Fellow Listers....
Many thanks to the nearly one dozen responses to my cry for help on
starting my freshly rebuilt MGA 1500 - Particular thanks to Barney for his
extensive treatise on determining the problem. I have concluded over the
many months that I have been on the list that Barney knows everything there
is to know about MGA's.
My problem was this. I had my MGA 1500 professionally rebuilt. Put all
the assessories on and installed the engine. Turned the key on and pulled
the starter knob and the engine barely turned over and within about 20
seconds, no more turning of the engine. New battery (series 26 -12 volt, off
the shelf at Sears).
I wondered if the engine was too tight. After sending my original email
to the list, I remembered that I had turned the engine with a cresent wrench
to properly install the distributor. I also did Barney's "rock in fourth
gear" test and found that the engine would turn and was not too tight.
I charged the battery, thinking that it may have gone dead on the Sears
shelf. Pulled the starter knob a day after being on trickle charge and the
engine cranked over nicely for about 10 to 20 seconds and came to a halt once
again. Continual pulls on the starter knob produce a "clunk" in the starter,
but the exposed end of the starter center assembly doesn't even retract into
the starter housing (indicating no engagement of the starter gear and the
flywheel ring gear).
I put a volt meter on the starter during this non-responsive period and
find that I have 9.5 volts - indicting that I have a bad starter problem,
according to Barney's criteria.
So, I intend on taking the starter off and taking it to a electrical
motor shop to see if they can bring it back to life. Otherwise, I will need
to get another starter.
Thanks again for all of the help...
Joe Ratigan
'58 Roadster (almost ready to roar)
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