Having trouble getting my car started (again). I did have a dead battery, after leaving her without use too long, now I have a new battery but still wont start.
Ive checked the spark from the coil which is good.
It was running fine when I last drove it (maybe 4-5 weeks ago from the driveway into the shed)
Now it turns over but doesnt seem to fire, just chuggs for a few seconds, but never fires up. Accelerator doesnt make any difference when its chugging.
Got fuel in the tank - kind of sounds like some kind of fuel problem though?

Its a serious 2276 engine, but was tuned fine before this problem. Any thoughts how to easily isolate the problem, for someone who doesnt have a lot of time to muck around in the shed before the wife or the kids want something, and who doesnt really have a great technical knowledge?

I just want to drive the bloody thing!

What carbies are on it, you need to check if you have fuel going into the engine,, take the air filters off and see if fuel is comming out of the accelerator pump nozzles, if you have fuel and the spark is ok it should fire, if you have points ignition mybe the condenser has died.

5 weeks is a long time to have fuel sitting in Your carbies..

it goes off fast these days... but not sure how fast..

it sounds like it does start sometimes but chugs...

New battery... should fix the electrical side of it up..

so it does turn over fast enough to start??

and You said the spark is OK...

sounds like a fuel problem.. odd that pushing the accelerator pedal down makes NO difference..
it should be spraying fuel out when the pedal is pushed..

distributor hasn't moved??

LEE

go get some start ya bastard and give her a spray. Usually works for me when i havn't driven my dub for awhile

Take the air cleaners off & put a spoonfull of fuel down each carbie throat, and see if it will kick over for a few seconds now you know it has some fuel going in. If it does, it would seem it is a fuel/carbie problem.

Cheers guys, seems like a common opinion.
I'll put a dash of fuel in the carbs and see how it goes.
Running dual 48 webbers. Has elect fuel pump, maybe there's a block somewhere..

I'll give it a go tomorrow

fouled plugs , pull them and check

Hi

I work for a motoring organisation that does road service.

I often get old cars that wont start, I think the newer fuels aren't as easily combustible, I often have to remove plugs from cars and heat them up with a gas torch to burn impurities off the plugs.

We also get newer cars with similar issues in these circumstances, say if you start your car to move it out of the garage to wash it, start it again to put it away, the next time it wont start, it will actually sound like there is no compression in the motor. RX8 Mazdas are really bad for this.

What causes this, the modern EFI engine pours a lot of fuel in on cold start up to encourage the catalytic converter to warm up quickly.

It can be cleared by cranking the motor over with the fuel pump relay or fuse pulled out and full throttle until it starts

How to avoid the issue, when you start the car drive it.

Some drivers treat the ignition switch like light switch, they expect the car to start in the 1st seconds of cranking, they are unaware that in some cases a motor needs to coaxed to start and then if they keep cranking in short bursts the plugs get fouled.

Steve

I think I might have to pull the plugs and look at them, the fuel in the carbs didnt change anything. Checked the coil again, still looks like a good spark, made sure all the leads are connected correctly and properly. Checked the dizzy and cap. All good, but I think its electrical, so perhaps the plugs.

Did you check the spark whilst cranking?

If you have a good spark when manually opening the points compared to when the engine is turned over then that means you have a voltage drop to the coil whilst cranking.

If spark is good whilst cranking then was this checked with a removed plug held against the crankcase?

Check spark and check plug condition

pour some fuel out of the lines into a white cup and look at the color of it, it should be blue/purple color, if its more yellow/brown its stuffed, i had this same problem, the fuel that was in the lines and carb was ok, so it drove up the drive and then fuel out of the tank came threw it wouldn’t fire properly just splutter every now and then when trying to start it.

even the smell of old fuel is more like water base paint or wet dirt compared to fresh fuel

Thanks guys for the help - new plugs and she's running sweetly.
I'll make sure I get her out and give it a run on the highway more regularly.