gregh Posted March 14, 2003 Posted March 14, 2003 Bearing in mind I'm not the most car savvy person in the world, my Zetec westie won't start. It last ran in December, the battery seems ok, lights come on bright, tried jump leads but no go. It seems to turn over, but not catch. Any simple things I should try? cheers, Greg Quote
gregh Posted March 14, 2003 Author Posted March 14, 2003 I can email sound it's making to anyone Quote
RICHARD+PHILIP Posted March 14, 2003 Posted March 14, 2003 Carbs or injection zetec? Is there any spark from the sparkplugs? (take the plugs out attach leads and crank over again watching for sparks) erm! recharge the battery and try again. Petrol getting to the carbs/ injectors? May have drained out and will need a little time to fill up again anybody else??? Quote
moomin Posted March 14, 2003 Posted March 14, 2003 if it's been sat for a while it is usually worth taking the plugs out, and stick them on a radiator or in the oven for a short while to throughly dry out and warm up (not hot though < visions of baking plugs in an oven >, just warm them thru - 30 mins wrapped in a cloth on the rad usually does it). it helps alot. also as said, are you sure you have fuel at the carbs/fuel rail? (and in the tank?!?). you could crank it a bit without the plugs if its carbs to help get the fuel levels up. all these tips taken from my little book of starting my dads MG - the procedure is thus: charge battery, take plugs out to warm/dry, crank it a bit with the plugs out, plugs back in, game on. hope this is some help, and you get it going while the sun is shining moomin Quote
studbuckle Posted March 14, 2003 Posted March 14, 2003 To clarify, checking you have a spark invoves removing plug, reattaching the plug lead and earthing the plug to and engine earth, turn engine over and watch for spark jumping the gap. At same time after doing this you can smell the empty plug hole to see if it smells of petrol Quote
gregh Posted March 14, 2003 Author Posted March 14, 2003 embarrasing question, but are the spark plugs under the 4 black covers in the middle of the silver engine in this pic? Quote
FATBOY Posted March 14, 2003 Posted March 14, 2003 .....is that the whiff of urine I detect in the air? Quote
adhawkins Posted March 14, 2003 Posted March 14, 2003 As his first sentence was 'bearing in mind I'm not the most car savvy person in the world...', perhaps not . To answer your question, yes, those are the spark plugs. The black 'covers' are the HT leads that go to the distributor. Make sure you connect them back up in the right order! Andy Quote
gregh Posted March 14, 2003 Author Posted March 14, 2003 sorted, goddam dodgy jump leads, one new pair later and she's up and running! had to move the battery to get a good fit for the + terminal, so now gotta let her run and charge it up before I re-fit battery!! Suns going to have gone by the time I've finished! cheers for all the replies! greg Quote
Bananaman Posted March 14, 2003 Posted March 14, 2003 Don't worry greg, sunshine forcast for next 5 days at least Andy P.S. I would stop the car & go & get a batter charger, much better way of charging your battery. Quote
Blatman Posted March 14, 2003 Posted March 14, 2003 Buy a battery conditioner. Problem solved forever........almost....... Quote
chazpowerslide Posted March 16, 2003 Posted March 16, 2003 Not a good idea to run the car with the battery not connected, there is a good chance that you'll b******* up the alternator. Chaz. Quote
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