Help needed please.

Brief History:

Owned car for 10years had Mi16 conversion done about 7 years ago by Pug Performance. Car ran fine for year (16,000 miles) or so then bang! Re-built engine with a friend but managed to get dirt on the crank which meant it had to be re-built again. This was 5 years ago and in that time it has only done another 250 road miles.

New crank/bearings/starter/lifters etc. when re-built now the problem:

This has occured approx 3 months after the engine was rebuilt but I didn't have time to fix it, so it has sat in my garage ever since waiting to be looked at, (I keep buying other cars and putting it off).

When the battery is fully charged the car will start but the starter turns quite slow, turn off, start again, bit better this time, turn off, starts but turning slow, turn off, fails to start, starter turns but very very slow, try again and nothing just a clicking sound from the starter trying to engage. Battery then goes flat and the process will start again once the battery has been on a charger for 10mins.

Took the starter motor back and had it tested - o.k so what next?
I also spoke to the head of pug rallying at Ryton and he mentioned that the starter could still be at fault, or new battery but the battery was new when it started doing this 5 years ago. I,ve no idea now and having got the car near concours standard I,m desperate to get it running again.

Any help gladly welcome. (p.s i'm away this weekend so don't worry if I don't reply)

 

Could well be the ignition amplifier mate, known to fail..............

failing that take a look on http://forum.205gtidrivers.com helpful chaps over there!

 

what are the symptons of a failed ignition amplifier p.s the 205 forum is well confusing not sure if i,m posting or not! I think i'll stick to this one as there are many mi16 owners on here or so it seems

Cheers Rob

 

Well first port of call would be the battery, especially if its 5 years old!!

Ignition amp problems are usually found when running by stuttering at revs. Also worth a try would be the dizzy cap (Mi's eat them) and also the coil.

Is your rev counter bouncing up and down when you try to start it (coil/dizzy)?

After that, try cleaning out the brown multiplug on top of the gearbox. The starter wire (thick light blue, no 46) runs from the ignition, through 1 multiplug under the dash, then down to the main brown mplug on the gearbox - these get full of crap.

To check the starter run a length of wire from the battery +ve terminal and join it to the thick bue wire on the brown multiplug (need your ignition switched on for this). If the starter turns with no problems, then the problem lies in the amount of charge running from the ignition barrel.

 

That blue wire only controls the solonoid on the starter not the main starter motor.

With the ignition off do as above (live to No 46 or direct to the solonoid on the starter) and the engine should turn over like any normal engine trying to start. If it doesn't then either

starter poor/broken
battery fcuked
thick cable from battery to starter fcuked
starter not earthing properly (try a direct line touching the starter and the -'ve terminal on the battery - this needs to be a thick wire)

It seems your problem is not running but getting enough power to turn the engine in the first place.

Drop me a pm if these don't work

Kev

 

Thankyou for all the advice I will check all the above points and get back to you. I might be a while though but hopefully not another five years!

 

Dont worry, mine's been out of action for a year now, finally getting near to being sorted though

Keep us posted and if you need any spares just shout, have quite a few left over here.

 

I'm not going to make any comments ......

 

No need, it has a fully connected engine, gearbox, manifold and ancillaries now

Just the cooling and induction to sort out and we're ready to launch.

 

John.