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MG MGA - 74 Midget - Key won't start car

I am a bit perplexed with my 74 midget... I bought her a few months back. You know the story... sitting in a barn for the last 15 years. Came across it by chance and the guy was actually amazed that someone wanted to buy it. Anyway, I got her home and wanted to see if I could get her running, so I rebuilt the carbs, replaced the fuel pump, put electronic points in, new plugs, changed the oil, turned the block by hand etc, etc.

When I turned the key, I heard the fuel pump kick on and build pressure, but the key would not start her... so I jumped the starter solenoid. She started right up and ran surprising good.

I have been trying to troubleshoot why the key will not kick the starter in. It appears that the ignition wire runs to a small "relay" with 4 or 5 wires (going on memory here at work) to it and then over to the solenoid. The only markings on the relay are at the wire connection points.

Any suggestions?
MG Wave

We may not be much help, our A's use a manual starter switch, nothing to do with the ignition switch (once it is on.)
Steven B

Sorry, we all have the same problem - not many ignition keys will turn over the engine on this site; you are on MGA.

Try sprite and "vertically challenged" (PC) technical!
Neil McGurk

My apologies... I am new to this site and just realized I posted this in the MGA section...
MG Wave

This thread was discussed on 22/06/2007

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This thread is from the archive. The Live MG MGA BBS is active now.