When you say 'hard to start' do mean poor cranking or cranking but no go? I
note you had no power to the starter at one point, is this always the case?
The former is probably battery or connections (possibly starter) but the
latter is more likely ignition or fuel - have you checked fuel delivery? I
had starting problems with my V8 for a while that indicated starter or heavy
current cable problems but in fact turned out to be a bad connection to the
operate spade of the solenoid - it is very exposed to the elements and
extreme heat particularly if the heat shield is missing.
When the engine stutters and dies and then won't start (is it cranking?)
watching the flashes (or not) on a timing light (if you had one!) would
indicate whether it was ignition (i.e. cooked coil) or fuel related. Once
the engine is running battery condition shouldn't really be a factor, and
given the choke and accellerator cables and the propensity of these to fry
when cranking when the engine if the engine ground strap has failed I
wouldn't expect this failing to cause the engine to stop running (with all
due respect to Barney, whom I much admire).
Your temp gauge readings are lower than normal for the factory thermostatic
switch (NLA), and lower even than for the replacement, but that is not
neccesarily a bad thing as long as the gauge is reading correctly.
The coil should definitely be warm, if not quite hot to the touch after
normal running. It would remain cold if parked with the ignition on and the
engine stopped if the points happened to be open. Check the voltage at the
+ve terminal with points closed and open. Should be about 6v closed and 12v
open if you have a ballasted system (which my manual indicates was the case
for all years of the V8). Also do this when it has spluttered and died. I
know you don't have much by way of tools and testers, but you won't get far
in diagnosing this (or these, you could have more than one problem,
especially on a new purchase). Are you anywhere near the Midlands these
days or back in Ireland?
Cheers,
PaulH.
----- Original Message -----
From: Neil Cotty <neilc@apphosting.com>
To: <mgs@autox.team.net>
Sent: Tuesday, January 02, 2001 2:23 PM
Subject: Engine Dies - V8
> Pulling into the driveway of my uncles house, the
> car started to splutter, then died. I couldn't get any power to the
starter at
> all, ignition light on. This was after perhaps a three hour drive at
night,
> with lights, fans cutting in, stereo etc. Next morning she started up fine
but
> still hard to start. On the way into Edinburgh, she died on me twice,
started
> to misfire, then died, again no power to the starter. I took her to a
> specialist in Edinburgh but that didn't solve much except cost me ###'s. I
> ended up with a new fuel pump, new condensor and points but still the
problem
> persisted.
>
> She gets a bit above N before the
> fans cut in and bring her down to N or just below.
>
> After the last mechanic, I drove her for three hours again, at night, and
the
> same problem reoccured, misfiring, then cutting out but always crawling
around
> town, no probs on the freeway. Last night and over the last couple of days
> she's seems a bit better, but still starts to develop a misfire once the
> engine gets warm enough and the fans cut in but not serious enough to
stall
> her - maybe only because there hasn't been enough time for the fault to
> present itself again.
>
> Any ideas? I am going to buy a few tools here to check the timing, dwell
etc
> as I have nothing not even a single screwdriver at the moment!! <G> I am
> wondering if it could be the coil (lucas sport) but it is staying bone
cold. I
> am also wondering if it could be the batteries at fault. The alternator is
> putting out 13.8V no matter what rpms, the battery shows about 12.5V with
the
> motor off. I also considered the ground strap but the lights all work fine
etc
> etc. Could it be that the ground is not good enough for the ignition but
ok
> for the lights etc? The car had a relatively recent respray and hardly any
> driving since.
>
> Thanks all and a happy new year! :)
>
> Cheers,
> Neil
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