For those into mechanical things

[T1 Terry]

No fancy stuff on this old engine Terry. The only electric are for the fuel pump is to turn it on or off.
Doesn't even have airbags.
And would you believe it hasn't done it once this morning
Bernie.

Glad to see I still have the touch, even over the interweb. Customers would ring to book in weeks before complaining about a problem, have it happen every day until the day they arrived at the workshop .... then it suddenly clear itself ..... Generally, I knew what the problem was already, but it was always entertaining to get the customer to explain what was happening when it mucked up, including the sounds it made ...... I tried to keep a straight face and look serious ... really I did, but some of them were just too funny ..... those were the days you needed the modern cameras that could catch sound and vision from multiple angles ..... I could have made a fortune just on the social channels asking them to repeat the sound it made ..... then telling them it was just so I could hear it a second time was restricted for the regular customers .... they got to the stage of telling me they weren't going to do the sound effects next time .... but they always did Hearing women try to make car noises still cracks me up even now

T1 Terry

[BernieQ2]

Hahaha

[Greynomad]

T1,
OP TL DR.

[T1 Terry]

T1,
OP TL DR.

ok, I'll bite .... as a once semi famous female said "please explain"?

T1 Terry

[jon_d]

My little Ford ute,,,wont start sometimes, nothing when you turn the key, but if you move the steering left and right it starts :? ...but I found out yesterday while fiddling if I keep the key turned and leave it there it will start after maybe 4 or 5 seconds...would that be a relay playing up ???
If so where would one look for such a beast
Bernie.

Bernie, just wondering if you're confusing the key with the steering wheel? It couldn't be as simple as that, could it?

[T1 Terry]

Here is another one to add to your knowledge about how they build these high revving engines ...... In the early days, we used double, then triple valve springs to get more rpm without the valve floating ..... hard on the moving parts and often resulted in snapped cam shafts ......
Here is how F1 got around the problem https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXdvvWxFeBY

T1 Terry

[supersparky]

T1,
OP TL DR.

My guess is original post, too long, didn't read.

[BernieQ2]

My little Ford ute,,,wont start sometimes, nothing when you turn the key, but if you move the steering left and right it starts :? ...but I found out yesterday while fiddling if I keep the key turned and leave it there it will start after maybe 4 or 5 seconds...would that be a relay playing up ???
If so where would one look for such a beast
Bernie.

Bernie, just wondering if you're confusing the key with the steering wheel? It couldn't be as simple as that, could it?

No Jon

[BernieQ2]

Whilst fiddling with the ute I decided to find the noise that had surfaced during our trip back from Bundy on Saturday.
Looks like the idler Arm thingy has flogged the rubbers out.
Opinions ???
Bernie.

IMG20241001092550.jpg

[Peter and Sandra]

Bernie check the ground points as moving the steering wheel changes how it makes a ground contact which is usually only involving the horn buttons and any steering wheel controls for cruise control, radio volume etc.
There is a thing called a clock spring under the steering wheel boss which makes the contact. But I would have thought that it would not invovlve the starter circuit as that requires too much current but it could affect the starting relay if it has one.