18RG Starting troubles

[RA35GT]

Had a look yesterday evening, and cleaned up the terminals on the battery, the starter cable though appears pretty buggered at the starter end, the insulation has melted off for a good 5-10cm, but i remember seeing that months ago and though "I'll ahve to do something about that"... so gonna rummage through the shed for another cable.

Airfireman 1 - I understand what your saying there, but when i say the engine is cold/warm, that's not literally refering to oil temp, when the ambiant temp is closer getting up there, around midday it's typically easy to start, but early morning in winter it was a real bastard...

River - Headlights are dimmer at idle, but if you pick the revs up to 1500ish and they brighten up.

Crowncustom - checked the clearances a while back, and they were pretty average, got new cams coming so will fix that up, Problem is that it's not winding over, starts easily though once it turns over once or twice...

This part makes it sound like dieing battery. How old is it?

[Cruiser97_80]

Have you checked your ignition timing?

Incorrect ignition timing can also cause this sympton

[RAd28]

7M-GTE MX73 - As mentioned earlier, the problem has been occuring consistantly for atleast 6 months, I can only assume a dieing battery wouldn't last this long...

Cruiser - No, to be honest it hasn't crossed my mind, but i'll be sure to put the timing light on it on the weekend, thanks for the tip...

[GT1978]

Have you checked your ignition timing?

Incorrect ignition timing can also cause this sympton

As cruiser stated check your ignition timing. And the vacuum advance. Too much advance at slow engine rotation can make the engine work against itself.

Try cranking with 1/4 throttle to reduce vacuum seen by distributor and reduce advance at start up.

Glen

[thechuckster]

"early morning in winter it was a real bastard..." = poor charging from alternator combined poor battery condition = auto sparky charges you a small fortune for parts and labour

This could also be easily induced by poor/corroded connections and your battery is simply in a state of constant 'under-charged-ness' (Charles's new word for the day).

So before spending any money - simply remove the various high current connections (battery terminals, chassis earth, starter B+, engine earth, Alt B+) to clean each contacting face then re-attach/re-connect with suitable tightness. Replace anything that is badly borked.

My experience is that most electrical problems are mechanical in nature and thus able to be fixed by an owner with a rudimentary level of skill (e.g. knows which end of hammer to hold).

[maurice c]

Which end do you actually hold, i've tried both ,wearing a flanny, ugg boots and drinking VB while working on my ute and found no noticeable difference.

[thechuckster]

ahh... the problem is that when drinking VB while working on a ute, you don't use a hammer. The tools you need are a can of petrol and some matches.

[maurice c]

"touché" chuckster, "touché"