8 replies to this topic

[BobJob]

So yesterday I had my first breakdown ever (waaaaa).

So I ended up sitting on the side of the road in the heat for a very long lunch break...

Got towed back to work where an AA man then proceeded to have a look at the car, only to find it was now working perfectly.... (typical)

So onto the breakdown...

Basically I was driving steadily through town fine, then hit the duel carriageway just before the motorway. At this point the car seemed to do nothing when I pressed down on the accelerator, I must have been doing about 30 at the time. The car wasn't even revving. I tried changing down gears and it seemed to respond for a bit, but eventually even in first it wouldn't move anywhere.

I pulled over, and tried driving again in a couple of mins to try and get somewhere safer, this time I only managed 50 metres for the same reason.

Any ideas?

The only suggestion the AA man has was that a wire from a little capacitor on the coil wasn't connected very well. He played around with it a bit and after that the car was fine, although it could be coincidence?

It could have just been that the car was cooler?

The car worked fine on the way home and this morning. (town driving)

How would I know if the car was overheating? The oil temp gauge is always very cold, I thought maybe it's broken but it does move up and down when it is on/off, just never much above the blue line.

Any ideas welcome! Thanks for any help.

Oh car is a 1989 mini flame

[BobJob]

Oh and on a slightly different note, that may be related...

For the last few weeks or so, if I put the car under some load, e.g. over 50-55 or over 40 up a hill on the motorway, it feels like the clutch is slipping?

It's hard to describe, but if I try and keep accelerating the car seems to judder a bit and then suddenly bite again...

This happens until I slow the car down a bit where it seems fine.

This problem did feel different from the one above as the car would always keep going before, just slower, the breakdown above was because nothing happened at all when I accelerated, it was like the pedal was disconnected for a bit.

Cheers guys x

[Doz1971]

It's entirely possible that the two faults are related. The "little capacitor" moves about on the advance plate depending on engine load/ vacuum, so it needs to be tight. Sound like it's time to get that dizzy cap off and do a points & condensor service.

[BobJob]

Thanks Doz, the capacitor itself wasn't moving - the connection of the wire that comes out of it to connect it to the coil was a bit loose.

What does that cap actually do? I thought I read on the forum that it reduces electrical interference? If so I can't see why this would have caused this breakdown?

[JP Detailing]

Omg. Last week I posted up a thread as the exact same thing happened to me. Turned out that it was just a rusty spade connector on the coil.

Take the connector off, sand down all connections properly and it should be fine.

[BobJob]

Lol really?

I better replace that connector then! Was it the capacitor lead you fixed, or all of them?

Who won that detailing competition in the end?

[Doz1971]

It stops the points burning away, by effectivelt slowing the flow of current.

Here's good:

http://abbysenior.co...cs/ignition.htm

[BobJob]

Great thanks

[JP Detailing]

I cleaned up all the connectors. Didnt fit new ones.

Regarding the detailing - due to the server issues, the results kept going up or down so it needs to be restarted. I'm on holiday for two weeks as of tomorrow so when I get back I'll start it straight up again :)