• Hey Guest!
    British Car Forum has been supporting enthusiasts for over 25 years by providing a great place to share our love for British cars. You can support our efforts by upgrading your membership for less than the dues of most car clubs. There are some perks with a member upgrade!
    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Upgraded members don't see this banner, nor will you see the Google ads that appear on the site.)
Tips
Tips

TR2/3/3A Starting Conundrum

Share this page

G

Goose55

Freshman Member
Country flag
Offline
My TR2 is stumping me again so I was hoping that perhaps someone can give me some ideas of what the problem could be. Basically she refuses to start. She has a charged battery, spark at the plugs, and there's fuel in the carb bowls. She does fire up when I spray Quickstart into the carb throats but she then coughs and dies once the vapour is used up. Also, I noticed that after she starts briefly with the Quickstart, there’s some wisps of smoke that emerges from the oil filler top. The smoke isn’t hot so maybe it's vaporisation of the Quickstart or the fuel additive(?). Any ideas would be welcomed.
 
Question: if you try to start the engine without using the Quickstart, do the plugs get wet with gasoline?

Tom M.
 
Goose55 said:
Thanks for the quick response. I've cranked her over a few times and her plugs stay dry.
Click to expand...

ah-HAH! So no fuel is reaching the cylinder. Do you see fuel in the glass fuel pump bowl?
 
I see you had quite a bit of work done on the car back in 2018. https://www.britishcarforum.com/community/threads/help-what-have-i-bought.106666/page-3

Goose55 said:
Hi all,

There seemed to be quite a bit of interest in this car a couple of years ago so I figured that I would give you an update. The potential buyer (who made the original post) didn't buy the car in the end but I thought that it had good restoration potential so I bought it instead. Anyway, from local records I've found that she's a TR2 built in Durban, South Africa in August 1955 (hence the chassis # TR751, Engine # TS7514E, commission # TS7188). Since purchasing the car, I spent quite a bit of time removing and replacing the various TR4 parts along with many other little jobs before handing her over to Bill at CCC for reconditioning of the engine, restoration of the front and rear suspension, installation of the front inner wings, installation of a new wiring loom, replacement of the rusted sills and rear fender bottoms and many other items that required attention. She's no show queen (yet) but she's now at a stage where I can happily drive her for another year before sanding down the body, doing a respray, and redoing the interior (I'm doing a body-on restoration due to limited funds, garage space, and time). It seems that I can't upload any photos but I'll try again as she progresses.
Click to expand...

When was the last time the engine actually ran properly?
 
Good fuel wouldn't go bad in a few months. Dodgy maybe, but that wouldn't prevent it from even firing.

If fuel is going to the carb fuel bowls, but no fuel is reaching the cylinders, seems the problem is the carb itself. Plugged jets maybe, or something plugging the intake manifold? Car fires with Quickstart, so it's got spark.
 
If you have the air cleaners off, look inside the throat of the carbs and you should see the needls going down into the jets. Pull the choke and make sure the jets are acutally moving up/down, and that there is a little weep of fuel at the jet. The floats should keep the fuel level in the bowl just at the level of the top of the jet.

Try cranking the engine with a hand over each carb and make sure you're getting good vacuum through the carbs/manifold when the engine is turning over.
 
Also, check to make sure the fuel tap on the lower left front inner wing isn't closed. There may be fuel in the filter bowl and carb bowls, but no fuel pressure due to no fuel getting to the pump. I've seen that little vavle stump more than one person when it's sneaky-closed.
 
I'm thinking that if his engine was running fine until parked a few months ago, the fuel tap and vacuum access shouldn't have changed. But it's a good thing to check all possibilities.
 
My TR6 had issues with nasty rich mixture and poor starting when I first got it. I bought a hot rod style, after-market coil and put in it. No more starting problems. Check the spark. Mine was weak & yellow, even on a charged battery. ...J.D.
 
I would think there is no fuel pressure . Are you sure the fuel pump is pumping? Did you unhook the fuel pump at the carbs and watch the fuel pump out into a container?

Steve
 
Remember to always start a TR with the enricher (choke) fully pulled out. I would look carefully at the carb to make sure the enricher cable and rods are fully actuating the levers and pulling both jets all the way down.

Once the enricher is known to be good, I would look in the carb throats to make sure you can see gas within 1/16" of the top of the jet bores. If the fuel is low, adjust the floats to bring it up. If you can't see fuel, then look for a supply issue, like fuel pump or blocked filter.

From what you are saying, your spark is good and battery cranking well, you should get it to fire if the above is good. Also, TR's are always a little slow to fire in the cold, and are particularly ornery below 32 degrees.
 
So what I've found so far is that there's vacuum at the carbs, but when I pull the choke cable (difficult to pull, only moves about 2cms, and doesn't lock) nothing really moves at the carb so I'm thinking the cable's snagged perhaps?
 
There should be about 2" (4cm) pull on that enricher knob. If it doesn't move much, then the fuel flow isn't good for starting. You could try disconnecting the cable from the carbs, and move the linkage by hand. See what that changes.

But ...

As the fuel is reaching the carb bowls, but not reaching the cylinders, then I'd suggest you rebuild the carbs. Something between carb bowls and cylinders is plugged.

Tom M.
 
The choke linkage is your problem. 2cm at the knob is no choke at the carb. If you cannot get full choke at both carbs, the only way to start these in the cold is starter fluid, and a lot of tries.

The most common problem is the cable is binding in the sheath. You can remove and oil it...and maybe it'll free up. With the cable removed, try to move the linkages at the carbs by hand. If they bind and do not move freely, and pop back when released, then they need lubing at all linkages and the jets.

NOTE! When you remove the cable from the sheath, there is a small, half moon piece of metal that falls out. This is the locking mechanism You must catch it when it falls and re-insert it during reassembly.
 
Last edited:
Fixing the "choke" is definitely needed.

But - he has gas in the fuel bowl, but it isn't moving through the carb to the manifold, so it seems the carb itself is the problem.

Anyway, he's now got ideas on how to get the car running again.

TM
 
Back
Top