Today is a better day and there is no need for the axe.
After not touching the car over the weekend, I had another look this morning and consulted all the resident experts. I again tried to turn the motor over via the crankshaft pulley without the plugs in. Very difficult to get it to turn very far at all although it does move. My resident expert suggested that the problem was possibly in the ring gear area:- either the ring gear was broken & coming off or the broken tooth may have caused some damage & the flywheel was catching. Good advice!
So I jacked the car up reasonably high so that I could get a good look at the ring gear through the starter motor hole. When I tried to turn the motor, it actually did & went the complete cycle. What the f---? My advisor suggested that the piece of broken ring gear may have lodged in a position where it was catching & by jacking the car up it has dislodged. Sounds good to me & the best part is that the motor turns over without any problems. I spent some time trying to get a magnet behind the flywheel without a lot of success so the best solution is to wheel it into the sick bay until I work out my next move.
Here are some pics of the broken tooth (the pics are a bit sideways).
I have another house maintenance project on at the moment so I swapped the cars about so that my white XL is available and for the meantime I will just rest the green Capri. There is no real alternative other than replacing the ring gear and I will have to be sufficiently motivated to do that.
Today was one of those days I had to hide the axe! If it had been close by, the green Capri may have had some holes in it! I spent all day trying to get the car started to no avail & with what seems to be a major problem.
As I wrote in my last post, I thought the starter motor was not releasing properly so I took it back to the guy who repaired it several weeks ago. He tested it again & declared that there was nothing wrong with it but after looking at the few chewed up teeth on the Bendix drive suggested I should check the ring gear on the flywheel.
When I got home I stuck a light up the starter motor hole & sure enough, one broken tooth on the ring gear. Great! That in itself is a big problem and the axe nearly came out then. For that to be fixed requires an engine removal and I am not quite in a good enough frame of mind to do that. I turned the engine several turns using a spanner on the crankshaft pulley & then replaced the starter and had a few more goes. No start & several times the horrible noise of the starter not meshing happened.
Again today I tried and no go! I checked all the electrical wiring with the voltmeter, including the coil & all of that seems OK. I reset the points as they were very close and there was spark at the points so I thought that OK. Still no go & it seemed as if the starter was only moving several turns & then stopping. The battery was OK but it did not keep turning. I was really getting frustrated as the car was going really well last time I drove it just a week ago.
Next step was to take out the plugs & see if there was spark at the plugs. The motor turned over enough to see that there was spark at No1 plug. However, the motor still seemed to turn over for a short time & then stop. Using a spanner on the crankshaft pulley, the motor would turn over a short way & then become very tight, even with all the plugs out. Things are not looking good!
Maybe the starter is getting jammed so out with the starter motor again! Again I tried to turn the motor over by hand & it is definitely getting stuck. It seems as if it is in gear but it is not so where is the axe? Things don't look too good! I hope it is just a valve that is either bent or stuck or even something very simple!
So, that was enough for today and the Capri was pushed back into the garage. I will consult further with my resident experts & Dr Google, take a few deep breathes, hide the axe and explore a bit more next week. Taking off the valve cover should reveal something!
Until the next episode!
Last post I wrote how both the cars were going well. How times change? My green Capri now won't start and the starter motor sounds as if it is not engaging, just after I had it fixed two weeks ago. It is just making this horrible noise. The other problem is that I parked it in the garage last and now I can't get the white Capri out unless the other one is going. The back space is reserved for repairs etc. Some time this week I will have to check all the wiring and possible pull the starter motor out and take it back to the guy who supposedly repaired it. Classic cars are fun!!
I haven't spent much time on the cars in the last few weeks as other household duties (painting!) have been on the agenda. The exhaust system is back together and has no leaks. However, it did take several attempts and some exhaust gasket cement to get the joint just in the correct position. In the process I broke one of the rubber support rings that hold the system to the car. I bought a new one without any problems but haven't put in on yet. Yesterday, I took both cars for a run up the mountain and they are going pretty well.
