How old is the battery?

 

my zr sometimes starts instantly and sometimes takes a few seconds same sort of thing? Or is yours getting progressively worse?

 

Does the car get serviced? Regularly? Does it spin over normally on the starter but just take a while to catch? Is it sluggish on the starter? If battery gets a bit run down take the car for a drive of more than 5 miles.

 

No "rotary arm and dizzy cap" on a VVC.

 

It trys to start, battery seems in good charge, it just takes a while to catch. On a VVC what is there instead of the rotary arm snd dizzy cos come to think of it i did read somewhere that they didn't have them. I'll take my dizzy and rotary arm back then. Will i need to take back the HT leads too and plugs cos i'm guessing the guy gave me all the bits for the same car and if he thought it had a dizzy maybe the other things are wrong?

Does the VVC have a coil pack... no idea what that is though

 

It trys to start, battery seems in good charge, it just takes a while to catch. On a VVC what is there instead of the rotary arm snd dizzy cos come to think of it i did read somewhere that they didn't have them. I'll take my dizzy and rotary arm back then. Will i need to take back the HT leads too and plugs cos i'm guessing the guy gave me all the bits for the same car and if he thought it had a dizzy maybe the other things are wrong?

Does the VVC have a coil pack... no idea what that is though

What year is your VVC ? But yes - basically the plug leads are different. My early VVC had coils mounted low on the rear of the engine and leads had to reach to there. My TF has 'coil packs' - the same coils but they fit direct to the top of the plug (under the plastic cover). I don't know when the VVC may have changed. Dr Dave and/or ChrisT will be the best help.



Have a look at the EPC on Diters site


EPC

http://www.mgfcar.de/index.htm

MGF TF EPC then work you way down the menus until

MG Cars | MGF - MG TF | Electrical & Instruments | Ignition & Engine Electrics

and you can choose vvc/non, manual/auto

 

My F VVC is a P reg 97, are we calling that early?

I'll take everything back to the shop and get a refund.

I'll go into the engine this weekend and take some pics if i don't understand what i see lol so expect more on this soon

Thanks guys

 

Yes that is an early one.

They changed to coil packs in 2001.

 

Cool so when i take the stuff back what should i ask for do i just need leads and plugs?

 

You should already have the right plugs.

They are the same for the VVC and the non VVC (also called the MPi)

The leads I would get from XPart.

 

The plugs cost me £40 for champion plugs but i could get NGK platinum ones for less than that so i'll take them back too

 

Where can i get the Magnecor leads from and how much? I hear they'll be expensive. Or how much are OEM leads?

Are NGK Iridium IX plugs any good? It's either them or NGK Platinum. Not much difference in price. I'm guessing Iridium is better but has anyone used these?

 

You can get the Magnecor leads from them direct 0870 444 8644. Iridium plugs are fine.

 

Great thanks bud

 

I hate to bring this up, but you might want to have a quick compression check. This sounds like an old car of mine when the HG was going. It is noticalbe on start up as the engine is cranking over slowly. When you get it going it tends to drive the pressure up. Next step might be stalling when stopped. I suspect it's not electrical as that would be apparent after you started it up. Possibly fuel starvation - filter blocked?

 

Is the car running OK once started? Is it rough at first but gets better as it warms up? Is it lacking power?

Poor starting can point to many things such as incorrect fuelling at cold start (sensor on the way out - starts roughly but OK when warm), HT components breaking down (starts roughly but OK when warm, even worse in the damp), Compression problems (would probably run roughly all the time or lack power), bad battery (poor starting, OK once running, but you say yours seems OK), Timing problems (would probably run roughly all the time or lack power), Even something as simple as air/fuel filter being dirty can cause these problems.

 

When you turn the car it takes at most 2sec to start, but up until last week it was almost instant starting. If you start the car then stop 5mins later and start it again it starts straight away. If you leave it for say an hour it will take 2secs again.

The compression is fine i guessing as had the vvc rebuilt last month. No loss of power (believe me ) So i'm thinking plugs or leads, something like that. It may well be the battery, i've not bought a new one and no idea how long the present one has been in the car.

I'm gonna buy a nice K&N 57i soon so if it's that it won't be for long

 

To me it either sounds like a fuel/coldstart problem or HT as it is OK when warm. Usually injection systems overfuel on cold start giving you more fuel to air ratio (same as what the old choke used to do on a carburettor system). This could be due to a duff sensor and/or blocked fuel/air filters. If your HT is tracking to earth it will be more evident when cold or damp. Uneven starting can show one lead or plug defective.

 

There is a smell of petrol when driving but only outside the car if that means anything. Maybe the car is overfuelling and flooding slightly for the next start?

 

A blocked air filter could cause overfueling, or at least an over rich mixture, as the engine cannot get the air it needs.

But a faulty ignition could be causing unburnt fuel to exit the exhaust. This can also destroy your catalytic converter.

 

By faulty ignition what do you mean? Should i get it checked out?

 

Ignition circuit includes HT leads, coil packs, spark plugs.

Might be worth biting the bullet and getting a diagnostic carried out. It will show any fault logs and fuel/air ratio when starting and warm. (Tell them that's what you want)

 

Great will do, thanks matey

 

Right been pricing some Magnecor HT leads on the Brown & Gammon site http://www.ukmgparts.com/index3.htm...g=bg&mode=detail&cat=&cov=Y&o=118975603928270&code=BGF753&head2=MGF&filen=mgf12
When they say £56.40 EACH is that per set of 4 or per lead :O

 

It's a set of leads

 

Cool thanks i thought it would be

 

cjj

Hi cjj or member
can I ask a question ?

my son has a 400 to learn to drive in,its been cared for with tlc all its life although the the cam belt broke and led to a major repair [you know the one]
the car has run great ever since until the damp and cold weather now it can be a ***** to start as threads above
the question === where can i find the cold start sensor you mention please
the haynes manuel dont show it

symptoms are
long engine starts,when firing it seems to fire on three poistons but as it warms up it all smooths out to a normal smooth tickover

salesman

 

The ECU normally takes the values from the coolant sensor and uses it to decide whether the engine is cold or not.

It can normally be found on an aluminium branch (on the k-series) which comes out of the far corner of the engine block, on the same side as the exhaust manifold.