Elan wont start - some simple advice sought!

[Will5000]

Hi there - so this is bread & butter stuff to many of you, but to a Lotus loving non-mechanic like myself it's a challenge...

My '72 Sprint is turning over, but not firing. HT leads are 6 months old - plugs are too. Fuel is low, but fresh (well 5 litres are) - never needed any choke (just as well as it's not connected) and it started OK 3 weeks ago, but i've not been able to go for a good run for weeks. On ignition, with a dip on the throttle, you can hear the note change but without start up. Have i flooded the engine? Probably... but leaving it a few days gets the same result.

Could someone offer some simple checks that I can perform to diagnose the problem (fix it even!) or point me in the direction of a web-site (or book) that would be useful for a beginner like myself.

Thanks in advance - and my apologies for having to ask for such basic help - I suppose we all start somewhere!

Cheers - any advice v. welcome.

Will

[stuartgb100]

Will,

Let's get you started on this, one or two steps at a time. Others will chip in, as you post back your results.

Firstly, crank the engine over whilst regularly pumping the throttle ..... say for 30 - 45 seconds or so. Now remove all plugs. They should be wet.
Report back.

Secondly, clean them, gap to 20 thou, and replace 3 of them. Refit their plug leads.

Fit the remaining plug lead to the 4th plug (and using insulated pliers) earth the threaded section of the plug against a suitable earth (say eg, one of the nuts holding the cam cover to the head). Now turn the engine over for 10 -15 seconds.

You should get a poor spark, a good spark, or a nice fat spark. Check the other plugs similarly.
Report back.

If nothing else tonight (assuming you're in the uk), charge the battery overnight - you're likely to need it !!

Regards,
Stuart.

[gjz30075]

Fit the remaining plug lead to the 4th plug (and using insulated pliers) earth the threaded section of the plug against a suitable earth (say eg, one of the nuts holding the cam cover to the head). Now turn the engine over for 10 -15 seconds.

You should get a poor spark, a good spark, or a nice fat spark. Check the other plugs similarly.
Report back.

I would do this step first. It's easiest and quickest. If you have several plugs lying around, use them instead of pulling yours. Just pull the wires and hook up the plugs and lay them on the cam cover. My cam cover studs are pretty tight against the cover so I know I have a good ground there. If you don't have spare plugs around, go out and buy a few. Good for diagnostics like this.

On the other hand, mine (webers) takes a fair amount of cranking after sitting for several weeks. I don't start giving it gas until I see oil pressure.

[stuartgb100]

Fair point, but on the other hand I'm assuming Will may not have spare plugs etc lying around (given his confession regarding DIY expertise).

I wished to kick the process off as quickly as possible for him, so as to be able to return results ..... that always gives me a boost when the forum starts chipping back in with advice.

Regards,
Stuart.

[Frank Howard]

Will,

I don't think your car will ever start, but I'll do you a favor and take it off your hands.

[gjz30075]

Stuart, yep, fully understand. Lets see what he comes back with unless he gets disgusted and gives it to Frank!

[1964 S1]

I'd check for spark, I'll guess a fouled spark plug problem. I'd put in a new set, again. Did you replace your old plugs with the same brand and heat range? Will it fire if you give it a little starting fluid? What carbs do you have?

[reb53]

When my Sprint is parked up for the winter I fire it up every month or so and go for an illegal short drive around the neighborhood.

On every occasion the float bowls in the Webers are dry and need topping up with a squeeze bottle of gas. If I don't a lot of cranking is needed.

When they are topped up the car starts immediately, as though last driven an hour ago.
So a good check would be to undo the little brass wing-nuts on the top of the Webers and with a flashlight and a blunt (!) piece of thin wire make sure that the floats down inside are actually floating.

A gentle push with your piece of wire should have them bouncing up and down in their little pool of gas.
Don't be brutal as you don't want a hole in a float.
(Though you'd have to be pretty ham-fisted and have strong bit of wire to do that!).

Ralph.

[hatman]

Might well be something as simple/basic as closed-up or dirty points, especially so as it was running a short while ago.

By the way, Will, a quick and easy way to check if fuel's getting into the engine is to crank it over a few times then sniff the exhaust pipe - if it smells of petrol, the inference is pretty clear - it's a sparks problem.

[Will5000]

Guys

Thanks for the advice & tips.

I'll get the chance to try everything maybe later today/early in the week (I live in london & the car lives in a lockup!)

To answer a couple of q's - oil pressure is good - carbs are Dellorto's - plugs weren't the same brand - but were same exchange (I'm 90% sure) -I've got the original manual, so am sure i can locate the carb float nuts and squeeze in some petrol if needed...

... and Frank, thanks for the v. generous offer... but unless you have a pristine '62 Elite knocking about that you'd like to swap, I'll probably hang on to her!

Thanks again for the advice everyone, (and for making it easy for me to follow); I'll report back asap.

cheers

W.

[denicholls2]

I believe the Twink does not have a keyed distributor. This means you can put the distributor in 180 degrees out of phase, which makes each cylinder fire on the intake stroke instead of the power stroke. If you are getting a spark, this could be your problem. Combustion is never good with uncompressed gas.

A simple test that doesn't involve pulling out the dizzy is to swap the leads for cylinders on the same throw but alternate strokes: 1 with 3 and 4 with 2. There are other methods of accomplishing same.

Good luck!

[twincamman]

well the old mantra ----spark- fuel and mixture -----one of them is off ---spark a plug -or -try some quick start ---ed

[Will5000]

Hi again

Having been dragged off to a trade show in Germany for a week, finally got back and tried some of the suggestions.... but still no joy!

Plugs all sending a good spark though, so pretty confident it's not them... Oil pressure is ok too. Not getting that petrol smell throught the exhaust though, so thinking maybe fuel pump - but didn't want to disconnect the fuel leads without trying a few other ideas.

Will report back when next get chance!

thanks again...
Will

[gjz30075]

Do you have the old glass bowl fuel pump? If so, the glass bowl will either show fuel or not. If you have another type of fuel pump, electric or mechanical, just disconnect the line at the carbs and crank it over. If the pump is good, it'll spurt fuel.

Greg Z
'72 Sprint

[1964 S1]

Add gas to tank.