MG-Cars.net

Welcome to our resource for MG Car Information.

Recommendations

Parts

MG parts spares and accessories are available for MG T Series (TA, MG TB, MG TC, MG TD, MG TF), Magnette, MGA, Twin cam, MGB, MGBGT, MGC, MGC GT, MG Midget, Sprite and other MG models from British car spares company LBCarCo.

MG MGB Technical - Starting- click click vroom???

Hi all. I am back from my honeymoon in St Lucia!!! Met many wonderful Brits and discussed the pleasure of the MG. Anyway, onto the next problem.... I turn the key and all I get is a click. Second try, a click. Third try, it connects and starts. I figure it's a bad connection, bad solenoid or bad relay. Any experience with this? It's a '73 MGB. Thanks.

ps. I used my B in the wedding using wedding cars tonbridge and will be sending pictures through shortly.

-Brian.
Brian

Very common that as weather gets cold and damp, dirty battery connecitons cause problems.

Clean your battery connections, including the body end of the ground strap. Check your battery's fluid levels, and that it's offering a full 12.5-13 volts. If this doesn't help, check that you're getting 12 - 13 volts at the hot terminal on the starter's solenoid. If not, then you have corrosion in a connection or wire between battery and solenoid. If you do get full voltage, then it's either your starter relay (don't know if a '73 has one but my '74 does) or your solenoid.

To check the relay, you have to figure out which terminal has the +12 volts, and which goes down to the solenoid to energize it. Put the transmission in neutral. Bridge these two terminals a few times to simulate turning the key, but bypassing the relay. If the starter works each time, then it's the relay. If the starter still just clicks sometimes, it's probably your solenoid.

I don't think you can buy just a solenoid, but it's worth looking. The starters are a little higher priced than you'd hope.

Matt Kulka

One more thing.

You may get 12 volts at the starter, but a weak battery might not have enough reserve (available amperage) to turn the motor over. If your battery is near the end of its warranty date, this is very likely.

You can have it load tested at any garage, and many auto parts stores. You shouldn't even have to remove it from the car.

Matt Kulka

Similar but different problem...my wife's '76 B sometimes makes an "in-between" noise -- not just a click, but not a full starter tic-tic-tic-tic. More of an "oomph" like the starter is not really engaging anything.

New battery (and clean battery terminals) made no difference. I have not checked the terminals on the solenoid.

I have thought it was the solenoid. Hope to have the engine rebuilt this winter, but just wondering if it is the starter itself.

Thanks.
Bill Barge

Just a thought, so don't shoot me if I am mistaken,
but I was told that before starting, I had to turn the key, but not all the way (just to the point where it is when the car is already running) and wait until I hear the fuel pump 'tick'. Wait for a few seconds and THEN turn the key further.

Hope this helps,

Alexander
'65B
Alexander M

You can turn the key through the IGN position to the START position immediately, only if the bowls were empty will it crank longer than perhaps it would if you waited until the pump stopped clicking, but it will crank, which in this case it isn't.

Depends on the ignition warning light and the 'click'. If the warning light dims to virtually nothing when this happens then either the battery is intermittent or its connections are. If it stays bright then it is more likely to be in the starter circuit. Your era car has a starter relay as well as the solenoid, the solenoid makes a much louder click than the relay, if you listen while someone turns the key you should be able to tell and then you can start from there. If it is the relay then check you have 12v on the brown and the white/brown going to the solenoid terminal when the key is turned. If not then by now you should have discovered whether the problem is in the brown feeding the relay, the relay itself, or the brown/white feeding the solenoid. It could be bad connections at the spades in which case fiddling with the wires may make it fail altogether or more likely 'fix' it for a while. If you have 12v at the solenoid, or it is the solenoid that is clicking, and it doesn't crank then the solenoid/starter is the problem.

It could just be the engine ground strap that is the problem, but in this case you should hear a 'clonk' from the starter motor itself and the heater, accellerator and choke cables will get hot.
Paul Hunt

Brian.
It might be that you have the same problem that i had.
The starter just gave me that click-click-click sound.
Voltage was ok but it still didnīt funktion.
I found out that it was the drive assemly Moss part nr 131-280 page 138. This is normal as the grease in the assembley hardens by age. There is a locking device inside the assembly that will allow the engine to rotate faster the the starter once its running. If the grease is hardend or the assembly is worn the locking device wonīt function anymore. Itīs quite normal that you will notice this at this time of year. Itīs getting colder at your place to i suppose.The best sollution is to change the drive assembly in the starter as you canīt take it apart and do something about it.Itīs an easy job and the parts are cheap.
Just a thought.
Manfried.
Manfried

Thanks everyone for your responses. I took all the connections off the starter solenoid and cleaned and emeried them. It seems to have made it alot better. Voltage is ok. Starts first time now. If it comes back, I'll take it to the next level.

I always turn the key and wait for the ticking of the fuel pump to stop before starting. Just habit.

Bill, sounds to me like your starter is to blame.

