7 replies to this topic

[MarkC123]

Hi guys,

I’ve been trawling through the forums for similar problems but still can’t seem to find the solution.

After I start up my 96 spi mini and drive it straight away, I notice that sometimes when I go to clutch in, in 1st gear, the revs drop off and it sounds as if the car is about to stall (and sometimes does) but usually it picks back up again to normal revs.

Then for the first couple minutes it seems as if there is a power lag, as in, I put the foot down and it’s as if the power is only going on 70% before it sorts itself out. Sometimes when the cars in a low gear such as 2nd while this “lag” is happening it’s as if the car is shuddering.

Only happens when I start up and never when the engines warm. Fuel lines seem to be ok and it has been to mini garage who can’t seem to find any issue.

Thanks in advance, mark

[Bobbins]

If you haven't already you should renew the 4 vacuum hoses and fuel trap.

[humph]

Have a read of this pinned thread, it's invaluable when having spi problems.

 

http://www.theminifo...oint-injection/

 

You need to find someone with a code reader. I bought one cheap few years ago and it's a must, but I recently bought one of these leads off ebay and it's been great.

 

https://www.ebay.co....3ffe99260|iid:1

 

 

Start with investigation, then if nothing found replace the cheaper parts rather than piling in and blindly replacing expensive bits.

 

I've had similar failure to idle & cutting out issues on a number of occasions and they've usually been down to the coolant temp sensor or the lambda senor, or more importantly broken wires in the electrical feeds to them. If the code reader points to sensors make sure you do electrical checks to make sure they are getting power.

[viz139]

I had a similar problem, it was the vacuum hoses

[Screwdriver]

I suffered the same. Did the following 5 inexpensive steps in this precise order and the car idles smoother than most Minis when they were new:

 

1)  Replace ALL vacuum hoses & fuel trap

2)  Replace ground wiring

3)  Replace plugs with the correct NGK plugs

4)  Run Chevron Techron Fuel Additive (half bottle per tankful consecutively)

5)  Run Auto-Rx engine oil additive over 3K miles per instructions

[WafuMini]

I had a similar problem with my spi last year. Had troubles starting, bogging down on pull away, and juddering when accelerating in low gear. Only happened when car was cold. It turned out to be the PTC heater that had failed. No real way to test and a PITA to replace.

The thread that Humph mentioned is an invaluable source for spi injection problems. Also a code reader can help a lot, but these can be hard to find unless you have a friendly TMF member with one who lives nearby. I would recommend downloading MEMS Analyser (free software) and making yourself a diagnostic cable. It will give you most of the functionality of a code reader for less than £10 rather than the £100+ for a code reader from eBay. A good run recording the data should give you an idea if you have any fault codes and if a sensor is misbehaving.

https://github.com/c...rassa/memsgauge

http://www.rmrsoft.com/mems/

Having said that, as mentioned it is always best to check the basics first before diving in and spending the time, effort and cost on changing sensors.
Check the plugs, check fuel filter, clean the injector (some injector cleaner in the fuel).

When up to temperature what does the water temp read on the gauge? It should line in almost exactly with the white line.

[Alpenflitzer]

Measure the plug cables if they work equal.

[humph]

I had a similar problem with my spi last year. Had troubles starting, bogging down on pull away, and juddering when accelerating in low gear. Only happened when car was cold. It turned out to be the PTC heater that had failed. No real way to test and a PITA to replace.

The thread that Humph mentioned is an invaluable source for spi injection problems. Also a code reader can help a lot, but these can be hard to find unless you have a friendly TMF member with one who lives nearby. I would recommend downloading MEMS Analyser (free software) and making yourself a diagnostic cable. It will give you most of the functionality of a code reader for less than £10 rather than the £100+ for a code reader from eBay. A good run recording the data should give you an idea if you have any fault codes and if a sensor is misbehaving.

https://github.com/c...rassa/memsgauge

http://www.rmrsoft.com/mems/

Having said that, as mentioned it is always best to check the basics first before diving in and spending the time, effort and cost on changing sensors.
Check the plugs, check fuel filter, clean the injector (some injector cleaner in the fuel).

When up to temperature what does the water temp read on the gauge? It should line in almost exactly with the white line.

 I found making my own lead a PITA as the minimum order for a lot of the components were 100s, in some cases 1000s. You can now buy the leads on ebay for £30-40, see the link in my original post.