Lancia Motor Club

Trying to get my Fulvia Zagato started today. hasn't been started in a good few years so have changed oil etc

When I attach a battery to it and crank it over it seems to crank a bit slow. Could the starter need taking out and given a good clean or is it buggered, or is it normal with a car that’s not been started for years?

What’s the correct gap for the points? It’s a 1298cc.

Thanks, Paul

I'm no expert but I do know that the earthing of the starter (via its mounting bolts to the engine and then from there via an earth strap to the body) can make a big difference - the earth straps can be broken or corroded at their joints. To test this you could make a temporary earth by running a jump lead from the battery negative terminal to one of the starter mounting bolts (not the ones with red wires on - thats the live end!) and see if that improves the cranking speed. Also check the joints of the battery earth strap from its negative terminal to the body as these complete the earthing of the starter. I had painted my starter before re-fitting recently and this prevented it from earthing properly.

Then I would check all the live connections to the starter - I imagine there is a permanent live feed that runs direct from the battery positive to what I described above as the live end. This is usually a heavy black cable - check for poor contacts at both ends.

You could also try joining another battery or an emergency jumpstart powerpack to the circuit to give the battery a bit of help. In difficult situations I use both.

Next place to look would be to remove the starter and check inside where there are brushes that can wear out or become stuck but if it does enough to engage and turn the engine then its probably good enough to start it with a little help.

But before I went that far I would check elsewhere for fuel and spark.

Good luck!

Just a quicky, when using the starter, depress the clutch pedal, as this lightens the load on the starter, i  set my points at 15 thou on the HF, and on my old 1300 Fulvias.

another possibility with turning over slowly is a sticking brush on the motor, bit of a tap with a hammer shaft normally will free it off, if that works then strip the motor and clean it