Do K10's have a dampness issue when starting???

[W4SIM]

Hello all

Please try and bear with me on this if you can.

In a recent thread i asked how the battery was supposed to be tied down as mine was loose and kept moving onto the clutch cable adjuster bit.

Well i sorted the battery out, sprayed some WD40 on the moving parts of the clutch itself as i could see some rust and then just left it.

Took the car to work about an hour or two later and thats where the problems started. At first it was jerking under accelration throughout all gears, but then that sorted itself out when the car warmed up.

The next day it had trouble starting up, this has ALWAYS been a first time starter since iv had it for about 5months, this is the 1st time it had starting issues. That was yesterday. Then after work it wouldnt start and started on about the 4th attempt. And now today it wont start at all, even on about the 5th attempt.

Iv checked the sparks and made sure theres anough fuel in there but nothing. Its kinda like getting there but not quite ticking over if you know what i mean, its JUSt falling short of actually turning over. It has been raining since that day but rain has never ever caused a starting problem before so im completely baffled by this.

So has any 1 got any ideas? Could a quick spray of WD40 have really done this? Or is there something else thats abit more common that im missing?

Your help would be much appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[kev_mono72]

id check the timing and the leads...

 

[W4SIM]

I was thinking the leads aswell, but would that seriously happen in a matter of hours? And if it did then how do i check them other than a visual inspection?

 

[Herr_spl1ff]

Check you've not knocked the battery connections, wiring etc. It won't be the WD40, it'll be something that's accidently been moved or something like that. It's unlikely to be a random fault that happens to have surfaced at the same time.

 

[Pete]

I'd seroiusly take a look at whether there's a problem with the Coil.

 

[quickdraw]

ok..
very simple little thing. but something i know to have happened umpteen amopunts of times.

the coil (seliniod) behind the battery (were the 5th HT lead goes to) has a plastic cover over the end. peel this back and make sure the connection on the end is ok

when tampering with the batteries (especially if it has been moving about) sumtimes knocks this off!!

simply take it right off. blow into it (to remove deposits of rubbish) and replace. making sure that all connections are good..

do this with all the leads!! as they con sumtimes become loose and not get full contact

hope this helps

edit: grr petey boy lol but yeah as said coil is my guess

 

[Pete]

I just remember once driving up a d/cway with a nsl, with the car spluttering like it smoked 40 a day, not managing to get abouve 30mph. Changed the coil for a fiver at a scrap yard, problem solved.

 

[Andrew]

As quickdraw said, check all the terminals for the HT leads. Especially check the one on the coil (which isn't the same as the solenoid (celiniod)).

WD40 stands for Water Displacement formula 40, so it should help solve dampness problems. However, it is quite conductive and can cause tracking between the HT lead and LV terminals on the coil. You'd see this as sparks jumping about on the coil itself. Give the plastic a wipe down to get rid of oil and crap.

One other thing I would check is the battery terminal posts and earth strap itself. You might have disturbed them when sorting the battery out, and any increased resistance here can make the car really hard to start.

 

[kev_mono72]

if it sounds like it is sparking at the coil, clean around it, take the rubber off and insulate the wires coming out and the nuts holding them in with some insulation tape...

 

[W4SIM]

Thank you Gents, will be trying to get round to all this in the next day or 2 when i get some time. My initial thoughts were towards the coil pack aswell but its just when you realise that the problem came about AS SOON as i had sorted the battery out seems to be the big mystery.

I dont think i could have knocked anything out of place really as the battery has been flying around in the bay for about 2months now and iv been moving it back into position loads of times before. But it could have been just this time round, so il be having a look at everything mentioned above. Hopefully it will get it sorted out.

 

[Oboema]

Let us know if u've sorted it!

eager to know...

 

[W4SIM]

In my 1st post i did post i did say that this problem appeared quite mysteriously when i did 2 things that were TOTALLY unrelated and would never cause a starting problem.

I went out last night after leaving the car standing for 2 nights and started it, started 1st time with no problems what so ever. Took it to work today, started 1st time. Left work, started 1st time. Its back to itself again. The mystery this time is that i never even opened the bonnet to do ANY of the things mentioned above. I just left it and it seemed to sort itself out.

So i dont really know what to say on this apart from the fact that i THINK it was the WD40 having made something wet. When its obviously dried out the cars gone back to normal.

 

[Swallow]

100% its the coil clean it and wd40 it. guaruntee you will have no problems after this.