anyone able to help me out? I am mechanicly retarded & my Mini wont start!

it was idolling fine in the garage, then it just stopped! I put new fuel in it (it was pretty low) & it has a new battery. It just wont start & it was fine before!

I put petrol in the carbi & it started for like 3 seconds, I took the fuel line off & cranked the engine & it splurted out petrol so I know the fuel line is ok, it turned over when I put petrol in the carbi, but it still wont start on its own? any ideas to what it might be? or what should I check next?

By letting it get so low could you have blocked the filter or fuel line, maybe the fuel you see spurting isn't enough? perhaps. Otherwise, it is possible a jet may be blocked so that this petrol is not actually getting into the combustion chamber until you poured it in?

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needle & seat could be stuck - take the lid off the float bowl, fill that with fuel and see if it'll start & run

Have you checked for spark?

What carburettor do you have on it ?

How long did you have it idling for before it stopped ? ( possible that it may have fouled up the plugs, i'm just guessing here . )

cheers for the help!
yeh it has spark, is the float bowl that cannister thing underneith the carbi? (mechanicly retarded remember!)

depends what type of carb it is

this is a HS type carb - it's the most common - best picture I could find...



C'est le cuve (it's the thing labelled as Cuve). Undo the 3 screws and take the top off.

this is a HIF type carb



it's the base of it - hard to check if it's full

sweet! mine is the same as the first pic!
so I take that bit apart & see if its blocked?

try not to spill the dash pot oil if you get crried away with your taking appart. i always do

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PrOuDlY aSkInG qUeStIoNs FoR uR aMuEsMeNt

just take the lid off it. You should be able to blow through the tube marked "arrive d'essence" - that's where the petrol goes in.

Have a good look at it - the float is inside, and there is two piece valve in the knobby part at the top (where the fuel goes in). That part is called the needle and seat. It can stick shut. But like I said, if there is no fuel in the bowl, fill it up from a container and try to start the engine

by the way, I edited your original post - I get cranky when people put "Mini" in all capitals

Ha, I didn't even look at this thread when I first saw it - I thought it was about a new MINI...

Cheers for the help guys! I got it started!!
took that thing off, blew in it, put some petrol in the carbi & off it went! starting on its own now!

thanks heaps for the help!

worth replacing that needle and seat, it's almost guaranteed to fail on you again

and my pleasure

thanks man!
I have a twin set up I havent put on yet (was going to wait until I put the new motor in)

now that its running again, its running a little rough when you accellerate... coughs & splutters when u accelerate - never did that before, could that be part of the same problem?