Stuck on a few bits - some advice needed please.

[jason82]

When you say the engine will not turn over, do you mean the engine won't rotate ? As in trying to start ? Or the car engine turns over but won't start ? If it's the first, and the engine won't turn over on the starter, put a socket on the crank and turn it clock wise, if it's locked, have you got the timing really wrong after a cam belt change ? Or take spark plugs out and try turning the engine over again as it could be hydra locked.

If it turns on spanner on the crank, check that the starter is engaged into the flywheel properly, check it's wired, earth is good & you have a feed.

If engine turns over on the key but won't catch, check the far the are all connected, put a good amount of fuel in the tank as a fiver is not enough, suspect the fuel pump, put your head by the fuel pump & get someone to flick the ignition on and off to check that it's working. If no noise at fuel pump, check you have a live feed, if you do, suspect the pump. Try hitting it with your hand while someone tries turning the car over, this can get it to work temporarily.

If the pump is working, put your hand over the front fuel pipe, if you can feel it vibrate, fuels going through it to the engine (don't take pipe off to check for fuel, it's under high pressure !). If no vibration on pipe, check fuel filter, it could be blocked.
Also, check that on the sender unit in the tank, the pipe in the middle must go to the front of the engine, the one on the outside of the sender goes to the rear of the engine (return).
If everything is still as it should be, put a spark plug tester between the HT lead & each spark plug. If no spark (no flashing lights on the tester while engine is being turned over), check for voltage at the coil pack with ignition on. If voltage is there, but no spark, coil is at fault, if no power at the coil packs, check main fuse to see if it has blown.
Finally, make sure that all far the are connected & have clean termination points.

[hutchey]

Room fuse?
I've checked the bits I've removed (still had them in the garage just in case) and can't seen anything that would look like causing a problem.

[hutchey]

It's the first of above scenarios. Unlikely to be locked i'd have thought as I had the timing belt and bits done professionally once the old chassis was removed. I'll still check though just in case.

Plugs and leads are all new but as it won't even attempt to start and just goes "click", I can't get to test anything else.

[hutchey]

Jun 6, 2018 12:30:42 GMT jason82 said:

When you say the engine will not turn over, do you mean the engine won't rotate ? As in trying to start ? Or the car engine turns over but won't start ? If it's the first, and the engine won't turn over on the starter, put a socket on the crank and turn it clock wise, if it's locked, have you got the timing really wrong after a cam belt change ? Or take spark plugs out and try turning the engine over again as it could be hydra locked.

If it turns on spanner on the crank, check that the starter is engaged into the flywheel properly, check it's wired, earth is good & you have a feed.

If engine turns over on the key but won't catch, check the far the are all connected, put a good amount of fuel in the tank as a fiver is not enough, suspect the fuel pump, put your head by the fuel pump & get someone to flick the ignition on and off to check that it's working. If no noise at fuel pump, check you have a live feed, if you do, suspect the pump. Try hitting it with your hand while someone tries turning the car over, this can get it to work temporarily.

If the pump is working, put your hand over the front fuel pipe, if you can feel it vibrate, fuels going through it to the engine (don't take pipe off to check for fuel, it's under high pressure !). If no vibration on pipe, check fuel filter, it could be blocked.
Also, check that on the sender unit in the tank, the pipe in the middle must go to the front of the engine, the one on the outside of the sender goes to the rear of the engine (return).
If everything is still as it should be, put a spark plug tester between the HT lead & each spark plug. If no spark (no flashing lights on the tester while engine is being turned over), check for voltage at the coil pack with ignition on. If voltage is there, but no spark, coil is at fault, if no power at the coil packs, check main fuse to see if it has blown.
Finally, make sure that all far the are connected & have clean termination points.

Just removed all spark plugs and can’t turn the engine round at all.
It had fresh oil in it before winter and worked fine before hand.

[mikeeyboy]

Jun 6, 2018 12:33:48 GMT hutchey said:

Room fuse?
I've checked the bits I've removed (still had them in the garage just in case) and can't seen anything that would look like causing a problem.

It has been a while since I built mine but I stripped part of the loom and remember having issues with this fuse and having removed wiring from it:




The wiring diagram states it has trasnsmission, sound system, antenna, interior lights, engine controls, insutrument cluster, computer lines.

