Let's try this part again:
Unfortunately, on Sunday, I ran into a starting problem. Each time I
went to restart the car, I'd turn the key, get a solenoid click and
that was that. The red "not charging" light would dim slightly so
something was drawing power, but the starter wasn't turning.
It wasn't the ka-WHIRRRRRR of a disengaged starter, then? That's
the regular starting problem on the B; it's due to a missing screw
that should hold the solenoid in place. Gotta fix that one day...
Each
time, after letting me sweat for a while, on the umpteenth attempt to
see if it would start, the starter would work normally, the car would
start and away I would go. I didn't get a chance to look into it
when I got home, so haven't started debugging it. Before I jumped in
too deeply, I figured I'd check here in case this is one of those
well known problems with some clean, elegant solution like hammering
on the fuel pump.
Anyway, as I started to say a while back, it sounds like a loose,
dirty, or otherwise not-quite-sound connection somewhere. Start
with the starter wiring itself: degrease the connections to the
solenoid, the wire to the ignition, etc., and tighten them back
down. That was the regular starting problem on the Cortina.
Then check your battery connections. Too much resistance there
can cause a similar problem on starting, because you can't draw
enough current through the wiring. New battery terminals are
cheap enough (which reminds me, I should get some for the Chevelle).
If that isn't it, you could just have a bad solenoid itself. If
the wiring inside deteriorates, it will click but not make the
connection. Solenoids are about $40 for MGBs.
In the last case, it's possible that there's a problem in the
starter itself. The windings or the brushes inside the starter
could be worn, corroded or otherwise rendered unusable. The
soldered connections between the brush wires and the brushes
can sometimes work loose over the years from heat and vibration.
The most likely explanation? You have a dead spot on the commutator
of the starter armature, most likely a place where the copper has
become corroded from sitting for a long time. When the starter comes
to rest in the right configuration, no current passes through the
brushes to the armature and nothing turns. Successive clicks of the
starter solenoid shake things loose (or the current draw heats through
the corrosion and gets less resistance as it burns away) and eventually
you start.
If that is the case, it will actually get better the more you use it
because each successive application of the starter will burnish the
commutator a little more. On the other hand, the excess heat that
the increased resistance will cause may be responsible for shortening
the lifetime of the soldered connections on the starter brushes.
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