In October of 2008 I queried the list about my TR250, which sat in the
garage, wouldn't start, and I smelled gas. We had driven the car about 300
miles one weekend in mid September and parked it and about two weeks later
it wouldn't start. I received a ton of great advice from the list and this
is what transpired:
The gas smell: This turned out to be unrelated to the starting issue. The
fuel line from the tank to the filter has two flexible hose segments that I
presume allow for flex of the frame to keep from stressing the fuel lines.
Well, the rear connection was weeping gas sufficiently to provide an
olfactory experience but no visible drips. I drained the tank, replaced
both pieces of hose, and gas smell went away. So, simultaneous bad things
do happen, confusing the problem solving.
The starting issue: I replaced points, rotor, plugs, wires, capacitor,
coil. I verified fuel flow. I would get spark, as evidenced by timing
light or jumping a plug or coil wire to ground. I tested my timing light on
my Subaru, because I wasn't sure it was working correctly. There I got
amazing evidence off just how wimpy my spark was relative to a modern
engine.
By now the gas in the tank was pretty stale, so once again upon advice from
the list I drained the tank and put some Stabil-ized new fuel back in.
The TR250 engine would almost catch. I'd drain the battery, recharge it.
It got cold enough in my garage (15 F) that this was not longer fun, and I
violated the scientific method of making only once change at a time. I
finally replaced the mechanical points with a Pertronics electronic
ignition, dropped in a new red plastic rotor from TRF, and she started right
up. The engine timing was way off, but I'd been fooling with it for so long
its hard to say when I had adjusted it to that position.
So the bottom line of the story is that I don't really know what the
problem was. Was the cap bad? Is the electronic ignition more forgiving to
engine timing being out of whack? Was my $4.95 rotor dielectric strength
failing under 25KV of charge? Did I run enough fuel through carbs to purge
the old stale gas? Were some of the components in the electrical path
marginal? Were some of the replacement parts worse than what was in there?
Once I got it running, I changed the oil and put her back for her winter
nap. Not much of a detective story, but I feel obligated to the list to
say thanks for all the advice, and one of your suggestions might have done
the trick. Or not!
Steve 68 TR250
CD231L
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