Stuck on the drive...

If you’ve read the write-up of my big old roadtrip, you’ll have noted I broken down on the drive as soon as I got home. On one hand, I was pretty pleased it didn’t occur in a petrol station in mid-Wales, but on the other hand, my garage is down a short hill, so there’s no opportunity to bump start the car. To be honest, I was tired and just pleased to be home, so after replacing the 30 amp fuse for the ECU and fuel pump and blowing it a couple of times, I just left it for the day. It was time for a beer and a search of the internet for possible causes.

Some concerted searching later and the only similar symptoms I could find;

• Blowing ECU fuse on ignition (i.e. position III)
• Jump start with donor battery makes no difference – still fuse blow
• Will start on a bump start

all seemed to point towards the famous “K-Series Hot Start” problem. Logic also suggests that blowing a fuse means there’s a short, most likely on one of the earths. I did the diligent thing and checked all the wiring I could find, including the starter button and everything seemed OK. So, the hot start issue? Well, I still had the issue the next day, so not exactly hot, but still.

What is this hot start issue? The common routine is a hard or long run, followed by a short stop, such as a fuel fill (or to empty the car of a week’s worth of luggage) and the car refuses to start. Normally, a 20 minute wait or a bump start will get you rolling. The reason is the starter motor and starter solenoid are mounted very close to the exhaust manifold and get very hot. In my case, there was also the fuse-blowing issue and according to various forums, this occasionally occurred at the same time. However, the length of time to get things going again  - i.e. more than 20 minutes - made me suspicious of the electrical connections too.

After the Seven decided to behave again, which began as turning over but not holding idle and running quite rich, then turning over and holding idle, a couple of days later I drove to Mum and Dad’s only to have it die on their drive too. No hard or long run then, since they’re only five minutes away.

It was at this point I decided I’d have to have a look at the starter and solenoid. If nothing else, getting them off and giving them a bit of love couldn’t hurt, so following the Alcester Racing Sevens starter maintenance guide Dad and I set about removing the starter and solenoid and servicing them. My starter is held in place by three 8mm allen bolts. Two are easy to access. The third is a right bastard. Dad kindly donated an old 8mm allen key which I cut to a straight rod, then mounted into a socket set via an extender bar. Space is very tight and you access this from under the car so axle stands are a must. Personally, seeing as the car is so low that if it came off the stands it would hit you before the tyres hit the ground, I advocate a second set of hands to keep an eye on you.

Having completed the service, squirted some WD40 into the pinion end of the starter and tidied up the wiring it all went back together with only several irritating and time consuming hitches and rather pleasingly, started up just fine. Since then it’s started each time, but the only electrical change I made was a bit of extra insulating tape at a starter connection, so it’s difficult to say if I’ve fixed it, or it fixed itself. I think the bottom line is 2000 miles is likely to cause problems of some sort or another…