My Triumph Stag turns over but won't fire up

[LilleyJR]

Guess what he still will not fire up, i have checked all the wires on the luminition ignition & they seem Ok i even tightened the connections on the new coil & tightened the earth cable on the Luminition too, but still no look. Does any body know if it could be a fault with the immobilizer? The make i have is a Laserline (says so on the key switch), but unsure if this is a standard item on the Stag as i only bought him last July so i am still finding my way round him.

Thanks for looking
John,

[KOY 23]

John.

No immobiliser was fitted as standard.

John.

[Staggard]

Lets start again, you have a spark at the plugs when you spin it over so that pretty much rules out the ign system Unless you have messed with the timing) and an immobilizer. So I see no point in messing with the Lumination ect. You say the pump is working and its pumping fuel up to the carbs. Now we have a dilemma. So how about whip off the air filter and crab air intake elbows,lift the Carb pistons up and squirt one pump of fuel from a oil can down each carb then spin it over no choke foot flat on the floor. Graham I assume she was running OK when you laid it up.

[LilleyJR]

i have spark at plug when i spin it over, i laid him up in November took battery off & that was it, i haven't touched the timing (wouldn't know how remember i'm useless at mechanics). When i switch ignition on you can hear the ticking noise as standard, fuel gauge shows quarter full. He was running well before putting him to bed. The immobilizer was fitted when i bought the car, so i am unsure with it I have even spoke to previous owner & he never had an issue. The only thing i did notice was the overdrive suddenly stopped working a couple of weeks before taking him off the road at winter.

John,

[SGN]

Hi John

Give Staggard's idea a try, a drop of petrol or "easy start"down the intake manifold will work wonders, I have a spitfire and if I don't run it for a few months will not fire however many times I try, but a teaspoon or two of petrol over the air filters and it fires straight away.
If you have a spark at the plugs and petrol, it should try to fire even though it might run rough.

Good luck
Steve

P.S I will swap problems with you, one of my head gaskets went with style today. came home courtesy of AA.

[LilleyJR]

evening all, i have been up to a local triumph dealer & the coil i requested the High Performance type should not be fitted with an Lumination ignition i was informed today, therefore i have swapped it to a new basic one & she still wont start, tried all the suggestion so far cleaned the plugs, sprayed some petrol & still no luck, so i checked the sparks again & the plugs are sparking but i now have no spark from the coil lead, but i did originally (or so i was informed as i was the one sitting in the car).............now this i am hoping could be the main issue does any body know what the problem now could be?

john,

[Ian Durrant]

Hi John

Its not possible to have sparks at the plug HT leads and not in the coil HT lead as the coil lead supplies the distributor which distributes it to the plugs.

How are you testing for sparks in each case?

[Staggard]

evening all, i have been up to a local triumph dealer & the coil i requested the High Performance type should not be fitted with an Lumination ignition i was informed today, therefore i have swapped it to a new basic one & she still wont start, tried all the suggestion so far cleaned the plugs, sprayed some petrol & still no luck, so i checked the sparks again & the plugs are sparking but i now have no spark from the coil lead, but i did originally (or so i was informed as i was the one sitting in the car).............now this i am hoping could be the main issue does any body know what the problem now could be?

john,

Haunted

[Omen]

Forgive me if any of this sounds like teaching you to suck eggs. For the engine to run, it requires three things in the cylinder, a spark, fuel and right amount of air. The spark seems to have been confirmed, but is it strong enough to exist in the compression that's in the cylinder. Check the block to body earth strap, if that connection is weak it maybe the huge amount of power required to crank the engine over May not leave anything much for the ignition. So the pump ticks when the ign is switched on, but does it stop ticking ? It sucks fuel from the tank, supplies it to the float chamber which fills, float rises and shuts off the flow, the pipe is pressurised so the ticking stops, except for the occasional one to maintain pressure. If it does not stop, then it could just be sucking air as the feed pipe into the tank has an air leak and air is being sucked instead of fuel. Maybe the pump valves are stuck or fcuked so not doing their job. Is the vacuum caused by the pistons in the cylinders travelling down being directed to the carbs? Is there an air leak on the inlet side ? Vacuum pipe to the servo perished/leaking, clamp it off if any doubt. Vacuum pipe to the distributor ? Again clamp it off if any doubt. Do the pistons in the carb rise freely? Are they stuck at all, are the rubber diapragms perished causing an air leak preventing the pistons from rising. Good luck !!!

[Arbman Al]

Whip it out and put a manual in

I was told you would go blind doing that....

[Arbman Al]

On a more helpful note... the pump might be ticking but is fuel getting to the carbs? Pull one of the supply pipes off a carb and put it in a jamjar to check.

[RayR]

Not sure if it has already been suggested but I would also check the float chamber petrol inlet valves, if original there are very small bearings which can become stuck when laid up, saying this the fact that there is no firing at all when you squirt petrol directly in does make me think it is not what I suggest but perhaps something else.