turbo engine won't start.HELP!!!
Turbo Mini Forums

hi everyone....

i'm in desparate need if your help.... i treid the search button, but non of the topic i found helped.

so here is the story, i have a completly rebluit turbo engine in my mini, it already ran and everything,all it need was to get fined tuned, i even managed to take it on the road for a quick drive, after which i noticed that exhaust gases were coming out buy the manifold gasket. so i orderd a new one, which took a couple of weeks to arrive, during this time i never started the car, the gasket arrived i swapped them over and now the bloddy car wont start... it turns over, there is spark, its getting fuel, but it wont start.i have chenged the spark plugs for new ones, still no luck. the only thing i touched was the manifold to put the new gasket on, oh and the fuel pipes that run from the regulator to the carb, other than that nothing else, and everything is where its supposed to be... my mechanic, says he doesn't know whats wrong as it sould run... any ideias guys? i'm despparate here....

thank in advance

If the only things that you have changed are the fuel pipe and gasket then logic dictates it should be one of them. If the engine is getting fuel then can we assume the fuel connections to the regulator are unchanged from before ?.

My guess is that you have a problem with the manifold gasket allowing air in where it shouldn,t.

hi mate...

the fuel pipes, werent changed just disconected so i could have more room to work. as for air coming in, wouldn't the engine "try" to start like jurk and all that, dont know the correct term.. but all it does is turn over... but it never comes close to loking like its going to start....

you say you've changed the plugs - did you put the leads back on properly?

Did you take the plenum of the back of the carb, if so did you fit the correct gasket?

double check that you have put the pipes on the correct inlets on the carb. and make sure petrol is getting into the engine. i check this by cleaning the plugs, turning over the engine, then taking on out to smell it/look at it to check for fuel? if there is fuel, it may be gone off fuel? or its probably a problem with the electrics? make sure the engine has a good earth to the body and make sure its a good spark. check the colour of the spark on the plug, ie orange or blue?

hi guys...

thanks for the replies... fuel is getting to the plugs, as i have had to change the first ones to due " drowning" them. spark is good according to my mechanic, but could check what colour it is... what colour should it be? as for the carb did touch it this time mate... i did have it off the when the engine was rebuilt to replace gaskets, but everything work before i changed the dam manifold gasket....

also what should i check with the electrics? i mean if its getting a spark, that should mean all is good? or not?

I think that you could have messed with something,
when this apply to me,it is generally because I'm too tired, I then stop thinking about it,take a beer, go to bed, and generally, I find the problem the day after , quietly checking everything I did.
My two best one is:
forgotten the dizzy driver and (shouldn't tell it): forgotten to tighten the cwp pinion fab:1 gearbox:0

though I since tighten every nut I put promptly and never think of finishing it later

i have checked everything i did... and i didnt do a lot, like i said only messed with manifold:( dam mini....

You may have a carb issue probably dirt in the needle valve or jet. take it of get it cleaned set the jet level with the bridge and start from scratch. recheck your fuel lines, they can colapse internally which is hard to spot unless you know what to look for.

If you have one fit another coil, just because its creating a spark when the plug is removed does not mean it is still creating a spark when the atmosphere is compressed to 8 times its density (Blowing out the spark).

The coil problem I have seen too many times and people always discount it because it delivers a spark on a removed plug. Good test for the spark plug poor test for the coil.

Own the day

Have you taken the inlet manifold off yet to see if the gasket IS faulty or leaking ?.

hi guys...

thanks for all the comments, i finally got it started... turned out, we had swapped the fuel lines when i disconected them, we then put them back on right again, but what we didnt know is that while they were swapped, and we were trying to start the engine it filled the whole induction system, intercooler pipes and intercooler, with petrol so no air could get through so it would not start... any way thanks for all the help guys...i really apreciate it.... i do have a couple of questions tho...

1. i need a cluth kit for my mini, what do you recomend, i want something good

2. what radiator do you recomend, as i dont know which is better, quad core or dual core, i'm temped to think 4 is better than 2...

3. where do you connect the vacum pipe that connects to the wastegate....

thanks in advance..

Edited by c2_mad on 30th Aug, 2010.

For the future, if it doesn't start it can be one of only three main things;

1 - spark
2 - fuel
3 - timing

And these break down to their own sub catagories but of you remember that you won't go far wrong!

thanks mate..