My 23 Touring ran fine when I put it to sleep for the winter. On awaking last week , it will not start. New gas, charged battery and it runs as long as the starter is engaged, as soon as I take my foot off of the switch, it dies. The plugs are hot and the exhaust manifold is hot. The carburetor is a Kingston , but I do not know which model, L, L2 or L4 ?
HELP!
Mark Check the connections in the coil box on the Battery side (top row of connectors) make sure they are clean and tight then check the battery connection on the back of the switch.
Mark Gunnard:
I can't tell you anything about Kingston Carbs but I can tell you that often when a T with an NH will not start it is because the gas has turned to gum around the spray needle. I would think that the Kingston is close enough to an NH that maybe it has done the same thing when I let them SIT TOO LONG. Take your carb off, remove the drain plug and spray needle. Hold it up to a light and see if you can see a nice round hole. If you can't that may be you problem. Get your self a pipe cleaner and run it through if the passage does not look clean.
I just reread your message. I have seen new guys do it before if the motor dies when you take your foot off the starter button you have the wire to the coil box or ignition on the wrong side of the starter button. If you have the lead to the wrong side of the starter switch nothing you do will let it run.
Mark,
Dave is right about the wiring, of course, but such a situation would only be the case if you did something to your electrical system after you parked your perfectly good-running car for the winter.
Like the old saying goes, you need spark, fuel and air. -Air is usually assumed to be getting where it needs to go, so that leaves fuel and spark.
Since you have a battery on board, it's easy to check for spark by switching the ignition to the "battery" position and having a buddy slowly hand-crank the engine (and therefore, the timer) while you do the check. -Disconnect your plug leads and, one at a time, short each one to the engine's head through a short gap using a screwdriver (or use your bare hand and take the shock—your choice—but if you do it that way, don't wear metal eye-glasses and don't ask how I learned about that).
It's much easier to check for the presence of spark than the presence of fuel—and if it turns out you have spark, then what you don't have is fuel.
So now we're on the subject of that vile fluid which, with unbounded imagination, the oil companies persevere to refer to as gasoline. -Now, once upon a time, you could put a tiger in your tank, but nowadays, we're just shoveling kitty-litter in there. -The alcohol-infused gasoline with which we're presently stuck starts to separate out like salad dressing after about six weeks. -Then the alcohol attracts water and the remaining constituents joyously coat your fuel system's innards with gum and varnish. -So Dave is right again; it's possible your carburetor got glopped up and you need to dismount the darned thing, clean it and remount it. -After having completed that task*, you'll doubtless become interested in the subject of prevention.
So, prevention. -There are a number of gasoline preservatives on the market, the most popular of which is Stabil. -I've heard various reports about that stuff, but in my own experience, Star-Tron's enzyme gasoline additive does an extremely effective job of preserving alcoholic gasoline over the winter. -Not only that, it makes my engine run noticeably smoother (and if their advertising is honest, it also cleans carbon out of your combustion chambers).
*I found it difficult to re-mount the carburetor using the original, short, black bolts in the original position, so I said, "To hell with originality," and bought a pair of longer, stainless-steel bolts from the friendly folks at the local Ace Hardware Store—and, if memory serves, I managed to put them in backwards using a crowfoot wrench.