Hello Everyone.

I acquired vehicle from the auction after small accident and only 20k miles. Looks like previous owner hit the curb, damaging tire, rim and one of the elements of suspension, nothing serious. Otherwise car is like new. For last year car was sitting in the garage with little power supply maintaining the battery. Engine was run every 2 - 3 weeks. Recently engine developed trouble starting. Right now in order to start requires 7 -8 short tries with minute or two breaks in between. During first and second try engine doesn't fire at all. After that it starts to fire but not enough to sustain continuous running. Each next try is rewarded with more firing. After 7 or 8 tries engine starts and behaves normally. Never displayed any codes. Continuous cranking starter for 10 - 12 seconds doesn't bring any results. Problem appears only after engine is not run for period of 2 - 3 weeks. If run next day there is no problem. Now I'm afraid that my starter might not last very long being used that way. Did anyone have similar problem and found solution ?

 

So when you started the car all those times before did you let the engine run up to operating temperature for any length of time?

Did you use the gas in the tank only or did you put new gas in the tank during the year?

 

Run the engine for about 10 minutes each time. Full tank of gas from last year, not much was used since then.

 

Year old gas may be part of the problem and unless you have a battery tender keeping the battery charged a weak battery can also be a big factor in long cranking before it starts.Also when you have it running it should be run for more than 10 minutes and ideally driven to really warm the vehicle up.

 

I think you have some "gunk" build up in the fuel delivery system causing your problems and you need to deal with that.

 

If I understand Maciek correctly, the battery was permanently under tender charging.
1y old gas is certainly an issue. If the car is not driven regularly, better put premium gas with additives (stabilisers).
Agree that 10 mn idling once every 2-3 weeks is no good, water will accumulate everywhere, be it due to condensation, trapping or combustion, and oxidation/clogging/rust will develop here and there.
Better drive it during at least 30 mn / 20 km cycles to heat all the components, including gearbox, brakes, etc, including some short WOT runs when warm, if possible.

 

Today I took my MG Midget to the battery man as I was having trouble starting. Engine turned over, but not as quick as I would expect. I also had this a couple of weeks ago after the winter sleep. "Smart" battery charger had green light for fully charged both times. Test showed engine starting amps down by about 30%. So this might be your problem too.

Battery was changed and all was well (except it wasn't !!). On the way to get petrol the clutch master cylinder started to fail and I was in a lot of traffic. Not nice !!. So car is now at the local classic car man for new master cylinder and probably slave as well.

Hell, why is it biting me ? Could it be jealousy of the MG TF mistress I have in the other garage !

 

In my case this is not battery which is in very good shape. Starter is cranking engine at normal speed. What I suspect is fuel starvation on startup procedure. Would imagine enriched mixture at that moment but don't know how to check it.