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[Spark Issue] Car Lost Power/revs And Eventually Died.


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#1 CharlesK

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Posted 20 June 2018 - 04:55 PM

Hello people,

 

My car had been standing for two or three months (outside). It started up perfectly on choke as usual. After having driven for about 15 minutes the car started to lose power. It was not a mechanical issue so I risked driving back home. It was rush hour so traffic was slow. When almost home, the car had lost all power except for running idle. Any amount of throttle would make the car sputter and die. The logical thing of course was to poddle along the road in second gear at idle engine speed. After getting home I removed the carb, dissasembled, cleaned etc... the ususal. I also added some fresh oil to the dashpot. After placing the carb back on the car it fired up instantly. I was able to rev it to 3000 maybe and it sputtered quite a lot then died. It hasn't started since. 

 

I checked for spark from the HT lead however there was no sign of spark. I noticed a crack in the coil and the terminals seemed very corroded so I have replaced the coil. Still no spark. The old and new coil are both meant for electronic ignitions. 

 

The car is a 1988 red hot with a 1991 1275 engine. This engine came with an electronic dizzy. This dizzy has never given me issues so I am not really sure if my issue lies in this distributor. When I originally swapped the dizzy (during engine swap) I made sure to swap the ballast wire for a non-ballast wire. I have driven many miles since the engine swap so it seems to be related to it standing for a longer period. Corrosion of a connection somewhere possibly?

 

The sparkplugs are black/wet so fuel is not the issue. 

 

What should I look at to diagnose this spark that seemed to have slowly lost its strength and eventually vanished completely?

 

Regards,



#2 cal844

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Posted 20 June 2018 - 05:01 PM

How old are the plugs, leads, rotor arm and cap?

Check the vacuum line for splits and deterioration

Does it have the module on the side of the distributor?

#3 phillrulz

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Posted 20 June 2018 - 05:06 PM

check fuseboards connections 



#4 CharlesK

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Posted 20 June 2018 - 05:06 PM

How old are the plugs, leads, rotor arm and cap?

Check the vacuum line for splits and deterioration

Does it have the module on the side of the distributor?

 

Plugs are from when the engine was rebuilt a couple of years ago. leads, rotor arm and cap are the ones that came with the 1275 engine, so the age and miles of these are unknown to me but they were not new at the time. 

 

It is a distributor with a module on the side that has a plug with 2 wires that go to the coil (white, white/black)



#5 CharlesK

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Posted 20 June 2018 - 05:07 PM

check fuseboards connections 

 

I will check those with a multimeter however the fusebox was changed not long ago as the old one was too corroded and no longer making contact on all terminals. 



#6 phillrulz

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Posted 20 June 2018 - 05:13 PM

 

check fuseboards connections 

 

I will check those with a multimeter however the fusebox was changed not long ago as the old one was too corroded and no longer making contact on all terminals. 

 

 

Mine was corroded pretty bad made my mini randomly die, did you check terminations / change them too ? 



#7 CharlesK

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Posted 20 June 2018 - 05:52 PM

 

 

check fuseboards connections 

 

I will check those with a multimeter however the fusebox was changed not long ago as the old one was too corroded and no longer making contact on all terminals. 

 

 

Mine was corroded pretty bad made my mini randomly die, did you check terminations / change them too ? 

 

 

The wire running from the fusebox to the coil has been replaced completely including connectors as the old points distributor had a ballast wire and the "new" electronic system needed a regular non-resistant wire. I will let you know if the coil is getting the required 12v soon. I believe the old wire was pink and white.


Edited by CharlesK, 20 June 2018 - 05:54 PM.


#8 CharlesK

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Posted 26 June 2018 - 01:52 PM

I have had a closer look at the electronic ignition module and one of the pins had broken. This was the issue as to why the spark had lost its power. I have replaced the module and cable to the coil and am now and I'm getting a strong spark again. However, there no longer seems to be fuel going into the engine. I've had the carb apart so I might have done something wrong there. Spark plugs are dry after turning the engine over for a while, even with throttle fully opened. no fuel smell either. 

 

At least the spark issue is over with!



#9 cal844

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Posted 26 June 2018 - 04:02 PM


How old are the plugs, leads, rotor arm and cap?

Check the vacuum line for splits and deterioration

Does it have the module on the side of the distributor?


Plugs are from when the engine was rebuilt a couple of years ago. leads, rotor arm and cap are the ones that came with the 1275 engine, so the age and miles of these are unknown to me but they were not new at the time.

It is a distributor with a module on the side that has a plug with 2 wires that go to the coil (white, white/black)

I think a thorough ignition system service(replace cap, rotor arm, leads and plugs) then see how it goes. I usually do 5-6k(one year of driving) miles to a set of plugs. I change leads every 2-3 years.

I'd also advise checking the module as they can fail(usually when they fail there's no spark, but it could be intermittent like you describe when starting to fail)

#10 CharlesK

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Posted 26 June 2018 - 08:46 PM

 

 

How old are the plugs, leads, rotor arm and cap?

Check the vacuum line for splits and deterioration

Does it have the module on the side of the distributor?


Plugs are from when the engine was rebuilt a couple of years ago. leads, rotor arm and cap are the ones that came with the 1275 engine, so the age and miles of these are unknown to me but they were not new at the time.

It is a distributor with a module on the side that has a plug with 2 wires that go to the coil (white, white/black)

I think a thorough ignition system service(replace cap, rotor arm, leads and plugs) then see how it goes. I usually do 5-6k(one year of driving) miles to a set of plugs. I change leads every 2-3 years.

I'd also advise checking the module as they can fail(usually when they fail there's no spark, but it could be intermittent like you describe when starting to fail)

 

 

That is exactly what happened, one of the wires from the coil to the plug (into the ignition unit) was broken/frayed and was only just making contact. wires/plug/unit have been replaced as when I disconnected the plug, one of the pins broke off. 

 

I got overcharged for the ignition unit at my local mini place. They charged me just over 100 euro for the unit. Lesson learned, check online first next time. 






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