[hutchey]

I’ll have a check tomorrow on that as I may have removed that wire and left the fuse bit.


Managed to get a socket on the crank and with help from a 6ft 5 farrier, got it to rotate.
More wd40 down the spark plugs and will see if it rotates more freely tomorrow.

Now to my other sticking points 🤔

[jason82]

Thats a mechanical issue mate. That engine should turn with the engine in neutral with a socket and a plain 1/2 inch ratchet turning the engine clockwise. I would pull the front cover off and check the timing belt has not broken. If that's ok, take the rocker cover off, check the cams have not broken ( I have only seen this once in my life !), drain the oil again, I would expect that you will find metal in the oil. If everything checks out, pull the head and check the piston and liners for signs of seizure. If you have one, put a tiny pen style camera down the spark plus holes checking for damage. Don't bother checking electrics etc, this is 100% mechanical. Good luck mate, I hope that it's something simple !
P.s. you have not left the cam locking tool in have you ?

[hutchey]

Jun 6, 2018 17:07:57 GMT jason82 said:

Thats a mechanical issue mate. That engine should turn with the engine in neutral with a socket and a plain 1/2 inch ratchet turning the engine clockwise. I would pull the front cover off and check the timing belt has not broken. If that's ok, take the rocker cover off, check the cams have not broken ( I have only seen this once in my life !), drain the oil again, I would expect that you will find metal in the oil. If everything checks out, pull the head and check the piston and liners for signs of seizure. If you have one, put a tiny pen style camera down the spark plus holes checking for damage. Don't bother checking electrics etc, this is 100% mechanical. Good luck mate, I hope that it's something simple !
P.s. you have not left the cam locking tool in have you ?

Cheers, got it rotating about 5pm with help from a friend. Still got to go back now and see if i can get any reaction when i turn the key to start. Will try tomorrow. 
I think the sticking was just a case of having left it sat in the garage for months without turning it every so often.
TIming cover and belt were all replaced by a mechanic friend before I stopped work on it so hopefully anything else wrong will now be electrical.

[hutchey]

Front Light wiring and operation query?

I can't get my front dipped and main to work (just using the bulbs and the mazda connectors) - (when i try the full beams i get a buzzing sounds from a small connection relay? that sits on the right hand side of the engine bay with 2 other ones)

Have i forgotten something here?
Cheers

[snowbird1]

I would check the ground circuit for the headlight switch, dip and main beam bulbs and the headlight relay ground via the switch. Check voltage drop between the black wire at the headlight switch connector and a good chassis ground.

[hutchey]

Jun 14, 2018 6:18:17 GMT snowbird1 said:

I would check the ground circuit for the headlight switch, dip and main beam bulbs and the headlight relay ground via the switch. Check voltage drop between the black wire at the headlight switch connector and a good chassis ground.

Headlight switch and ground relay? Lost me................

The earth blocks at the front (x2) are earthed ok with Ohms at zero.
I have a buzzing coming from some little black box thing (possibly a relay that has 3 wires to it - 2x Red/black and a Black/blue) that's on the front right hand side near the brake servo alongside 2 other relay looking things.

[snowbird1]

The three relays should be: side/parking lights, headlights and cooling fan.

The headlight relay will have two red/black wires – hot all the time, a red/yellow wire – this is earthed via the steering column multifunction switch to actuate the relay and a black/blue wire that is the power to the headlamps.

If the side lights work OK the column switch has an earth but it may not be good enough to take the load of the headlights.

Unfortunately checking earths with a DVOM only shows you have continuity, the DVOM will flow only a tiny current to check resistance, this is great for checking sensitive electronic components but not ideal for checking power circuits.

To check resistance in a power circuit you need to measure the voltage needed to make the current flow in that circuit.

To do this, set your meter to the low voltage setting and connect the leads across the circuit you are checking, then power the circuit.
In this case connect one lead to black wire at the connector for column switch the other to a good chassis ground. With the switch off the meter will read zero, with the switch turned to the side lamps position you should see a very small voltage as you are only operating the relay, when you switch on the headlamps you will see the a higher reading but still only about 0.1 volt if the circuit is good, a higher voltage reading indicates high resistance in the ground circuit.