TR6 Engine won’t start.

[Colinablewhite]

Good evening all.

As some of you will know I rebuilt my US spec 6 over the last 4years. Huge amount of time and money spent to make a lovely looking car. The engine has always run ok until a few months ago. Now it won’t even start. I have spent a huge amount of time changing many electrical elements. Set and reset the timing.Rebuilt the carbs twice. I have now run out of ideas. I’m not asking for suggestions to fix it. My question is can anyone recommend a garage who will fix it for me. I live in the north Cotswolds between Stratford and Banbury.At the end of March my wife of 49 years was diagnosed with a form of cancer so my days of loosing myself in the garage are over for the foreseeable time. Any recommendations would be appreciated.

Colin A  

 

 

 

 

 

[cvtrian]

Have you tried Steve Denton, mobile mechanic https://www.youtube.com/c/SteveDentonClassics Repairs Triumph 2.5Pi TR5 TR6, contact him on facebook or instagram

instagram.com/steve_denton_classics

Email - stevedenton86@gmail.com

Edited August 11, 2025 by cvtrian

[Steve-B]

@Colinablewhite I've sent you a DM with the name of someone trustworthy not a million miles from you.

[Colinablewhite]

Thanks for your help chaps.

 I will post how I get on. 

[Colinablewhite]

Hi all thanks again for your help. I will tell you where I am now. 
I got help from a local guy who came to assist. He went back to the basics checking for spark and fuel. I explained that I had been having trouble with the car running erratically due to a faulty fuel inlet valve on one of the carbs . This had taken quite a time to find the fault and having fixed it I expected all to be well. During the investigation period I had checked all the electrical elements and reset the timing.. This is where it had gone horribly wrong.. I had borrowed a strobe light so I could set the timing with the engine running. MASSIVE MISTAKE . When we started to reset the timing static we found it was firing about 12 degrees ATDC. Hence it wouldn’t start or if it did it was awful. When we reset the timing static to 11 degrees BTDC the engine ran beautifully.. I do feel a Charlie! 
My advice is leave the strobe lights alone and set the engine static. I just hope my experience may help anyone in a similar situation. 
Thanks again.

[Mike C]

Or time the engine with  a strobe, but the vaccuum advance must be disconnected and the engine  speed low enough to stop the mechanical advance coming in.

[Colinablewhite]

Thanks Mike. 
We didn’t know about disconnecting the vacuum.. I really thought we had cracked it. Engine fired up and like it should and we drove for about half an hour and put it back in the garage. All seemed well. However how wrong was I.

Just this afternoon I decided to take the TR to the local garage to put some fuel in. Engine started fine and off I went. About a mile from home the engine suddenly coughed and back fired. Then it back fired again and slowly came to a halt. It wouldn’t restart so I had to get the good lady to drive down and tow me back. I got as close to the garage as possible and disconnected the tow rope. I then put the car in first gear and cranked the starter motor to drive the car into the garage. Half way in the engine fired and nearly drove me into the back wall. The engine is now running again and ticking over as it should. I just can’t understand what’s going on. Anyone have any ideas? Colin.

 

 

[Aldpilot]

Could your coil be failing?

They can be temperamental when starting to fail.

Good luck sorting the issue.

Mike

[Mike C]

1 hour ago, Aldpilot said:

Could your coil be failing?

They can be temperamental when starting to fail.

Good luck sorting the issue.

Mike

+1 for the coil. I've found a sudden engine failure when the engine gets hot is generally the coil. When this has happened to me I've replaced the coil and moved it to a cooler position- In the case of my TR it's on the passenger side firewall but there are threads on this forum talking about this option.

[Paul Hill]

My coil overcooked as it got older, it used to get so hot fixed to the block. I moved mine on to wheel arch, stops a lot cooler there.

[Colinablewhite]

Hi all .

Thanks for your ideas. My coil is a new one which came from James Paddock . I suppose I could put the old one back on but I had the problem with the old coil as well. One person suggested the breather on the fuel tank may be a problem. It was a US spec car which had a separate carbon filter which evidently had a breather on it. However I removed all that part of the system during the rebuild. Although I understand the principle I fitted a new rubber seal on the filler cap which has a hole in the centre. What hadn’t occurred to me is whether there is a breather hole in the metal cap. I would love this to be an easy solution but the car has been ok for several years with the same arrangement so I doubt it. Still I will remove the seal and run the engine in the garage. I can’t drive it because it could die on me again and I dare not ask my poorly wife to rescue me a second time. The divorce would be very costly! Thanks again. C.

 

[RobH]

Have you tried wiggling the leads connecting to the coil ?  Those can vibrate about quite a bit and it's known for the wires to break inside the insulation close to the connectors.  That results in intermittent faults like this as it only takes a small movement of the wire to make and break contact. 

[TR Rob]

1 hour ago, RobH said:

Have you tried wiggling the leads connecting to the coil ?  Those can vibrate about quite a bit and it's known for the wires to break inside the insulation close to the connectors.  That results in intermittent faults like this as it only takes a small movement of the wire to make and break contact. 

+1