non starting 2.0 litre 8 valve engine

[wee hoff]

Hi all,

Im in need of your expertise, im kinda new to these engines having only had the car for a few months.

it was originally a parts when bought from eBay and have gradually been putting all back together.

I have replaced the fuel pump, points, cap and leads as well new spark plugs as they looked pretty nasty after sitting outside for two years in a field.

I've also repaired the wiring that some idiots had a go at sorting!!

New powerful diesel battery fitted and some new super unleaded in the tank, starter turning engine over great and getting good sparks and fuel getting to the SU carbs but it wont start!!!! arghhh ;o((

I've read the Haynes manual and did what is says to the letter for static timing (the bulb connected to the - side of coil and other side connected to the + side of battery) but it will still not start.

The small electrical plug that goes from the loom to the gearbox is clean and no corrosion on the wiring.

When turning the engine over there is fuel coming out in a fine spray and a bit of pressure from the airfilter side of the carbs.
(filters not fitted)

I've also reset the jets as per manual (move jets until flush then wind down twelve flats of the screws) but still no luck.

Is there something I've missed from this engine that maybe preventing it from starting???

All wires have been accounted for and none hanging around doing nothing.

I have had my dolomite next to the TR7 to see if anything that I may have missed but cant see anything.

Don't want to use a match/lighter on it yet but getting close though!!


Any help would be much appreciated


cheers

Jason

[HDRider]

I would check that the distributor is not 180 degrees out.

You should be able to do that by removing the valve cover, aligning the notch on the cam with the front bearing and looking at the position of the rotor.

Edward Hamer
Petaluma CA

[Beans]

Seems like you've covered al th eimportant bits;
• Are the spark plugs wired in the correct order?
• There shouldn't be fuel mist outside the carburettors. Might point to timing/dizzy being out by 180º?

<center>
<font color="blue"><i>1976 TR7 FHC (needs some TLC ...)
1980 TR7 DHC (my first car, a.k.a. Kermette)
1981 TR7 FHC (Sprint engined a.k.a. 't Kreng
</font id="blue"><b>[url="http://www.tr7beans.blogspot.com/"]<u><b><font size="3"><font color="red">My full Blog</font id="red"></font id="size3"></b></u>[/url]</b></i></center>

[g4zur]

Hi Jason
Are the plugs getting wet from petrol that is.
Regards Gareth

G.P.Albrighton

[wee hoff]

hi guys,

ill try taking the cam cover of and lining up the cam with the marks,
but at what cylinder if everything was ok should the rotor am point at?

as for the plug leads, I looked at my dolomite 1850 engine (which runs) and copied them ?

yeah plugs getting wet with fuel, there is some heat in the inlet manifold and a little smoke from end of exhaust if turned over for a few minutes

[Beans]

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Century Gothic, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by wee hoff</i>

... I looked at my dolomite 1850 engine and copied them ?<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
Only difference with the Dolly engine is the static timing.
Dolly dizzy should be set to 8º BTDC whereas the TR7 engine should be at 10º BTDC.
But I don't think that's the problem.
First check the dizzy is fitted correctly and set timing after that.
With cylinder #1 @ TDC the rotor should be pointing at the rear mounting bolt off the inlet manifold.
Fit cap and #1 sparkplug lead should go in hole above rotor



<center>
<font color="blue"><i>1976 TR7 FHC (needs some TLC ...)
1980 TR7 DHC (my first car, a.k.a. Kermette)
1981 TR7 FHC (Sprint engined a.k.a. 't Kreng
</font id="blue"><b>[url="http://www.tr7beans.blogspot.com/"]<u><b><font size="3"><font color="red">My full Blog</font id="red"></font id="size3"></b></u>[/url]</b></i></center>

[John Clancy]

Spray some WD40 down the carb chokes and see if that fires for a second or two.

<center><b>[url="http://www.triumphdvd.co.uk"]Triumph TR7 and other car documentaries on DVD here[/url]</b></center>

[wee hoff]

Cheers mate,

So I set the engine to 0 on the scale at front of engine and take of cam cover and make sure all marks line up.

Then take cap of and check where the rotor points at.

If not pointing at the rear inlet bolt I have to take out/adjust
the dizzy so that it points to that bolt.

[wee hoff]

hi john,

will give that a try also, just so annoying that I don't think its far away from firing up.

its given a few coughs of life before but its like doesn't want wakening up after its long sleep ;o)

[jclay (RIP 2018)]

Illustration at bottom of page:

http://jclay.me/jclay/Post_photos.html#18

Clay

[url="http://www.jclay.me/"]My Triumph Site[/url], [url="http://www.triumphtechnical.me"]Technical Stuff[/url], [url="https://docs.google.com/folder/d/0B8MWEvqOpX3udEF4SmFQUW9RS09hbU5uNW5Wd0xrUQ/edit"]My Public Folder[/url],

[HDRider]

Line up the cam marks and check that the timing mark is at zero. The rotor should be pointing at the number one plug wire socket in the distributor cap.

Firing order is 1-3-4-2.

Edward Hamer
Petaluma CA

[FI Spyder]

Usually these engines will start pretty easy, even when sitting for a while. When the Tercel sits for a long time it takes a while to start as it has to pump gas to the carb. I use starting fluid to get it to fire up by spraying it in the carb intake. Starting fluid is primarily either and meant to aid starting in extremely cold weather or if the carb is flooding. If it's going to start it's going to start on this.

When determining TDC make sure it is on the compression stroke and not the exhaust stroke although I think the cam timing mark takes care of this.

- - -TR7 Spider - - - 1978 Spitfire- - - - 1976 Spitfire - - 1988 Tercel 4X4 - Kali on Integra - 1991 Integra - Yellow TCT

[wee hoff]

thanks Edward,

will give that a try at the weekend and will let you know what happens


cheers

Jason

[wee hoff]

cheers fi spyder,

I've never heard this engine run, never has this much hassle with
my classic mini engines as I know my way around them.

The only other engine I have like this is my dolomite 1850 which
already running and on the road so haven't had to muck around with it yet

But the knowledge on here is brilliant!

Should have tried this before flattening loads of batteries ;o)

[wee hoff]

Hi guys,

Great news, Toby the TR7 is officially alive!!!!

Thanks for all the help on this fantastic forum!!!

Now for the rest of work on him