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MG MGA - starter won't start

I was very nervous as I was about to pull the starter cable on this 1500 that has been apart since the 1970's. I have been working mostly summers on this basket case since 1994.

When I hooked up the battery and checked that the smoke was still inside the wires I pulled the starter cable and nothing happened.

There is power to the switch. I need to check to see if power is getting to the starter. Anyone have this problem before? Could it be the new switch?
David Holmes

David

I am aware of others having trouble with this switch (Lucas 76701A). The internal contacts carry a lot of power and do wear out in time. Simple enough to check with a meter.

Steve
Steve Gyles

If you have power on the lead to the starter, if you have painted it and the plate that it bolts to you will not be getting a good ground. I found this out when going to start my '57 afrer restoring it. I got carried away with the paint and had to clean it off in those areas. If you have no luck the starter can be checked easily enough out of the car by connecting a battery to it, and it should take off running.

Good Luck,
Ralph
Ralph

David,

During the rebuild did you replace the electric cable that passes from the top to the bottom of one of the engine front mounts?
This cable forms the conductive path acroos the rubber mount. This cable must be of the same heavy type as the battery and starter motor cables.

Mick
Mick Anderson

Ralph

Paint on the starter switch holder has no bearing on the problem. You have one cable from the battery into one of the 2 terminals on the switch and another one out from the other terminal to the starter. There is no direct earth on this switch otherwise the battery would short out.

Steve
Steve Gyles

Try pulling on the switch itself by hand. Sometimes if the cable isn't set up correctly it simply won't pull the switch far enough to make contact.
JohnB

Hi David. Short out the 2 terminals on the starter switch with an old screwdriver. If the starter spins then the switch is more than likely defective. Glenn
Glenn

I took Glenn's suggestion and shorted out the two terminals which spun the starter. It was a bad switch. (Brand new replacement part) I pulled the switch out and tested it and find that the contact between the two terminals is very weak and inconsistent. It needed to be fully engaged with lots of pressure to make a contact at all. Thanks for being there. --David
David Holmes

David,

Does the failed starter switch have a white nylon insulator? Where did you buy it? I wold like to know the vendor, and if possible the manufacturer. This may merit a faulty parts report on my web site. Assuming it it trash, would you send it to me? I would like to disect it to see what casued it to fail.

I have a fault report from another starter switch which failed a few years ago, shorted internally due to bad assembly. That one is shown here: http://mgaguru.com/mgtech/faulty/ft004.htm

The pictures will show how heavy the contacts are. These things should never burn out. My original starter switch is still going strong after 49 years and 350,000 miles. My guess is that a failure to connect will turn out to be another faulty assembly problem.
Barney Gaylord

This thread was discussed on 09/07/2006

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