The Triumph Dolomite Club - Discussion Forum

Thanks Toledo Man that's a great help I'll give that a go when I get back from work tonight. The ignition light goes off with the ignition. And I'm sure I have both parts coming from the+ve side of the coil.

Fingers crossed for tonight once again.

Feeling Like Dr Frankenstein now. We have Power!

After many a day we have sparks flying now. I think I found the problem either A bad HT lead connection (filled it with WD40) and/or when I had fitted my new points I had forgotten to transfer over a plastic part from my old points between the condenser and the spring. But at least now she is sparking and turning over and i can start to get the engine running.

All very daft. :-S

So next port of call? Clean out the carbs? Fresh fuel? Fuel lines and or pump?

Stay with the ignition. You've got power at the coil so set the points gap (15 thou) and try starting the engine. If it won't start, remove one of the HT leads, put a spare spark plug in it, spin the starter motor and see if it will spark. There are 2 main reasons why an engine won't start. No spark or no fuel. You must always check the ignition first before moving on to the fuel.

Great stuff this forum for new owners, beats reading mags any day!

Just a wee tip for checking for a spark - it's worth buying a couple of these plastic plug caps with a neon light, attach it to the lead and fit over a plug - it's very obvious if there's a spark!
Also worth carrying one if you have a misfire, fit it to each spark plug and the neon will indicate which plug has the misfire when the engine is running.

All the best!

Hi Guys, back again. All plugs checked and sparking & thrown is some fuel for good measure.Spark is pretty yellow in colour which if memory serves means that Its not that great. They are also very sooty so it's been running too rich.

I've bought new plugs for just such an occasion. But they look like this.



Do I still have to set the gap with these? Look about close enough when measured.

I'm not getting any fuel like smell when turning over and the plugs remain dry.

Just tried to throw some fuel into the carb. All be it for 3 seconds it started

Whats the next best way to go about the fuel system?

Do what I said on Facebook, clean it that carb!

Now that you know that there's a spark, you can check the fuel system so go with what Bruce has just said.

Great guys. Will start to strip it all down now. That's my weekend sorted.

The journey continues.

I got a set of those plugs with the Accuspark ignition kit I bought for my Spitfire. They were awful!

I swear by NGKs. Got them in both the 1850 and the Astra. I've used them for years without any issues.

If you can still find any the best plugs I have ever fitted are Bosch Platinum. I think you need w8dp.

Been in my Spit for about 15 years now....

A good spark should jump 1/4 inch air gap to earth and be blueish in colour.

On the fuel system again we keep saying this but its highly likely you have some perished rubber sections on the fule line from the tank and your pump is sucking air as a consequence.

Jonners

I had multi electrode plugs in my sprint for a while ( golden lodge i think ) the car seemed to run ok at idle but on the move it seemed to lose power some of the time, i put a set of Ngks in and no more problems

Great news. For you guys and me. Managed to get it running.

http://youtu.be/EYVCjrgp4cs

Stripped down the top end of the carb to check. All seemed pretty clean tbh. So filled the chamber with fresh fuel and reassembled. Disconnected the fuel line to the carb opened the choke and throttle manually. Added a jump pack to the battery and not only did it run it started pumping the fuel too. Re filled the float chamber and connected up the lines and finally have it running. All be it rough but running.

Can't thank you guys enough for your help. Been superb! Battery is back on charge after the abuse that's been thrown at it over the past week.

Happy Boy at the moment. Just need to decide on what job to do first.

Thanks for the advice on the plugs guys. I'll leave the existing ones in there for now and keep the others for spares. Just glad I have something resembling an engine now