A long shot but- turning over slowly?
Turbo Mini Forums

I feel a bit daft posting one of those "why is it doing this?" questions over the internet but my fresh engine turns over real slow when it's warmed up. Fine first thing in the morning for example but even after just a 10 minute jaunt if you turn it off and try to start it up it just does the flat battery sound. Leave it 5 minutes and it buzzes up and starts fine.

The battery, alternator and starter are fine, battery is charging and all earth leads are making good contact. The positive lead from the bat to the solenoid is old so I might get a new one but other than that I have run out of ideas.

Could the engine still be tight (I've only done 50 miles or so)? It turned over well by hand when assembling it, but the fact the starter won't turn the engine when it's warm makes me think this (the starter really seems to stall).

Oooh, while I'm at it- my idle drops down sometimes and sometimes it picks up and revs fairly high. I don't have a heat sheild on under the carb, I guess these are really important to have? I still have the bi-metalic jet holder, could this be moving around with the heat?

Thanks again guys!

Jason.

I think your on the right track with the cable,

If you have a volt meter measure the voltage between the block and body while cranking if its more than about half a volt replace the engine earth lead.

like wise, while cranking check the voltage between the battery positive terminal and the body, then between the starter positive and the body, if there is much of a difference between these two voltages then its pointing to the battery positive lead, you can confirm by checking the voltages at the solenoid compared to the battery.

Mini13 your quickly becoming the solver of all my problems! I will make use of the increasingly longer evenings and my handy volt meter tomorrow night. Hopefully it'll work out to be the lead and I can finally get the car out on the road.

Thanks!

lol no probs,

apart form the above I would say check the timing, if its a little advanced it can cause this.

after that if you have another starter handy stick that on.