stylez Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 Hi all, Hoping to get some ideas and opinions on my car. So my Marina is a pain in the ass to start, it's got an 1800B not too recently put in. Once started it runs reasonably, bit of a small miss when you slam the throttle. A little spluttery and just overall a little rough. It has a leak in the second spark plug well, so I'll be replacing the valve seal cover gasket shortly. It's only leaking into one well, but even after a 15min drive the spark plug is oily/sooty. When the car is hot, i can shut it off and it'll start up first pop nice and easy. If I leave it to idle it'll idle on it's own for about 5 to 8 mins, then it'll cut out. If I havent started it in a day or even 5/6 hours, its very difficult to start. It'll turn over fine, but just won't fire up. If I spray a little Aerostart (Ether) into the air intake, sometimes it'll start reluctantly. If I spray a heap it'll usually fire up but not allways. It'll then just splutter and a backfire untill the ether has been used up. I've pulled and cleaned all the sparkplugs, they are all fairly new. It's allmost as if it's not getting enough/any fuel when it's trying to start. Could this be my fuel pump ? Is there any way I can test it if it's common ? I've tried searching the net in general, and there's a bit of helpfull stuff out there. But I thought maybe posting my symptoms somebody may be able to help. Any help on the matter would be greatly appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kyteler Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 Using choke? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stylez Posted January 14, 2011 Author Share Posted January 14, 2011 Tried with and without, still a pain in the ass. It'll tow start sweet as also. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yowzer Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 If it'll tow start fine but not on cranking, you might have low coil voltage. Check the volts at the coil with a multimeter and see what's up. Does it use a ballast resistor? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keltik Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 Crappy ground from engine to battery? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrome_GT Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 Hey this sounds very familiar. Are you sure you are using the correct coil? The symptoms I had: Capri was a pain to start - i resorted to crc engine start regularly just to get it to spark up Capri would seemingly run ok until i pulled up to traffic lights - went dropping to idle it would sometimes die and then not start at all All symptoms were worse on wet days. I thought it was mixture too cos there was spark - it'd been a while since i last saw a normal one so didn't realise it was weak. I also thought i had a loose distributor shaft as it had some axial play. Turns out I was a dumbass and had fitted a non ballast coil in my Capri which does have a ballast resistor. This meant less voltage was available for sparking it up. Took a while to find the fault, over a year if i remember right. In your case you may have the wrong coil or your coil is just stuffed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yowzer Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 My brothers car does the exact same thing, pretty bloody sure it's the coil. Have yet to actually fix it though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cubastreet Posted January 16, 2011 Share Posted January 16, 2011 First off, check the points, condenser and timing if you haven't already. Also, distributor cap and rotor. Leads and plugs too but I guess you've done that. These are the most common causes of your type of problem. If that and what they ^ said doesn't fix it, look at fuel issues (blocked filter, carb jets, pump) A haynes manual would be handy if you don't have one already. Not quite sure what you mean about the leak in the spark plug well, maybe worn valve guides/seals? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sholdowa Posted January 17, 2011 Share Posted January 17, 2011 piano time Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stylez Posted January 18, 2011 Author Share Posted January 18, 2011 ha... oh wait, that's not actually funny. My bad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seedy Al Posted January 18, 2011 Share Posted January 18, 2011 check your timing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stylez Posted January 21, 2011 Author Share Posted January 21, 2011 Sweeeet! Went down to the wreckers today and grabbed a new coil for $10. Starts first pop and runs a shitload better. Chur for the help guys. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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