:: Diary - August 2017 ::

:: Sunday, August 6, 2017 ::

It’s TVR Car Club Day!

The TVR is back along at the farm - I brought the Porsche here so that I can change its back tyres before its MOT. Haven’t done that yet, but I’m going to take it to the TVR meeting.

I meet up with Jim at Dave’s house, and we set off with the “Beetle” following in disgrace at the back. Dave takes a route that almost doubles the distance to the venue (not that there’s anything wrong with that) so we get there slightly later than usual. So late that Hugh is already there.

We order our lunch and then settle down to the usual chat. Hugh still doesn’t have his car going, it won’t start, he says there is no spark, and also the fuel pump isn’t working unless you test it off the car. He doesn’t seem to be entirely sure about the spark though. Save and I volunteer to go up to Perth to have a look and see if we can get it going.

:: Friday, August 11, 2017 ::

So today, I pack some stuff into the Range Rover, including my test meter and a box of electrical bits including wire, fuses etc. When I pick up Dave, he brings another electrical tester and various other bits and pieces.

When we get there, we start with the ignition side. First check the battery is fully charged, pull a plug lead off and turn the engine over. No spark. Well there is a spark, but it’s so faint and weak that it wouldn’t give a gnat a thrill if it was attached to its gonads.

So… the coil is brand new, so we check that it has a supply. Yes, full volts. Ok - now earth the “-ve” side of the coil, and left the earth off - that should switch the coil and create a spark. Nada. Try again with a 12v supply to the coil. Still nada. The new coil is duff.

We try the coil that Hugh took off - that seems to be duff as well. We need a new ignition coil.

Remember the days when you could buy an ignition coil in a newsagents, never mind a car store? I do. Not any more though. Hugh and I tour Perth for ages to visit 4 motor factors and a Halfords, and they have none in stock. We need to order one, so no repair today.

OK, while Hugh is ordering that, Dave and I start to diagnose the fuel pump. There’s no supply to the pump, earth is ok. Take a supply straight to the pump, it works… so it’s the car wiring. Time to get out the wiring diagram. Unfortunately, neither of us has a microscope or even a big magnifying glass, so it’s literally the blind leading the blind. However, we find that there is a supply to the fuse, and the fuse itself is ok, and the main supply through the relay is ok, but there’s no supply to switch on the relay. Again, we run a supply to the “switch” terminal and the pump works. So there is a break between the fuse and the relay.

However, that black wire is also connected to the tacho and a couple of other bits, so the absence of an ignition coil and wiring might mean that the eco won’t energise the fuel relay until it thinks the engine is running.

Hugh has by now ordered a new coil (not an ebay Taiwan one) so we’ll have to see how everything works when that is fitted. Not much more we can do today.

He gives us bacon rolls and cinnamon buns though, so he’s not all bad.

We’ll be back!

:: Thursday, August 24, 2017 ::

Car Wars 3 - A New Hope.

Hugh has received his new ignition coil but Dave and I haven’t been able to get up to Perth until today. Dave’s main ambition in life is to piss off his boss, so taking a day off lets him off the hook, and that’s obviously not acceptable. Me, I’m just too lazy. In the meantime, though, Hugh has been given strict instructions on his part in the repair. Dave told him to leave the new part in the box.

When we get there, he has fitted the coil in its bracket, but no wiring connection. We check which wire is live, and wire up the coil. Turn it over. No spark. Brand new coil and no spark.

We take off the distributor cap to check that the rotor arm is there, and is turning. OK.

Where the fuck do we go from here?

Right - think! No, not about that, you mucky wee bugger, about the car.

We’ve got no spark. We’ve got no fuel pump. As I said last week, I read somewhere that the car won’t start if the tacho is disconnected, and the wiring diagram shows that those two components share an ignition-controlled supply from pins 37 and 57 of the ECU. That also feeds the fuel injection relay.

Now, the tacho seems to be trying to work. The fuel injection relay has a supply but the pump relay doesn’t - but the two supplies come from the same place.

Let’s try this - I push a supply straight into the energising feed for the fuel pump relay, Dave turns the engine over - and it starts! Remove that supply, and it stops. I think we’re getting somewhere now!

We use a little bit of wire to bridge between the feed for the fuel injection relay to the pump relay - the car starts, until you remove that wire bridge. There’s a break somewhere in the feed cable to the fuel pump relay!

We splice in a longer bit of bridging wire between the two relays - car starts and runs!

Hugh is delighted, so much that he gives us more bacon rolls and cinnamon buns, and doesn’t even notice when Dave and I pinch half of his tools.

Well, you’re not going to do it for nothing, are you?