Difficulty warm starting 2200TC

I

ianfordcarr

New Member
Hi, I've got the opposite problem to an earlier thread about cold starting. My 2200TC stands outside and is used very irregularly. However, even after standing for 2 or 3 weeks it always starts cleanly on full choke after 3 or 4 turns of the key and runs smoothly.

Over the last six months or so I've had three experiences where it's failed to start after driving about 6/7 miles, leaving the car for half an hour and then trying to start it. Attempting a warm restart with/without choke, with/without throttle completely fails to get even a cough out of it. It does eventually restart, without the use of either choke or throttle and with no hesitation, as if someone has just thrown a switch. On other occasions it's restarted perfectly.

The electrics should be OK, having had new coil, points, plugs and leads a couple of years ago and I believe the carb setup is OK as they were reset, balanced and Colortuned last year. I did wonder if the ignition switch is faulty and the failure to start only when warm is just a coincidence. Sadly, I don't recall if the ignition light was on during the failed starts and I didn't check for a spark.

Like all good intermittent faults I've not been able to replicate the problem in test drives, where I'm in a position to get a proper look at it, so any comments gratefully received.

Ian

ps I'm not suggesting there are any dark forces at play here, but the starting problem has only happened three times and each time it was in the same B&Q car park.....................Hmmmmmm!!
 
Sounds electrical to me. All you can do is work through the ignition in a methodical and systematic way,checking and cleaning connections and substituting known good parts if you have them. The answer will be in there somewhere. Intermittent faults are annoying though.
 
Wickes Doors aside :mrgreen:

I am assume that your TC still has the heat shield between the exhaust and Carbs?
Sounds to me like a fuel vapour issue. Is it worse on warmer days?
 
Poor starting on a warm/hot engine, is usually a fuel issue... ie fuel vapour issue/weak fuel pump/routing of petrol pipes/missing exhaust heat shield etc
 
Yes, the heat shield is in place and the problem has only occurred 3 times and only over the last 6 months. I don't have enough data to say whether the temperature is an influence, but I've made a mental note to myself to start by hand priming the carbs if it happens again.

In the meantime I'm going to look closely at the l.v. electrics side of the ignition, as I tend to think it's some sort of intermittent supply failure. Given that the engine normally starts, stops and runs OK, and there has only been a problem during starting, I'm now suspecting the coil supply. It's a ballasted coil and I'm wondering if the starter motor switching somtimes fails to supply 12v to the coil during starting, and it's trying to start in cold weather on the reduced voltage coming from the ballast to the coil. Does that make any sort of sense?

Needless to say I'll be taking up the excellent advice to shop at Wickes (unless I need a superior hardwood door of course........).
 
I would suggest a volt meter (analogue not digital) on the LV side of the coil to confirm that you get Volts on cranking first so as to eliminate that aspect then to check or substitute the coil and capacitor (one at a time) when in the fault condition.
To me it sounds like a fueling heat soak problem but I really dont know the in's and out of a 4 pot P6.

Graeme Carr
 
Make sure that the fuel line goes underneath the top radiator hose, not over the hose. Otherwise you will get fuel vaporisation problems.

James.
 
Just got round to checking out the electrics and there was certainly no increase in voltage at the coil during starting. Checked for a 12V outut at the starter solenoid and nothing. Took the starter off and bench tested the solenoid by removing it and manually operating the armature. The main contacts were OK - no noticeable resistance - and both pull-in and hold-in coils checked out OK, with a measuarable resistance across each.

However, there was an open circuit between the main starter contacts and the contact marked IGN, which supplies the 12V feed to the coil (bypassing the ballast during starting). When I stripped the solenoid, intending to replace the endcap, the main contacts were pretty clean. The IGN contact, surprisingly, was also pretty clean, but it was such a feeble piece of copper, which bent very easily, that the slight surface marking it had was enough to prevent a good electrical contact.

A good clean-up all round, with file and emery cloth, restored it to full working order. This seems to be be a weakness with the solenoid fitted to a Lucas 2M100 starter and I'll be keeping an eye on it in future.

Whether it's cured my intermittent starting problem is anyone's guess, but it should certainly help and I'll probably find out next time I go to B&Q.!
 
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