Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Maintenance & Servicing Help!

Can anyone help, I have a 1970 4/4 with a crossflow engine. The other day I decided to take it out, I started it and let it warm up for about 10 mins, then I tried to drive it but it failed to respond to throttle and died. I have spent the last three days trying to start it without it even firing. There is a good spark and fuel, good compression on all cylinders but it will not go, even using Easystart it won’t even fire, I am at a loss.
Any suggestions appreciated

Where have you checked for a spark?
If you've only checked the king lead then you probably have a duff rotor arm

It seems to point to a carb issue?

Timing must be OK as you've had it running previously.
There is a spark so ignition seems OK
There is fuel pumping to the carb.

Odd though, that you're not getting anything with Easystart. Are the plugs wet when you've been cranking? That would show if fuel is getting through.

I'd give the idle jets a good clean out first. Clean/dry the plugs. See what happens then.

Agreed - I'd definitely pull each plug and check them individually.

If the car was idling okay for 10 mins, and then died when you pressed the throttle then presumably the action of opening the throttle caused the failure? Could movement of the throttle cable caused something bad to happen in the carb? (Hard to image what though). Is the choke jammed close perhaps and the mixture way to rich to run when hot ? Sounds a bit implausible though. Easy to take the air cleaner off probably and have a look. Also, another (probably wild thought), did the vacuum advance fail in some way when you pressed the throttle causing the advance to be way out ? A long time ago, I had a BSA C15 bike, and the condenser can was soldered to a mounting lug that earthed the condenser. The solder joint cracked or went to a dry joint and then the bike would stop intermittently and fail to start mostly. Took a while but an easy fix to redo the soldering. But if you have a reliable spark at the plugs then its unlikely to be that sort of thing.... Could the distributor have moved somehow and messed up the timing?

I'm thinking about the timing as well. Timing chain failure?

Is the throttle opening? I.e, Has the throttle cable become detached or broken?

Perhaps when you opened the throttle the first time after the warm up something happened.

Are you spraying easystart at the filter, or have you got the filter off and spraying down the throttle bodies? Get the filter off and you can have a good look at the butterflies and cable operations. I'm assuming a Weber 32/36 DGV?

I had a similar problem with a 4/4 crossflow which would run intermittently and it was a break in the king lead.

Thanks for the responses,I have had the plugs out and cleaned them, the plugs were wet so fuel getting through. I placed a spark indicator in each HD lead just above the plug and there is a good spark. The carb is a 32dfm the filer is off so Easystart strait down the barrels. The choke and throttle works fine, the fuel pump is working fine. I am at a total loss, three days and it has not fired once.
I worked on crossflow extensively in the 70’s and thought I had seen everything, that’s the reason I brought a 70’s crossflow Morgan as I thought it was simple and familiar, but this is beyond me!