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TR4/4A 4A No Start?

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karls59tr

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Motor hasn't been run in years. New oil and filter. Gravity feed gas from a can.There is power to the coil...spark at the points but not great... Points are new and gapped properly as are the plugs....timing is set correctly....no power at the spark plugs? Is the condensor the culprit? When the condensor goes what are the symptoms? I'm going to swap out the old bumblebee wires and distributor cap for the ones in my TR3 to see if that makes a difference. Anyone have any advice as to what I may have overlooked?
Almost forgot...I did have it running for a minute or so then it died.
 
TR4nut

TR4nut

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Can you swap in a different coil?
 
poolboy

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If you remove the distributor cap, can you see a spark jumping across the contact points when the starter is engaged ?
 
TomMull

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Spark at points but not at plugs kind of narrows it to cap, rotor, and wires. Even a weak spark from a bad coil should show at the plugs. Check the condenser by putting in a new one.
Tom
 
TR3driver

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Check for spark right at the coil tower. If you've got good spark there, you know the problem is between there and the plugs. There was a rash of bad rotors a few years back that would break down internally and short out the spark.
 
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karls59tr

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Well I swapped in my TR3 coil and distributor cap and wires and it fired up and ran for awhile but then died and no restart. The starter turns over good. The rotor is one of the new red ones. There is spark at the coil tower. Next I'm going to swap out the condensor. Can't think why it wont fire up now with the fresh wires and cap and coil.... has to be the condensor.
Are Strombergs known to flood easily?
 
glemon

glemon

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If the car starts after sitting a while, then stalls, it is more likely a fuel clog in the line than flooding.

As far as the condensor, in all my years of driving british cars I had a bad one once. I have heard people say they either work or they don't, but mine caused a weak spark that generally got worse as the car warmed up, but was an intermittent fault that got worse over time. It took me quite a while to figure it out.
 
poolboy

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If the needle valve inside the float chamber sticks open or partially open or if the floats have lost some buoyancy...then yes, the carbs will flood because they have lost the ability to limit the amount of fuel entering the carb.
 
TR3driver

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Also if the valve leaks.
 
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karls59tr

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poolboy said:
If the needle valve inside the float chamber sticks open or partially open or if the floats have lost some buoyancy...then yes, the carbs will flood because they have lost the ability to limit the amount of fuel entering the carb.
Click to expand...

When they flood do they overflow and spill gas and is there a strong gas smell? I don't have either of those!
 
poolboy

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Possibly, but it depends on how bad they flood...If you think that flooding might have killed the engine, quickly pulling some spark plugs would be the thing.
 
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karls59tr

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Update on the No Start. I replaced the condensor and now have spark to the plugs.The engine fired up. I then decided to run gas from the fuel pump from a container instead of gravity feed directly from a container to the carbs. I replaced the original coil and bumble bee wires as they seemed to work OK when I tried them on the TR3. I can get the engine to stay running with the choke off by revving by the carb linkage. However There is now a few backfires from the exhaust when I do that. When the engine stalls out it is difficult to start again. Anyone recognize the symptoms?
If the car sits for 10 minutes I can start it with full choke but if I push the choke in half way it stalls out again. Seems like it will run good only with full choke?
 
Merlin63Tr4

Merlin63Tr4

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Sounds like it's running way too lean.
Might have to check for garbage in the float chamber and also the float valve for free movement.
The fuel pump is keeping the carbs full, right?
Are the vacuum chamber diaphragms in good shape? check for cracks/damage.

M.
 
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