Series 2 Ignition not working

Hi all.

I’ve got an issue with my series.
Currently I cannot use the key to start the car, it’s completely non responsive. I do however get electrics still. So at the moment I’m starting on the handle or using my newly fitted starter via the button on the bottom of the starter solenoid. However, yesterday that stopped working too, the starter spins but doesn’t engage/fire. I’m thinking this is an electrical fault somewhere down the line. I’m plenty happy to just use the handle but that’s not the point and I find it somewhat unreliable.

Any advice and opinions would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers,

Will

I would go over every large wire between the battery and starter and engine and chassis very carefully, take them all off and check the ends. They can look ok but but be loose inside or corroded under the bolts on the chassis. Until you get them clean and on the bench you can't really see.

rob1miles said:

I would go over every large wire between the battery and starter and engine and chassis very carefully, take them all off and check the ends. They can look ok but but be loose inside or corroded under the bolts on the chassis. Until you get them clean and on the bench you can't really see.

Click to expand...

Right. I’ll give that a go when I get a chance, thanks!

If it won't/wouldn't start on the key, I'd be looking for a fault between the ignition switch and the solenoid. When I got my series, the ignition switch was knackered, everything lit up but the contacts in the barrel for starting had broken.

Can you hot wire it with a bit of wire from the battery to the starter solenoid?

Col

Colthebrummie said:

If it won't/wouldn't start on the key, I'd be looking for a fault between the ignition switch and the solenoid. When I got my series, the ignition switch was knackered, everything lit up but the contacts in the barrel for starting had broken.

Can you hot wire it with a bit of wire from the battery to the starter solenoid?

Col

Click to expand...

Haven't tried, i'll do that when i finish work this evening, I've been able to start it using the button on the bottom of the starter solenoid. Worked every time until yesterday. It's a new battery (again) but i have a feeling there's something wrong with it. Even with my jump pack it wouldn't fire on the starter button, just whirrr

Why do you think there is something wrong with the battery? What does the voltage settle to overnight? 12.8v is your target.
Starter could just be stuck? Give it a thump as you apply the power, see if that helps it.
Also, it should start easy on the handle, if you're getting a good spark and the carb is set up right

kermit_rr said:

Why do you think there is something wrong with the battery? What does the voltage settle to overnight? 12.8v is your target.
Starter could just be stuck? Give it a thump as you apply the power, see if that helps it.
Also, it should start easy on the handle, if you're getting a good spark and the carb is set up right

Click to expand...

I had help with swapping out the starter, he tested the battery and his reader said it was faulty, despite being my second replacement.

Starts great, nearly always first time on the handle, unless it's been driven a little.

Okay, so this evening i'll give it a thump whilst trying to fire it, if that fails, hot wire, if that fails i'll check all contacts. cheers.

If you saying it will start by pressing the solenoid. I would suspect that you have a problem either with the ignition switch or the the wiring of it to the the coil.
When the ignition switch is held in the starter motor position 12volts goes directly to the coil. When you then reilease to the run position a separate contact from the ignition switch supplies voltage to the coil via a resistive wire that drops the voltage to about 9 volts.
The purpose of this arrangement is to allow a 9 volt coil to be used without burning out. When the starter motor is turning it places such a load on the battery the voltage drops and you would never get a good spark.
If you can get hold of a indicator bulb or something similar, solder two long wires onto it and put one on negative earth terminal and go round and see where you are losing your supply. The brightness of the bulb will give and indication of any poor connections.

Pretty sure my 2a has a 12v coil

thanks all, more to add to the list to do

had a similar problem with my s3 diesel, if you turned the engine off when hot - say at a petrol station - and tried to restart, it would not crank but all electrics worked. if you put a power pack across the battery terminals still nothing, put the power pack to battery positive and on the body it cranked, I know you are supposed to put the jump starter on the battery and body not the terminals, I am just lazy so always just go across the terminals . alternatively it would crank again when cool.

got slightly worse with time, sometimes if you turned the key nothing, but would crank if you turned it again. tried replacing the power and negative leads, didn't solve the problem but cranking speed seemed to increase slightly.

ran a second earth from the battery negative to the top of the panel in front of the rad using a heavy duty battery cable with a ring connector on each end bought ready made from amazon or ebay can't remember which. That seems to have solved the problem. so there must have been an earthing issue somewhere.

Howdy all.

So here’s a short video of the issue.



It is a new starter motor but to me it sounds like it’s not throwing to start? If that’s a good way of explaining it. I’d like to think I shouldn’t be having issues as it’s new and as I’m a total chimp, I paid a good mechanic to fit it for me.

It did work a while.

A series 2 should have a basic starter motor with a bendix drive, ie no solenoid on the side of the motor.. as the starter spins, the gear moves along the spline and interfaces with the flywheel.. yours is stuck for some reason. Or damaged

Like most things, they don't make decent starter motors anymore. You can get new starters for just over £100 but one made by a reputable company (if you can find one) would be three times that price. The difference is that the £300 starter will work for many years. I fitted a new but cheap (£107) starter to Compo and all was well for a few months but already it is starting to sound lazy.

Col