My car still won't start- Fixed!

[adam73bgt]

Hi,

So basically the car's been working fine for a while now, but when it came to starting it today, it wouldn't start.

Theres power coming from the battery so thats fine, but all I can hear is a click from under the bonnet, no turning over or anything

So does this mean my starter is fubar? is there anything I can check?

The car is an MGBGT

Any help is very appreciated as I use the car daily so cant really afford to not have it working

Thanks

[nelliem]

Could still be the battery, how have you tested this? You can have 12v but not enough amps if its going a bit wobbly.
First thing I'd do is try and jump start it from another car - if that works take the battery off and charge it overnight.
If it still clicks when trying to jump start then it could be the starter solenoid or as you say the starter itself.

[Seth]

Its a B with a pre-engaged starter ie solenoid on the motor? Or one with an inertia starter motor and a separate solenoid?

Can you turn the engine over by hand (with a socket on the crank nut)? Or maybe try rocking the car while it is in gear. I'd have thought the most likely culprit was the stater motor.

[RetroWarwicK]

sticking starter solenoid or a poor earth from the engine block to the body

stick it in gear, switch on ignition. then try gain out of gear. sometimes its enough to unstick it

[dgo]

Old BL trick:

Tap the starter firmly with something insulated (e.g the long handle of a sledge hammer or similar - not too hard though!). Can be as simple as worn brushes sticking and not making contact inside the starter. If that's the solution change the brushes in the starter

[adam73bgt]

Tried jumping it but had no effect

The starter is the later pre-engaged type i believe

will try rocking it on starter and see if that helps at all, may give it a bit of a tap too

[adam73bgt]

Well ive tried the ignition with it in gear and ive tried rocking it by hand while in gear, also gave the starter a few firm taps and it doesnt seem to have done much :/

[waveman1500]

Take the starter out, unbolt all connections, clean them and then bolt it all back in. I did this after having the same fault on my Beetle starter and it has worked perfectly ever since! I didn't believe that the connections could get that bad seemingly overnight, but I have no other explanation for how I fixed it. You may as well clean up the battery terminals while you're at it too.

[rodney]

push start it to move it , but just get a new starter , or try bridging the solonoid to see if its starter,.

[adam73bgt]

Pretty much resigned it to be a duff starter, gonna get one and give it a shot, looks pretty simple to change over

[stealthstylz]

Check that the ignition switch is returning to the IGN position, had a couple of cars where it's left the starter engaged with the engine running and its burnt out very quickly.

[adam73bgt]

I'm pretty sure the ignition switch is ok, it seems to work like it usually does at least..

[ChasR]

It's doing nothing at all? Does your car have any history of having a clutch change? It could be as simple as a broken terminal (easily damaged when changing a clutch IME by many).

If it does turn out to be the ignition switch I do have a spare (new) item lying around for your model of car (I may have broken a 'B with a friend of mine many years ago of that vintage;)).

[adam73bgt]

Nothing except for a click sound, which i assume is the starter solenoid throwing out? ive got no history of a clutch change in the paperwork ive got which covers it back to about 2007 or so, i will have a good look at the wires at the starter to see if anything is amiss, had a clean up of a few of the terminals up top in the engine bay today

[ChasR]

The click probably is the solenoid.

To save the ignition switch in the future (if it is gone) these devices work a treat. It certainly does on my Stag (and to an old Dolomite of mine) . IIRC MGBs don't have a relay for the starter:

www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Triumph-Stag-starter-motor-relay-conversion-/350757421731?_trksid=p2047675.l2557&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEWAX%3AIT&nma=true&si=cdRBSwReyBQzNCFOD%252FJmEJhDuDE%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc

Before going up the wrong tree, silly things like your battery connection etc. are all fine, including engine earths? 'B starter motors IME tend to be reliable but that is not to sat that they are. You say you have power at the battery, but what voltage is present?

[adam73bgt]

isnt the starter relay the little block on the inner wing just behind the fusebox? thats what my book of mgb electrics called it anyway

The battery connections have been a problem in the past but they've been sorted now, so I'm pretty confident its not them, the engine earth is a bit frayed so ill be looking to replace that soon anyway, might give changing it a try before changing starters, not sure entirely on the voltage at the battery but its pretty new and when we put a jump pack on the battery it made no difference, so i don't think starting ampage is the issue.

[adam73bgt]

Right so ive got the starter off







I'm thinking i should try testing it to see if it'll spin at all, so how would i go about testing this? put a 12v feed onto the bottom stud where the feed from the battery was? and then an earth coming from the body of the starter?

[ChasR]

Pretty much it and a feed going into the solenoid that you can remove quickly . Just be a little careful that you do not short out the battery and be aware that starter motors without any form of support (a vice would do) can move about quite a bit.

[adam73bgt]

Well heres an update, fitted a new secondhand starter and the engine turns over but it wont fire at all

Can hear clicking from the fuel pump on turning on the ignition so i think its got fuel

So my thinking is it must be something in the ignition circuit thats gone wrong, but everything seems to be connected up, only thing ive altered in the ignition circuit is moving the earth from the dizzy to the body because it was extremely frayed

Any ideas?

thanks in advance

[vaughant]

Did they have electric pumps?

Either way pull the fuel line off going to the carb to ensure there's actually petrol getting there to rule that out.

Check your coil connections and if possible take a spark plug out,hold it on the lead with insulated pliers near the engine block,get a mate to crank it to see if your getting spark then that's that ruled out.

My guess is your missing one of the above.