Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Morgan Three Wheeler & Super 3 M3W not starting

Put my battery back in the car today and won't start...

Has been on the battery tender over the winter, and showed green.

I have 2 thoughts:

1. when i looked at the oil it was very low. but it’s been sitting all winter and assume its all in the engine. is it not starting because it thinks there is no oil? is it safe for me to put a quart in without it overfilling to attempt to get it started? just worried about the whole over-filling thing.

2. was wondering if for any reason it would be the immobilizer? taking the battery out last winter had no issue (fired straight up again). is there a way of checking this? i was saw mention of a jump plug (which i dont have)?, or is there another way to check this or bypass?

Thoughts welcome, i'm clearly not so mechanical. Thanks,
Adam

Can you provide more information:

Is the engine cranking over at normal speed? Slower than normal? Or not cranking over at all?

If it is not cranking, and you turn on the headlights, do the headlights appreciably dim when you turn the key to the start position?

There is no oil sensor in the tank, so low oil, of itself, will not keep the engine from running. But if the oil is low because it has drained from the tank into the engine then the engine is effectively wet sumped and it could take a fair amount of cranking over before the oil has been cleared from the sump and the engine can crank over at full normal speed.

Just turning the motor over will help the oil return to the tank.

The immobilizer just stops power from reaching the starter. If it is turning over then the immobilizer is not the culprit.

Pull plugs, check for mung. The fuel may have turned into varnish or the water has invaded so look into some gas treatments which involve 99.4% pure alcohol to disperse water and get that mother to fire.

I live in Vermont. Avoiding 10% ethanol fuel is my mantra as that stuff attracts water and will glom onto it. A storage of only a few weeks will do it.

Could be various reasons, does it spin over freely on the starter or just a click or a slow and laboured turn over?
If it spins over but doesn't fire up then have you cycled the fuel pump? As in: switch on the ignition and listen for the fuel pump to run till it stops after a few seconds, ignition off, ignition on again till pump stops, repeat again then try to start it. If this doesn't work then press the black rubber cut out re-set behind the oil tank and try again.
If it's just a click, or a sluggish turn over and your battery appears fully charged then it's probably a dead battery so try a jump start to confirm and replace the dead one. Also, the standard batteries need fairly frequent top ups with de-ionized water. Don't do this when it's on or just off of the charger!
Oil may have slowly seeped back down from the tank into the sump. If enough is in the sump it could stop it turning over. That is unlikely, but pulling the sump plug and draining what's in there will sort it out, then top up the tank. If it's only a bit low in the tank I wouldn't worry about it but would check the level again just after it's been run.
These are probably the most likely causes/solutions.
Good luck!

Thanks all for your comments.

When i turn the key it is really not turning over at all. there is a brief moment of energy, but no real turnover, then just to clicks. There is power, as when i turn on the headlights they are strong. The oil is significantly low, so i'm wondering if there is indeed a lot in the sump.

I'm going to try these suggestions in the morning and see how things go:
- i'll start with the cycling
- then checking with the headlights on
- then the cut off button
- then a jump
- then i guess the gas treatment and potentially pulling the sump plug and oil (that one truthfully seems difficult for me in the apartment garage i have it parked in... so goes last)

Thanks again, much appreciated, let me know if any other thoughts.
Adam

Your description suggests a flat battery or one that's lost the greater part of its capacity. The standard 30 amp hour battery is seriously underspec'd anyway, so if it's over a couple of years old buy another, ideally larger capacity and CCA.

As a temporary measure you could try a jump start from another vehicle or maybe one of those starter packs.

Ditto on the battery. I've seen bigger ones in lawn mowers!

Will it Bump Start?

I assume that bump starting the 3 wheeler means parking it on a steep hill or get 2 big guys pushing on the roll hoops, am I correct?

Yes, but even then it's difficult.

Far better to use a booster pack on the battery terminals.

Bump starting knocks hell out of there transmition.