My Mark IX sat idle for three years after some running issues due to bad gas. I got motivated and drained the gas tanks, purged the lines. I removed the carbs, rebuilt them and made sure the needles moved freely, set the float levels, etc etc. adjusted butterflies to match. Installed new properly gapped plugs. Put in 90 octane no-ethanol fuel. Did my initial idle and fuel settings, then began to start the car. After much cranking in spurts, car finally ran but only barely for a few seconds then would cut out No throttle response. Ok, I thought if I can get it running some more that will give me time to put on the unisyn and sync the carbs and adjust the mixtures. But what happened next has confused me: I repeated the sequence - turned on the key, pumps are fine. Red light for charging system comes on, fine. I push the starter button and the car immediately shuts down. While the interior lights still work, the red light goes out. If I turn the key off and on again nothing happens. The only way to reset it is to disconnect, then reconnect the battery cable. Then, I go through the same sequence, red light is on again, push the starter button and it immediately shuts down again. My batteries are fully charged and can take a load. I’ve also tried jumpering another good battery to no avail.
Is it possible I’ve fried a starter solenoid? Or perhaps the starter itself? Any debugging guidance much appreciated.
You know John, I should have thought to check that. I had a bad connection on my 63 vette a couple of years ago with similar symptoms but in the case of the vette, all the electricals would die. I’ll check in the morning. I know it wasn’t ground to battery as the same thing happened when I jumped it. I’ll report back tomorrow. Fingers crossed!
Hi John,
I had the same issue with my Mark IX, and sure enough, the ground cable from the battery to the body was a little loose. Does your car have the big wing nut to secure the ground cable to the scuttle, or did you replace that with a regular nut? I’m still using the big wing nut, but I’ve got a toothed lock washer under it.
Best of luck,
Jay
Hi John, If you say the charging / ignition light goes out but the interior light is on, is it to do with the generator / voltage regulator? Assuming good battery connections, the starter solenoid usually has a rubber cap on the end which when pressed enables remote turning of the motor with the starter - or just testing that it works.
My recent experience with my IX that had been sitting is that I could hear the fuel pump and had cleaned the lines so I wrongly assumed that the fuel was getting to the carbs.
Only after I dismantled the fuel pumps for a second time did I find the cent coin size valve in the SU fuel pump was stuck in place by the yellow gum which comes out of the fuel these days. Argh!
Here’s an update. Yesterday I cleaned all the connections, and used the starter button on the side of the solenoid to turn over the starter. It worked, and then the dash button worked as well. Then, it happened once again and i used the solenoid button. My theory is that the solenoid must be on its last leg. Now on to my next problem. The engine will now start but runs horribly and will not respond to throttle. I had taken apart and cleaned the carbs completely, and put in new diaphragms, set the fuel bowel levels etc. .The only thing I can think of is that maybe the jets aren’t properly aligned. Dashpots seemed to move freely when I reassembled, but maybe I was a bit optimistic I didn’t try to raise one of the dashpots while it was idling to see if it would respond. That’s my next step as I assume that would tell me if I have an alignment issue.
If the pistons drop nicely, set the carbs to the base settings from the manual. If it doesn’t run reasonably you have an air leak, timing issue or no fuel.
Raising the piston makes it leaner so do try that.
Check the points. They can arc if unfortunately partially open when you turn the ignition switch on and wait for the fuel pump to fill the carbs. This can also happen if you forget to turn the ignition off after a failed starting attempt. I have had this happen with my mark 9. (once in 25 years) For my first start after a long period of not using the car, I remove the air cleaner and have an assistant run quick start into the manifold. The car always starts, sometimes stalls if below 1800 RPM. My starting carb may not be properly adjusted of course. (works though!)