Jean claude is suffering in this northern damp atmosphere, hes been used to the dry southern French weather and twice this week I've had to remove the plugs and dry all the coil connections and spray wd on everything once thats done he starts no problem. So all you wise ones any hints or tips to stop this from repeating itself.

TIA

ginna

Where to start.....Buy some nice new leads, new plugs, electronic ignition, new coil, make sure plugs and points, if still in place, are properly gapped...SSD

stop spraying stuff with WD40 the dirt sticks to it

get new leads and plugs as mentioned if they are due for replacement

electronic ignition unnecessary should start on the button with points and Ducellier coil

make sure everything is spotlessly clean,use carb cleaner and a clean cloth polish the coil like the antique it is-use pledge or the like.

dont know what it is about the yellow coil but i keep getting a belt of them when they get wet(Wal s Dyane on our blitkrieg out of CZ in Belgium in shocking rain-before it hit the WM, and the racer in this years fog)

take it the points and condenser are good?

oil! daft as it sounds the starter will have to draw much more current to churn the treacle, clean lighter oil will help the motor spin up

Sean

I've run bog standard 2cvs since 82, and the damp starting issue has given me 25 years of winter grief... until I got myself a yellow coil from ECAS, new HT leads, and a DG-nition. Since then life's been peachy!

Graham,
rather than going for overkill with a couple of hundred quid's worth of new bits, wonder if it's worth first having a go at pinning down exactly where the problem lies?

Btw, I'd doubt whether it's the plugs, since you've probably already checked the gaps when you took them out and reset them to 0.6mm.

Even if you haven't yet re-torqued the heads and adjusted the valve clearances ( to 0.25 Exhaust / 0.20 Inlet ), that would have more influence on poor hot starting than on poor damp starting.

Since the problem seems to be related to damp weather, the prime suspects have to be breakdown of the HT leads' insulation or a faulty coil with some damage to the external case.
More often than not, poor damp starting can be the result of 'tracking' near one of the coil's HT posts, which will allow the spark to arc onto the light bar on 2CVs or onto the 'goalpost' on Dyanes & Acadianes.

To check for both of the above possibilities, you'll need nothing more sophisticated than something like this...
< http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/0-5-LITRE-HAND-SP ... 2885wt_834 >

As mentioned recently in a reply to Willami, you don't need to wait for a damp day, but instead start the engine and spray a mist of water along each plug lead and around the coil until you find the spot (or spots) where the engine falters.

ken.

Or you could bring it home to Charente

I use damp start (normally before the winter really kicks in) just spray the ignition system all over with a covering and it protects it from getting damp in the first place, it's good

Couldn't have said it better - so much bullshit which Ken neatly sidesteps - too many people wishing to sell un-necessary new bits'n'pieces to solve a simple problem. Lack of brains problem too common in 21st Century Britain!

So if the HT leads' insulations have broken down should you repair them? If the coil has damage to the external case is it repairable?

Those parts are 'consumables', HT leads are really very cheap and a new coil isn't expensive. Just checked ECAS prices, HT leads £11.95 the pair and a 'Citroen' coil is £37.45. You could go for one of the Harley type 'super' coils, with HT leads, for £77.95, if you want.