Starting issues

[paulbottomley37]

Dear all, i am off to collect my new viva on saturday from kent and intend to drive it home, i am aware of one issue, when cold staring it is a pig. (not that i ahve seen it eyt mind!) but when warm will restart each time easy and rns fine when running? its just cold starting thats its terrible.

He is running it on unleaded only maybe its the fuel?

[Droopsnoot backup]

Is it a mechanical pump with poor seals? I used to have a problem where the seals in the pump would let the fuel drop slowly back to the tank over time, then the engine (OHC, not OHV) turned over so slowly that it hadn't got the 'oopmh' to drag it back again before the battery went flat.

When I put the car back on the road at the start of the summer, I always had to disconnect the pipes and 'prime' the pump by sucking fuel through it. I managed to prove that (a) no matter how much you know it's coming, you can't get off the pipe before getting a mouthful of petrol, and (b) it takes a whole pack of extra-strong mints to get rid of the taste of petrol.

[springyboy]

It's a long time since I had a Viva but over 15 years of HB ownership I came across various probs; not sure if my experience applies to your car, please ignore it if it's wrong, but if it helps you or any other owner that's great.
My HB had a six-volt coil. The coil had two low voltage feeds. The normal running feed applied 12v thru a resistor that dropped the voltage to six, but when the ignition key was in the start position it not only applied 12v across the starter solenoid but it applied 12v direct to the coil. The theory is that on a cold day when the battery voltage my be low and lowered even more by the churning starter, then there might be much less than 12v to apply to the coil, so there may be say 9v applied directly to the coil, but because it's a 6volt coil it will still produce a big HT voltage to make the spark and get the motor running. This over-voltage on the coil only lasts a few seconds during starting so no damage is done.

Now if you have a fault in this direct 12v feed, when the starter is churning the coil will not be able to produce a nice fat spark, as all the coil will be getting is the normal 12v (reduced to say 9v while the starter is churning) across the resistor that will halve the voltage and so the coil is getting about 4.5v, and the sparks will be feeble. The typical symptoms will be that the car just won't fire while the starter is turning, but as soon as you release the ignition key the voltage available for the normal 12v feed picks up and there may be just a few fat sparks enough to get the engine running, but on a cold days it's too marginal to get it started.

The opposite problem can also exist if the direct feed is giving voltage but the feed to the resistor is faulty. Under these conditions the motor will start firing while the starter is spinning but as soon as you release the ignition key the engine will stop.

Solution : check out the feeds to the coil, make sure you are getting 12 v direct to the coil when the ignition is in the start position.

[pbottomley]

good ideas, mind you i posted that a few months back now, I did manage to collect the car, and have drive it less that 10 miles in the last three months I tried to start it today no joy... as you say when its cranking nothing and as i release the key fire thud thud die.....

I suspect it is the coil and or the loom, i have spares of both and will ry these next weekend now

[AUTOMAN]

Please can somebody help? I have a viva HC but the indicators don't work, though the hazzards do. Also the wipers seem to be very slow and only seem to have one speed. There is also a 2-click switch on the dash that seems to do nothing. the head-lights and side-lights all work fine. All earths have been cheched and all the light units themselves have been replaced. Any suggestions would be welcome. Thank you for your time,

Ian
AUTOMAN.

[MattHC1600SL]

Indicator problem will be the flasher unit, its behind the steering column, a small silver box with 2 wires going to it. Get another one, they are cheap. There are 2, one for the indicators, one for the hazards so make sure you replace the right one. What year is your HC? Some of the earliest cars only had one speed. Maybe your switch has been replaced at some point. Matt HC425 

This post was made via email to the Vauxhall Viva Owners Club
Visit us at www.vauxhallviva.com

[AUTOMAN]

Thank you Matt, the year of the car is 1971, the wipers seem extremely slow.

Regards,

Ian.

[MattHC1600SL]

It probably will only have single speed wipers. My 71 HC SL saloon does. They are not all that slow though. Are you testing them with the windscreen dry? Wipers will always work faster with the screen wet - less drag. If they still seem slow, you might have a dry, seized joint in the linkage or the motor could just be knackered. You can get at the wiper motor and linkages easily on a HC by removing the black metal plate that goes from side to side at the rear of the engine. Its just screwed in with lots of self tappers. Good luck - Matt.

This post was made via email to the Vauxhall Viva Owners Club
Visit us at www.vauxhallviva.com

[AUTOMAN]

The window was wet, but I will try your suggestions to sort this out,

Many Thanks,

Ian.