal flat to the floor and turn her over. It will cough a bit at first.

^This. Happened to me last winter - freezing outside, started up in the garage, reversed out straight away and switched off to lock the garage back up. Got back in again and it wouldn't start. I had flooded it as I switched off too quickly. A flat to the floor approach got it going again. Chucked a load if ste out the back though!!

[quattrophenia]

lesstatt said:

Yup try it later and once started just gently rev it, i dont try and drive off for a min or two

+1
They nearly all seem to do that sir!

Quite a few threads on this during the cold weather which started last January. When cold I keep off the loud pedal for upto 2 minutes and let the revs drop naturally. If you stall it whilst its overfuelling it can be a real bh to re-start.
I now quite enjoy the super unleaded aroma that wafts around my garage, it kind of reminds me that I'm in the Tiv today

Edited by quattrophenia on Saturday 22 January 11:28

[bsdnazz]

The engine could be flooded due to over fuelling when cold.

I've done this a couple of times and learnt my lesson. Assuming your batter is charged, start the car on full throttle and just keep cranking the engine until it fires!

The first time I flooded the car I tried (a lot) to start it on normal throttle and had no joy. Eventually I cracked and called the AA. The patrol man got me to crank the engine on full throttle and after about 60 seconds (yes 60) the engine fired and started in a cloud of smoke.

I've since stalled a few times while slowly driving up out of my 'drive' (ie. paved front garden) on to the road. Full throttle restarts have worked every time so far.

[Tiredoldgeezer]

Much appreciated guys started this morning cleaning the stepper and tried again and no joy. Aa man here for a bit but in the end we flattened my battery and we couldn't get his truck close enough on the street to jump lead it properly, he came in a massive truck recover unit and blocked the street, hes gone to get a smaller truck to park closer to the house lol at least it's not snowing

[Tiredoldgeezer]

What a day, the up shot is it still does not work, and my battery is still flat, Aa man blaming a dodgy distributor, had planned to take it to forzawest for a service next week, looks like it will be towed there earlier than planned Grrrrr the joys of tvr ownership. On a brighter note water proved the roof with a gtechniq product well impressed, may fork out for the water repellant glass and body liquids next