more starting trouble.....with BX 16 TGS UPDATED

[cacaolat]

In recent months I had 3 times trouble starting the car after stalling it. This was always on a cold day. After that I had another problem which seemed to be the loose battery terminal and the broken earth strap. That flat copper thing. I fixed it today to the long screw holding the battery. (is this the wrong place ?) I also repaired the negative battery terminal and cleaned it all with wire wool. I thought this would be the end of the problems, but the car did not start, with the throttle fully down it was slowly coming. Until the battery became weak again.
Strangely the battery indicator light is still green. Last time that happened the car would start again the next day ? Can I make my car a always quick starter ?...really annoyed to use the bicycle again this evening...

ONE DAY AFTER UPDATE below...cables melting and smoke from starter motor...car will be recovered to garage ...

[mnde]

Gregor,

I'd be happy to come and help look into this because I've had exactly the same probs with my Meteor in the past - thankfully I've now got it running much much better. Nine times out of ten I can start from cold without any accelerator assistance. E.g. this evening after work, I started it and it idled without needing accelerator assistance to stop it cutting out. I could even feel/hear the revs gradually increase from the initial c.600 to c.900rpm which means seemingly I've got the autochoke working properly. Also I think new sparkplugs and HT leads have made a difference, together with reconnecting the detached vacuum advance hose and running on Shell V-Power 99 RON petrol - highly recommended!

This is when it's in daily use though. After resting for 3-4 days over the weekend, it took a while turning the starter over until the engine fired. Usually it is almost instantaneous!

PM me and we can try and work something out

Regards,

Mark.

P.S. Yes, the bolt on the battery clamp is the correct place for the earthing strap. Recommend that you clean/sand/metal polish the contact areas (a job I mean to do myself.

[Philip Chidlow]

Now I have a 16 auto I have experienced a little of these foibles. It takes a little getting used to after instant fuel injected response. I find cold it starts OK without depressing the throttle. When warn depressed throttle usually gets it to catch quickly but I have experienced a moment's rough idling. When hot it starts OK with a throttle blip, but I think I will use 99 RON fuel as I'd heard elsewhere that it makes more of a difference to a 16 carb engined BX than a 19 injected one.

Keep me in the loop re: rendezvous and tinkering. I might come along.

[mnde]

Excellent! The BX16 owner's club ... I know Doz has a TXS... who else has one?

It would be great to get together because I'm dying to find out why my Meteor's engine is so damn unrefined. It taps and tinkles a lot. I had the cambelt (& water pump) replaced last year, and the tensioner was pronounced "okay" and wasn't changed... also my garage said because the tappets were shimmed, there was no adjustment needed... Hmm. (Methinks they didn't really want to do that job...)

And now I'm sometimes getting diesel death-rattle on idle and light acceleration (now done c. 93,000 miles). Will check oil level but when I checked recently it was at the MAX level and it hasn't lost any since it was serviced near the end of last year. Otherwise it pulls smoothly and is nice and pokey now I'm running on 99 octane! That pinking is 99% gone, but I'd still like to carry out a dynamic timing check.

So anyway, I'd like to be able to hear some other BX16 engines in action, for comparative purposes!! And we can have a cold/warm-start troubleshooting session

Cheers,

Mark.

[ellevie]

Cacaolat, you have my sympathy; this kind of problem can be very frustrating. It may be that you have more than one problem.

I assume that you will be able to fix the battery problem with patience and perseverance. Yes, the copper braid connects to the long bolt on the battery clamp.

It may be that the non-starting problem is caused by a weak or intermittent spark. In one sense it would be good if you could prove that this is the problem because there are quite a few things, mostly to do with poor connections, that could cause this and they are easily and inexpensively fixed. So the first thing to do is to try and ascertain if the spark is the source of the problem. I bought a handy spark tester on eBay (180094962928) for a few pounds which works by removing one of the spark plug leads, placing the tester on top of the plug, and then connecting the lead to the top of the connector. A "good" spark gives a bright orange flash, easily visible in daylight when the engine is turned over. I suggest that you buy one of these, and next time the engine fails to start, use the tester to see if you still have a good spark. You can stand at the wing to observe the flash whilst reaching in through the drivers window to turn the engine over using the key.

By the way when it failed to start after stalling, was the engine still cold, or was the engine hot ?

Spark tester.

[cacaolat]

Mark, yes lets do that, but I am going away this wednesday. The idling of my car is actually alright most of the times, I don't usually need accelerator assistance. My car is resting many times 3,4 days sometimes 10.
Yes Philip would be good if you come along too.
Ellevie, the engine was still cold. In fact I only drove about 5metres, had to push it back into the parking slot again and nearly hit the car parked behind when jumping back in to pull the handbrake.

[ellevie]

I had an unreliable starting problem that took me the best part of 10 years before I eventually found the cause. It turned out to be an intermittent spark problem. The symptoms you are showing makes me think that there is a good chance you may have a similar problem. I will see if I can do a write up about it over the weekend.

[cacaolat]

I thought the battery was dead because I have tried too hard to start the car yesterday. I called the breakdown service and it seems that there is a bigger electrical (or earth) problem. smoke comes from the nearly new starter motor !!! and strangely the earth cable to the battery gets hot !!!!
On monday I will get my car picked up and brought to the Garage, who fitted the new valeo starter motor last October.
I will have all necessary cables and earth straps checked and replaced if necessary and probably a new starter motor again.