Irish Mini Owners Club

89 racing flame mini running fine since i got it month ago, then after work yesterday the car wouldnt fire up at all.. i assumed it had something to do wit running a radio cable from the starter motor (permanent live) but it appeared it wasnt when i removed that...
so got it push started and it went, however when driving through virginia and having to slow down the revs dropped and the engine conked having to call over few young lads to push start the car again
anyway i realised that i needed to keep the revs high to keep the engine going, so when slowing down next time i pulled the choke out and it kept goin anyway....

so today was off work, checked all the wires, checked and cleaned the distributor caps contacts, changed the rotor arm, changed the condensor, changed the points and reset them, changed the coil........... but still no joy
checked for live also, got a live at the starter, and at the plus on the coil....

am i missing something??
also im gettin a weak spark at the plugs and the starter motor is works............. clueless at this stage

steven

The only thing to check now is the sparkplug leads themselves, especially the coil to dizzy one

Sounds like 2 different problems. Is the engine cranking on the key?

the leads are near new, only been used 4-5 k miles or so... think they ok but will check

yea the engine turns over on the turn of the key it just doesnt fire up...

ok, if i was to check the carb for petrol, what should i do...? hate touching the carb also as it was setup perfectly and dont wanna change anything... there is oil in the dashpot.

Sounds like fuel starvation especially if you have to pull out choke to keep running.
When you turn it over for a while and it will not start take out one of the plugs and see if it is dry.
You might have got a bit of dirt in the carb that is blocking jet.

ok so whats the easiest way to check these without messin up the settings or having to reset anything?

i have bad history wit carbs.....

2 things you can check easily, first off has the fuel filter been replaced recently??? the other is remove the fuel line from the side of the carb, place fuel line in a container of some sort and get someone to crank the engine, you should get a decent amount of fuel full bore of pipe. if this is not the case then you could have a tired fuel pump or as I said earlier a blocked fuel filter, if the flow is good then it could be a bit of dirt on one of the needles.

thanks for replies guys...

truns out the wire i ran from the starter to my radio must have sucked the life out of my battery even tho it sounded normal i changed battery and the engine sparked up no bother........

silly me......................................

steven