Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Maintenance & Servicing 3.9 +8 starting problems

Good to hear things are sorted Ivo!

Great news Ivo, you can at least get out for a run in the sun... We are still locked down and patiently waiting...

Thanks for the heads up on the cause of your problem...

Enjoy your freedom, observing the appropriate social distancing on the road.. So no overtaking

Good news, and these parts are not so expensive. I normally carry a spare amplifier, my theory is that when I am out of the UK it can be more difficult to find parts, so I have a stock of small items. A few years ago we visited the Land Rover agent in Berlin looking for a fuel injector for one of our Plus 8s. We had a very nice coffee, toilets were extremely good, but the staff seem to be born after the Rover V8 stopped production, so they had nice suits, but no idea what engine we were talking about.

I like your thinking Mike, when I bought my restored +8 in 2002 it was equipped for touring to some degree by Kevin the chap who rebuilt it, though I think he only managed one trip to France. Kevin had added a tool/spares box under the bonnet and had two trays built into cut outs behind the seats either side of the diff. Thus the car came with a raft of spares, fuel pump, ign amplifier head gasket spark plugs and a set of HT leads, exhaust bobbins ss Screws, nuts, bolts, exhaust bobbins, clamp Gum Gum, rad weld spare fan belt, Araldite and more...

Like you when we were touring outside the UK we expected LR spares to be readily available in most cities, which added to our level of confidence though such was the simplicity of the old carb fed +8 and Kevins rebuild capabilities that we only ever needed to fit a fan belt once while in France and while in Spain required to replace a moulded rubber fuel connector, fortunately I had added a length of rubber tube to the kit of spares which created a suitable temporary repair till we arrived home..

Now that the Rover V8 is old hat, as you described in your German experience, it seems even Melvyn is finding it difficult to source the correct oil pressure switch for my 1985/6 +8..How time flies..

Getting bits for the crossflow became like that at Ford dealers. I can't remember what I was after the last time I went which was many years ago, but the guy didn't have a clue what I was on about. The guys at the factory are still very helpful (and their jobs are much more complex nowadays) but I used to enjoy the pre-computer days when the stores were on the other side of the road from where they are now: you used to ask for something and the old guy who ran it would walk straight to the correct wooden cubby hole and come back with the right bit.

tmg52.. Your tale reminds me of a cartoon, might have been a Giles creation, where the scene is a stores counter and some shelving evident, the storeman looking at the screen on his computer declaring that there are none in stock whereas the customer is pointing at the none too distant shelf, and saying "There it is on the shelf."

Came up against that in an emergency situation over the phone where the call handler could not help in any way until I found out the postcode of a huge internationally known premises, I suspect such was the limitation of the programming of the screen she was inputting to...?

Old men and their stories...

Having had various rover v8 engined vehicles and still have a 1971 Range Rover - I always have a spare set of new spark plugs ...soon as get starting problems I change the plugs for a new set.