Moss Motors, Ltd

I've had this MGB for a few months and it was running great.  Yesterday I took it for a ride around town (only few miles) and came back home.  I parked the car in the garage.  Now because my car had problems with the blinkers I decided to clean the wiring with a wire brush.  I was doing one wire/connector at a time and plugged them back in.  I started the car and tested the blinkers....great they work.....the problem is that the car stalls almost right aways.  Even if I try and push it to 3000 rpm it will just die for no apparent reason.  Any suggestions would be appreciated. 

 Also the car starts when the choke is engaged only and it seems that it stops when the fuel in cylinders had been depleted.  I think my fuel pump isn't working...would I have shorted something or maybe a fuse??

 Thanks,
Luke

lukaszb1979:

I've had this MGB for a few months and it was running great.  Yesterday I took it for a ride around town (only few miles) and came back home.  I parked the car in the garage.  Now because my car had problems with the blinkers I decided to clean the wiring with a wire brush.  I was doing one wire/connector at a time and plugged them back in.  I started the car and tested the blinkers....great they work.....the problem is that the car stalls almost right aways.  Even if I try and push it to 3000 rpm it will just die for no apparent reason.  Any suggestions would be appreciated. 

 Also the car starts when the choke is engaged only and it seems that it stops when the fuel in cylinders had been depleted.  I think my fuel pump isn't working...would I have shorted something or maybe a fuse??

 Thanks,
Luke

Your fuel delivery problems may just be coinsidental.  The following link is a troubleshooting guide.

http://homepages.donobi.net/sufuelpumps/

Hi Luke,

LBCs beat SUDOKU every time! Whats the exact sequence of events?   - -  You can now start the car and if nothing is touched it will behave perfectly??  You can drive around [with no indicators]  no problem??  But now if you if you switch on an indicator [doesnt matter which one ??] the engine cuts out. Is it immediate cutout or after a few minutes?

Do you have the wiring diagram for your year car? I suspect you may have inadvertently swapped the lead to the petrol pump with one in the indicator-circuits. Check all wire color-codes, in the area you were working, against the wiring diagram.

Hope this helps,  steve

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To a man equipped with only a hammer, most problems look like nails

The car is pretty much not driveable at this stage.  Basically what happens is this:

1. Engage choke, turn the key to start

2. Car starts

3. 30 seconds pass.  Car dies.

If I wait a while and do not engage choke sometimes it will start, sometimes it won't.  It's kind of random.  I bet I messed up something with the wiring, but I'm quite sure I put everything in the proper order.  Does anyone know what fuses go in there?  I can't read the markings on the old ones.  The fuse box accepts 4 fuses.  Do they have different ratings or pretty much the same?  On one of them I saw #20 engraved, but I cannot confirm if it is the amp rating. 

Also the car is positive ground, which fuel pump will I need to get from Moss if it in fact is busted.

Thanks,
Luke

P.S.  Lights, blinkers, wipers, and heating work when key is turned to on position.

I have a quick update.  I managed to start the car just a moment ago.  The problem is that I haven't changed anything!!  Now that I think about it, it is actually scary in a way.  Actually here is exactly what happened: I went to my car today and tried starting it counting on a miracle, but instead I heard one tick and then big silence.  I turned the key to off position and back to on.  Absolutely nothing happening.  I thought I must have blown a fuse.  I pulled every single one of them and checked with a fuse meter.  They are all fine.  Went back and tried starting again, nothing happened again.....no lights...nothing....Finally I unplugged the battery and reconnected it after few seconds.  Trying to start again....I can hear the ticking of the fuel pump so I try and crank it...everything goes dark again. I do the same trick with the battery again and try to start the car....yahoo, it's working.  I turn off the car after few minutes and wait couple of minutes... trying to start the car again...yup it works.  The strange thing is that even my map light works now and it was pretty much dead since I bought it...and i thought it was a bulb problem.  Any ideas why this occured?  I haven't touched the cables, I didn't replace the fuses...absolutely nothing.  So I think this is rather strange.

But you said you unplugged the battery. Sure sounds like bad contact on the battery cables. When you reconnected, it may have cleaned itself just enough to run the pump but nowhere near enough contact for the starter. As soon as you hit that, it oxidized what little clear contact area there was. Since you moved the cable, you might check its ground end too.

 

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Bayless
Never express yourself more clearly than you can think
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