help starting my Austin...

[Goodson]

I have a 1960 Healy 3000 which has been sitting in my garage for a few months. It used to start just fine and now is turning over, but just not starting. I know very little about cars--are there any other things I should try to get it started? I have the Choke on but that's not enough...

Thanks for any advice!
John

 

[Basil]

I'm not a Healey guy so I don't want to go to far with my advice, but the first thing to determine is whether the problem is a lack of fuel or a lack of spark - the two things needed for any engine to run. That said, I'll defer to others here to jump in with specifics on how to check these both on your particular car.
Basil

 

[roscoe]

Fuel, spark, air and timing. Does your fuel pump run when you turn on the ignition?. It should click rapidly if it has not been run in a while and then slow down and either stop of click in frequently as you listen. If you have fuel in the tank and the clicking slows down you are building up fuel pressure and the carb chambers are filling and become full when the clicking stops. If that is a go, then pull a spark plug wire(any one will do, and crank the engine (in neutral please) and hold the plug lead(pull back the boot to get to the end of the wire) next to the top of the plug(the smaller the gap between the end of the wire and the plug , the better). When you crank it you should see the spark jump the gap as long as the gap is just enough to see as being a gap. If you have spark and fuel I'd be surprised. Make sure your choke cable is really moving the levers and is not broken. If it ran before and you haven't done anything to affect the timing it is not likely to be an air delivery problem. I'm guessing you aren't getting fuel and/or spark. You might have a distributor problem(points or a grounding issue inside), a coil problem. Look for obvious wires that are not conected or broken around the coil and distributor. There are other electrical issues possible, but eliminate these first. I'm not sure if the 3000's have the same set-up as the 100's at the battery cut-off switch, but I'm sure the others can fill you in on potential electrical faults relating to that.
Let us know what you find. It could be us at any moment.

 

[Cutlass]

Don't forget fresh gasoline. It doesn't last forever, and can cause some nasty gunk to form in fuel pumps and carbs.

 

[austin10_4]

hi, im fairly familiar with Austins, but not particularly Healeys, but, i would suggest it is a bad coil (can be a real bitch to remove so prepare yourself)or, If your engine has been rebuilt at one point, maybe check the timing chain has been put back correctly, mine wasnt!! One last thing, try extremes of temperature on the carbeurettor. DO THIS AS A LAST RESORT ONLY- CAN BE DANGEROUS. For some reason, on both my Austin 10's and on the austin 7 if it was left for a bit, it would not start. So, someone recommended this technique, and it worked first time! Im not sure of the science behind it, but it worked anyhow!!

1) turn engine over a few times to fill carb with gas
2) prime the fuel pump (if accesible on a healey??) to flood carb with fuel
3) Use something VERY hot rested on the carb bowl. I used hot cooking oil, as this was suggested to me. Just literally hold the pan under the carb
4) use the other extreme. I used an ice pack for about one minute
5)turn her over, VROOOOOMMMM

BTW, this worked for me, but it may be worth a try.
You must think english are crazy by now...

 

[Johnny]

I also have a 1960 Healey. I suggest you check the trunk area for a switch, it should be in the upper left of the trunk. Make sure it is not "off". Turn the ignition on and listen for the fuel pump as suggested, at this point do not push the "start" button. You never mentioned but do you smell fuel?

 

[Goodson]

Thanks for all the help on this matter. As I said I am at the bottom of the totem pole when it comes to car mechanic knowledge--and I will prove that by telling you that I didn't know this car was a 'positive ground' car. So when I had replaced the battery I put it in backwards. The car still turned over, but I was not hearing the fuel pump, so I called the gentleman who sold it to me and he advised about the reversed polarity... I'd have never figured that out! But once I fixed that, she cranked right up! Thanks again for all your help!

 

[Cutlass]

Does your tach work now?

 

[Arch 93]

Assuming that you have spark at the cylinders and fuel is getting to the carbs, I would try spraying ether on the air filters. A generous amount. My 100-4 always starts in hot weather or if has run in the last day, but if the weather is cool (not cold) and has sat for a few days it refuses to start. Even if it's warm during the day but gets cool at night. A good blast of ether on the air filters and it fires right up.
Hope that helps. At least it's something else to try.