Tipo won't start with plug #3 on ...

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Mon 12 Sep 2005 20:07
Tipo won't start with plug #3 on ... - local yokel
Saturday was very, very wet here. Had to take the Tipo though torrential rain and very big puddles, but seemed fine. Came to start it later, not at all happy. Only just prepared to run, and not on all cylinders.

Essentially it seems that connecting plug 3 causes it to go very lumpy and stall, but read on..

I cleaned out the distributor cap, and WD40d it and the leads. Still the same. Started fault finding, so took off plug lead 4, the same. Took off lead 3, and it starts, funs and idles on the other 3 very happily. Put it back on and it goes horribly lumpy and stops.

Removed lead 3 and put in in place of lead 4, leaving cylinder 3 with no lead. Car starts and idles OK on 3 again, so lead 3 is OK.

Swapped plugs 3 and 4, and tried again as above - only will run with 3 disconnected, but proved that plug 3 is OK.

Took lead from 1, and put it in place of lead 3 - won't start or run as above.

So it seems that plug 3 and lead 3 are fine, but that cylinder 3 is doing something strange to interfere with the running of the engine. No water loss, so I don't think it's a gasket issue. remember, all this started after a period of running in extreme damp.

It's driving me mad - over to you, Backroomers...
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Mon 12 Sep 2005 21:16
Tipo won't start with plug #3 on ... - Altea Ego
Plug 3 is firing at the wrong time. I suspect that volts from one of the others is tracking through plug / lead 3 at the same time somewhere on the dizzy cap.


Unless of course you got the car so wet you got water into the cylinder, have caused a hydraulic lock, and the engine mechanically damaged.


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Mon 12 Sep 2005 21:41
Tipo won't start with plug #3 on ... - local yokel
So the next step is to replace the distributor cap, which makes sense, as I can't otherwise exclude it fromn the fault-finding process.

I'd be amazed if water had got into the cylinder, it was spray, not wading through 2 ft of water, and it doesn't quite fit with the symptoms. The engine idles very happily on three cylinders, remember, but hates having plug 3 connected. It seems that the dist. cap is my next step.

Thanks for your input - I'll report back.
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Mon 12 Sep 2005 21:58
Tipo won't start with plug #3 on ... - Altea Ego
and if it is tracking through 3 and plug x at the same time, its pulling the volts down on plug x and possibly running on two cylinders if plug three is connected.
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Tue 13 Sep 2005 14:41
Tipo won't start with plug #3 on ... - local yokel
Traced this - by fitting a new dizzy cap, which solves the problem. Inspected the inside of the old one, and there are cracks from plug 3's connection, tracing round to the next one, prob 1. The damp has got into the crack, and transmitting some of the spark to another cylinder, hence the rough running when plug lead 3 was connected.

The dry summer kept it away until a wet day allowed moisture into the cracks, and so start the problem.
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