The Triumph Dolomite Club - Discussion Forum

Can help anyone help me to fire up a 20 year parked Dolomite 1850 HL? The vehicle is parked 20 years ago as a really good runner. Now I ‘m going to restore the car together with my 13 year old son, so this 1850 will be his first car when he has his driving licence.
But somehow we cannot get the engine to start. We use new fuel and oil, replaced the ignition coil and rotor cover, checked the points, leads, contact gap and the spark plugs. But still the plugs will not spark! How can we solve this? Any ideas, tips or tricks?

Many thanks, Geert Jan&Olivier

The Delco distributor can rub through the LT wire and short it to earth. You'll get nothing useful if that has happened. Otherwise usual fault finding techniques should work. Are you getting a spark from the Coil? Is Rotor arm in good condition, is it turning? Are the plugs new/gapped correctly. Don' t assume the new parts you've fitted are working.

Bel maar een keer.

0637272007

Groeten Jeroen

Hi Macleesh, thanks for your reply! I checked the TL wire. Looks okay. I’m not getting a spark from the coil either. So I just checked the coil in my Sprint. There it work flawless. So coil works, but doesn’t give any sparks in 1850. Also checked if the coil has power, which it has one the +pole. Plugs are not new (yet), gaps have been checked and are correct. So still puzzled

Dag Jeroen, dank dat doe ik graag. Wanneer komt je dat uit?

Dinsdagmiddag?

Jeroen

Hello Geertjan,

Is it originally a Dutch car?
Because I am still wondering whatever happened to my car I sold to someone in the Netherlands.
It is the car in this topic:
https://forum.triumphdolomite.co.uk/vie ... =4&t=34278

Regards,
Luc.

Dag Jeroen, Dinsdagmiddag is prima. Ik bel je rond een uur of 3. Geert Jan

Hi Luc, Sorry, this 1850 is an original Dutch car from 1978. I bought the car in 1989. Drove it daily for about 6-8 years and then stored it until recently. BR Geert Jan

Hello Geertjan,

Thanks for answering.
Enjoy your restoration project!

Regards,
Luc.

Are you going to start a thread in re "resto" section? It would be the best place to document your progress.

If the coil works in another car but produces no spark in the subject car, the problem inevitably lies in the low tension side of the ignition system. So you are looking at points, condenser and associated wiring. If it's an early car (72/3) it's also worth noting that the Rev counter is an integral part of the LT circuitry, if it's faulty, the car won't run!

Steve

Dear all, many thanks for all your good advice. We brought the Dollie back to live today! It turned out to be a simple, but not easy to find issue. The new lead from the Coil to the distribution cap turned out to be faulty........ After replacing this New lead with the old one in a last attempt to start the engine, it fired up immediately. What a fantascs sound after 15 years!

Now the next challenge: the slave cylinder is probably not working or clutch is jammed, because I can not change gear to neutral with the manual gearbox. Any good ideas on this issue??

geertjan.braam wrote: ↑Mon Apr 27, 2020 7:47 pm Dear all, many thanks for all your good advice. We brought the Dollie back to live today! It turned out to be a simple, but not easy to find issue. The new lead from the Coil to the distribution cap turned out to be faulty........ After replacing this New lead with the old one in a last attempt to start the engine, it fired up immediately. What a fantascs sound after 15 years!

Now the next challenge: the slave cylinder is probably not working or clutch is jammed, because I can not change gear to neutral with the manual gearbox. Any good ideas on this issue??

Sorry this is not very clear! You cant get it it INTO neutral? Or into gear? Can you select gears WITHOUT the engine running? But not with?

If the latter is the case, then either the hydraulics have failed (very possible, check the fluid level for starters) or the clutch plate has frozen to the flywheel (also very possible) Maybe BOTH!

You will need to ensure the hydraulics are working correctly before moving on to the second suspect (the frozen clutch) If you sort the hydraulics and it works then, fine! If not, it's time to get brutal, the best way to free a frozen clutch is starting it in gear and driving it around with the clutch depressed, jerking on the throttle as much as possible (1st gear only is fine) Like I said, brutal, but it works around 90% of the time. The other 10% it just won't free off and it's time to pull the gearbox.

I once drove a long stored Talbot Sunbeam to work and back for a week without a functional clutch disengagement method, a total of nearly 100 miles, before I admitted defeat and took the box out! Stupid really, it only took 3 hours to remove and refit the gearbox with a new clutch! Sometimes I can be TOO lazy! And stubborn! Generally I regard laziness as a positive asset, all the worlds great labour saving ideas are invented by lazy engineers looking for an easy life!

Steve

Hi Steve, Many thanks for your reply!
Indeed laziness is most the times a good solution to solve annoying issues.

I will try to explain a bit more in detail. I cannot get the gearbox INTO neutral. The clutch pedal does not have any response (feeling) anymore. The clutch cilinder is working (at least think) because I have renewed the hydraulic fluids via bleeding the fluid via the nozzle of the slave cilinder. So therefor my conclusion is that the slave cylinder is not working anymore. But probably this can also be a result of the clutch plate being frozen to the flywheel? So by reading your advice: First check all fluids again. And if that has no result: it will be time to get brutal.

I really hope I can stay away from your 3rd option of removing and refitting the gearbox!