[Trenchfighter]

I bought this Rover about 3 months ago. Drove it over an hour to get it home. Parked it and it never started again. I pulled the battery to store it, and top off the charge.

I put the battery in today and it fired right up. I let it idle to warm up and drove it across my yard. I got it parked in the driveway and let it idle some more. I got in to take it for a test drive and it sputtered and died. I could never get it to fire again. After cranking for a while, I could smell fuel, but it wouldn't even try to start. starting fluid made no difference.

I checked the spark, and it seems somewhat weak. My theory is that the spark was always weak but while it sat the motor "dried out" once I put in the battery the weak spark was enough to fire it up, but after idling for a while it couldn't keep out and flooded. What do you guys think?

Where should I start with solving the weak spark issue? I did a quick look around, and didn't see any broken of frayed wiring. But Ill get more into it later. Any advice to give me a good starting point would be great!

Thanks,
TF

 

[Eugene]

Where are you, is it very cold? How old is the gas? Are the plugs wet? Is the distributor wet inside the cap?
Try to scrape corrosion from inside the distributor cap and rotor for temp fix. Sometimes gentle wiggle the wires going to the coil, they could be brittle. Take it step by step or it will drive you crazy.

 

[roverandom]

Confirm you have power to the coil in run, not just in crank.

If you don't, suspect the ign switch. They tend to fall apart and cause exactly the conditions you describe. Happened to me halfway back down Poison Spider in Moab. Fixed it on the trail with a cable tie and its still holding. Gotta love old Rangies for on trail repairs.

 

[Trenchfighter]

The cap, rotor wires and plugs are all new. Ill have to pull them to see if they are wet.

Its funny that you mention the ignition switch, I have a 92 with an ignition problem which has been bypassed with a "kill switch" to the coil.

I was just starting to think that I could be losing power after I move it due to some poor wiring or a bad ignition switch.

This project is sidelined until I get the steering box rebuilt on the 92, and get it back on the road. Gotta hurry...weve got snow now!

Thanks for the input, Ill update this post when I solve the issue,
TF