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MG MGB Technical - Won't start-something shorted

I got home from the gym and opened the hood to check the oil, etc and the hood brace was swinging loose. Evidently the weld gave way and it broke off. Anyway, I ended up drilling a hole and bolting it in place.
Now the problem. While it was loose (either before opening the hood or after I opened it) the brace must have touched somethin electical and shorted something out. I proped the hood with some wood and it did slip and the extended brace did swing a bit more but I didn't see what if anyting it touched.
The car won't start now. I turn the key and the ignition light comes on but that's it for the engine. The radio, clock, etc work fine.
Could it have touched the starter relay or the coil and shorted them out?
Any other suggestions?
Thanks
Joe
joe

Have you checked the fuse box?
Steve Simmons

Joe. Define "not starting". Does this mean that the car will not crank? Does this mean that the car will crank, but not fire? Do you hear the fuel pump start clicking when you turn the ignition key on? Have you checked for power into the coil? Is there power out of the coil? Did the strut knock one of the coil wires off? Break a connection? Give us some more and better information and we will give you some more and better advise. Think about what is happening and what is not happening. Take the time to get a copy of the wiring diagram for your year and have it expanded at least 150%. Larger is even better. That will help in figuring out what circuits can be affected. If you cover it with plastic, you can use one of the Vis a Vis washable markers to trace circuits. Great aid for those of us who are "electrically challenged". Les
Les Bengtson

I plan on checking the fuses first thing Tuesday AM. This all happened as I was ready to head to work so I only had a few minutes to look at things (had to take the other vehile to work and the weather was MG top down weather...). As for not starting, there is no clickng sound at all. All I get when I turn the key is the red Ignition light on, no sounds. The coil wires looked to be all attached and I will check the coil power after I check all the fuses.
I have the wiring diagram and it looks like it could have hit the fuses or the top of the coil. I'll know more Tuesday after I get more time for a closer look.
Thanks for all the info so far. I'll let you know what happensd.

joe

Joe. You still have not told us anything. I would assume, since there is a clock, that you have a later, RB, MG. Where is there no clicking? Does this refer to the fuel pump or the starter solenoid? Does the car crank over? When the key is in the start postion, does the coil show 12V input? When the key is in the run position, does the coil show 6V input? All of these things are needed if we are to have any idea of what the problem is. If the engine will not turn over, the problem is significantly different that if it will turn over and you are not getting fire. If you cannot define exactly what the problem is to us, you are not understanding what the problem is yourself and none of us will be able to fix it. Les
Les Bengtson

I should mention that I once had the hood support rod hit the fuse box and spark the hell out of it. The cover had been missing for years before I even took possesion of the car. If your fuse box is missing the cover then that may be what happened.
Steve Simmons

Thanks for all the input. After trouble shooting this AM it was the starter relay. It was shorted out. Thanks to previous posts and all yuor inputs I went to Radio Shack and got the correct relay and spent only 6.00.
Car starts like a champ and runs great.


joe

This thread was discussed between 03/06/2002 and 04/06/2002

MG MGB Technical index

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