Thanks again. -Brian.
Brian

Sorry guys, she's starting to scare me. It took 10 turns of the key to connect this time. Must be a bad connection or something. Has this happened to anyone else? The relay maybe? Maybe I start replacing parts/ wires/ connections till it goes away. Starter being the last part because of cost. Thanks for all suggestions. Don't want to be stranded!!! Only a month before she goes into winter sleep anyway but would like to have it solved before that. -Brian.
Brian

Brian:
It may simply be a worn out set of internal contacts in the solenoid itself.

There is a large copper/brass "washer" inside the body of the solenoid, in the plastic housing where the two large main cables attach. When the solenoid is energized by the ignition switch/relay, the coil of the soleniod pulls the shuttle inside back to both engage the drive gear via a linkage, and also pulls the washer such that it bridges the "battery post" of the solenoid and the "starter post" to the starter to make it spin.

A washer-like contact (that is what this "washer", as I call it, really is) is chosen because the designers were aware that the high amperage draw of the starter motor will very markedly pit the points of contact between this washer and the two large battery voltage posts mentioned above. It will rotate from use to present a (hopefully) better contact surface each time the solenoid is activated and allow for a long service life. That is supposedly the theory of what should happen.

However, as the solenoid is used, all the aforementioned contacts get worn or burned, and the resistance to current flow from lousy contacts becomes so great that what little juice flows is only enough to cause the clicking of either the solenoid and/or the relay.

I tell you all of this simply because you need to also be aware that these contacts can go to hell and cause the problem you have encountered. If none of the rest of the good advice offered above resolves your problem, you might think about replacing the starter solenoid with a new one and its fresh set of internal contacts. FYI
Bob Muenchausen

Brian,
I had a similar problem, turn the key and click, click, and finally it would start. This went on for a few weeks/months. Finally, it just clicked and would not start. It turned out that the relay that is mounted on the passenger wheel well was the cuprit. It's a cylindrical shaped device about the size of a film cannister, and has 4-wires connected to it. The brown goes to the starter, one goes to the key, and the others are doing something, but I forget what. In any case, the new one solved the problem and it's been running well for two years. Your car is earlier so it may be a little different, but I would check this relay if you have one.
Randy Olson
1977 MGB
randy olson

take a sludge hammer to it and nock it around a couple times..

trust me it always works.

mg guy

Same thing here. I let her sit for awhile (Feb. to March) and click click - no start. Got a new battery (actually broke the battery tester at my local Cdn. Tire) - still click, click. Checked Paul's site and started to get the shakes so I went and bought a battery charger/starter thing, hooked it up on the start setting (100 Amps maybe?) click, click and vroom. Next time with no charger - click, click and vroom. Next time vroom right away and same from then on. I figured some surface corrosion had formed and after enough startings I had created some electron path through the corrosion. I plan to keep starting over winter this time.
Ian Dutton

Brian - until you tell us whether it is the relay, the solenoid, or the starter that is clicking then we can't help any more than what has already been posted here.
Paul Hunt

ok. To be a little more descriptive, I turn the key once and I hear only one click from the solenoid. Turn the key once again and hear one click from the solenoid. Turn the key once more and it connects and turns the starter. I ordered a relay today ($40) and will try that. Hopefully, that will solve it. Any ideas? Thanks for all the suggestions. This is the first real confusing problem I've had with the car. -Brian.
Brian

MY "B" WILL NOT START
Has any one had this situation. I was driving my B and had no trouble. Stopped and parked the car. About an hour later went out to start the car, but it will not start. I replaced the fuel pump but it still will not start. When I turn the key the engine runs, but as soon as I release the key the engine quits...any advice?
Thanks
David
David

Right. If the solenoid is clicking then there is a problem with either it or the starter. Pure and simple.

David - if you mean that the car *does* start when you turn the key, but cuts out again as soon as you release it, and it is a rubber bumper, then the ballasted connection from the ignition to the coil has failed. This is a white or white/brown at the fusebox, a length of resistive wire contained within the loom, and a white/light-green at the coil +ve. Check the connections carefully. Failure of the resistance woire is almost unknown, and is not available as a replaceable component anyway. If it *has* failed then consider fitting a 12v coil and a direct connection from the white or white/brown at the fusebox.
Paul Hunt

Just to give everyone an update for educational purposes... I replaced the relay but problem still persists. I will now replace the starter/solenoid. I'm sure this will cure it. Thanks Paul, et al. -Brian.
Brian

My B sometimes has a similar problem. Turn the key and the solonoid clicks once and nothing else. If it does it three times in a row I put the car in first, rock the car backwards and forwards a few times and so far (fingers crossed, touch wood etc) it always starts next turn of the key. I've always assumed it's something to do with a sticky starter motor/wear in the motor or flywheel. Perhaps someone else can confirm or trash this idea.
steve
Steve Coulson

Pre-68 Bs with the inertia starter can suffer from that problem, and the ignition warning light should dim significantly with the click. If it doesn't dim there is a problem with the solenoid or motor, that putting it into gear (4th is much more effective than 1st) and rocking it shouldn't be able to cure, other than just temporarily bumping a bad connection away until the next time.
Paul Hunt

This thread was discussed between 24/10/2002 and 06/11/2002

MG MGB Technical index

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