Duran Duran

Has finally given up its secret for not starting reliably in the mornings/afternoons and nights... in fact any time was a bad time to start the Pug unless it was tinder dry and everybody was gasping for moisture in the zero humidity of the Gobi desert .... I had suspected for a long time that the underlying cause was electrical not carburettor related and today I finally got around to stripping down the electrics to see the what was causing the engine to turn over with not so much as a cough or even promise of a cough from the engine.....

I started at the coil and bridged a hefty screwdriver from the coil to about 1/2 inch off the bodywork turned the engine over and it flashed several times an even heftier blue/white spark.... with that evidence I saw absolutely no need to test it with my tongue whatsoever.....

Which led me to take off the distributor cap...everything seemed in order .... no cracks, arc burns , small furry animals or hibernating hedgehogs ......or anything in fact remotely suspicious... so I turned my attention to the rotor arm on first inspection it looked ok.... and I was about to put it back on but then I noticed a tiny gap between the centre contact and the arm outer contact .. I noticed on closer inspection less obvious HT arc damage I tested for continuity and there was none....Duhhhhhhhhh.... of course the HT would jump across the gap before it even got to the distributor cap contacts... which would account for why it was incredibly hard to start on damp mornings.... the slightest amount of damp would re-route the spark to earth... hence no ignition or very little.... The reason I had sort of ignored the rotor arm was because I had changed it less than a year ago... it just goes to show never assume anything... it must have been a faulty rotor arm for it to fail so quickly !!!

So left with no choice I have had to call on my father to give me a lift into Halfords to get a new rotor arm.... I await his arrival with duff rotor arm in my pocket !! :)

Ohhh and I've got a new phone.... Andrea was shamed into buying me a new one after losing mine just before Christmas (I've never lost a phone in my life !!!) .... She seems to think I'm not grateful ... but I am.... even if I have lost all of my numbers ........ not that anybody ever rings me.... but you never know Mrs Pitt may tire of her husband ;¬)


addendum :- It's the next day now .... and I can confirm that Duran Duran starts within a few seconds..... even on a bitterly cold and frosty morning.... previously it would have entailed endlessly turning the engine over.... flooding it with petrol.... flattening the battery.... getting out the boost starter/charger and eventually and probably more luck than anything the engine would start.... but it springs to life now !!! :) brilliant !!