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MG Midget and Sprite Technical - Starting problem

Hi, Can anyone shed any light on this problem, electrics never being my favourite thing.
The Mk IV is intermittently struggling to turn the engine over on starting, however seconds later it can be fine, battery appears good on testing and holds charge, changed solenoid twice - makes no difference.
Could it be the starter motor (which is relatively new) or even something weird like the ignition switch being totally worn (I assumed that would either work or not work at all).

Advice welcome & much appreciated, Paul
Paul (MkI

Paul,
I would check through the electrical contacts, especially the earth connections.

You can eliminate faults with the solenoid by starting it by shorting across the terminals to check it isn't the solenoid sticking. Tricky problems, the intermittent ones!
Guy

Check the engine earth, or to test use a good quality jump lead from neg on the battery and clip direct to engine
Al Charles

Earth problem x3!

Had exactly the same with the GT recently
Pulled every thing measured all connections and all seemd fine.
As a desperate measure I took a jump lead and put it from the - to the engine (a bit harder with a GT)
And it worked better that it ever did!
Cleaned the earth strap and the - connection and tightend both properly.
Boy did that fix all sorts of small problems!
Onno K

Thanks everyone, I'll check the earth tomorrow, I recall similar issues with a dodgy earth to battery connection once.
Paul (MkI

another vote for earth...

My starter jammed the other day... that was a first for me. It was a really cold morning (icicles hanging off the bumper)... started fine in the morning... but when I was leaving work... i got nothing (except the click of the solenoid firing).

Anyone else had their starter jam? trying to establish if the cold had anything to do with it...

Christian

C L Carter

yep, cold and a bit of damp equals ice! Ice is solid and a little cold crud stops the Bendix sliding properly. A clean and all is well.

MGmike
M McAndrew

& on the bad starting front, I couldn't stand the suspense of waiting until tomorrow so I've just been out and added an extra body to engine earth cable. So far it appears the problem is solved so thanks everyone, this BBS is brilliant.
Paul
Paul MkIMkIV

I had a starter rebuilt for my racer a couple of years ago and it gave me some real grief. Fortunately, the MD of the company that rebuiilt it was a friend of mine, so it was sorted fairly quickly.

Just because you have a fairly new starter, doesn't mean that it isn't the problem.
Dave O'Neill2

Paul,
I had the same problem last year, eventually traced it down to the starter end plate being loose. Since tightening it up have had no further problems. As the neg brushes are mounted on the end plate it was effectively a bad earth.

Mike
Mike J Pearson

Another cause of "the solenoid click of death" that I experienced was possibly due to a dead spot on the starter motor commutator,as an eighth of a turn on the square end of the rotor shaft solved the problem. A small 10mm spanner semed to fit best,so I make sure that's always in the boot!
M J Chapman

This thread was discussed between 19/12/2011 and 20/12/2011

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