14 replies to this topic

[cookie4343]

Model: Austin mini 998cc
Year:1979
[b]Description of problem?( My mini suddenly started miss firing and boging down then one day last week it had no spark from my coil and today got a brand new one and fitted it and still no spark of my coil what else could it be.

[Retro_10s]

If you know there's nothing coming from the coil then work backwards from it.

Check the live going to the coil from the wing mounted starter solenoid you should have.

[cookie4343]

Could i put a direct live from the battery to the coil to try this

[Retro_10s]

Is the car starting? and have you fitted the right kind of coil? there are two types, one for ballasted ignition and one for standard 12V,.. the two aren't interchangeable without problems occuring,

[cookie4343]

Is the car starting? and have you fitted the right kind of coil? there are two types, one for ballasted ignition and one for standard 12V,.. the two aren't interchangeable without problems occuring,

Yes got it from jonspeed racing and no the car wont start.
Just had a test light on it and when ignigen is on my test light lights up as soon as i start turning the car over the test light dont light up anymore and i aint got a clue what is wrong thanks for your help.

[dklawson]

Could i put a direct live from the battery to the coil to try this

No, that won't work. We're all busy, but please download and read over my PDF on points ignition systems to get an idea of how to test the system.
http://home.mindspri...tsIgnitions.pdf
You may also get a feel for how the ignition system works by visiting this web site:
http://auto.howstuff...tion-system.htm
Please follow the links off this first page to see how the complete system is supposed to work.

While coils do fail, they are one of the last items to consider swapping when troubleshooting, particularly on cars with points. Your misfiring and the engine dieing are very common symptoms of the points closing up.

So, how did you test for spark that you know you don't have a spark?

[cookie4343]

Is the car starting? and have you fitted the right kind of coil? there are two types, one for ballasted ignition and one for standard 12V,.. the two aren't interchangeable without problems occuring,

Yes got it from jonspeed racing and no the car wont start.
Just had a test light on it and when ignigen is on my test light lights up as soon as i start turning the car over the test light dont light up anymore and i aint got a clue what is wrong thanks for your help.

[dklawson]

Yes got it from jonspeed racing and no the car wont start.
Just had a test light on it and when ignigen is on my test light lights up as soon as i start turning the car over the test light dont light up anymore and i aint got a clue what is wrong thanks for your help.

Please explain where you've connected the test light and please take a moment to read over the PDF I sent the link to. You'll have much more luck troubleshooting the ignition if you have an idea how it's supposed to work.

[cookie4343]

Yes got it from jonspeed racing and no the car wont start.
Just had a test light on it and when ignigen is on my test light lights up as soon as i start turning the car over the test light dont light up anymore and i aint got a clue what is wrong thanks for your help.

Please explain where you've connected the test light and please take a moment to read over the PDF I sent the link to. You'll have much more luck troubleshooting the ignition if you have an idea how it's supposed to work.

Earth the test light to the body and put it to the live on the coil i have been reading the pdf file and will carry on shortly.

[dklawson]

The coil has two low-tension terminals. One is supplied from the ignition switch. Any time the ignition is on, connecting your test light between that point and earth... the light should stay on. This connection has absolutely nothing to do with if you are cranking the engine or if the engine is running. The feed from the ignition switch to the coil will be "hot" anytime the key is in the run position.

The second coil terminal goes off to the distributor. On cars with points its a white/black wire. As your distributor turns it opens and closes the points inside. The points are connected on one side to the white/black wire. The other side of the points is connected to earth. SO... if your test light is connected between earth and the coil's low side (white/black wire connection point), your test light should turn on when the points OPEN and off when they CLOSE.

Again, with your test lamp connected to the ignition switch side of the coil the lamp should be on all the time when the key is in the run position. With your test lamp connected to the low (distributor) side of the coil, the lamp should turn on and off as the engine turns over.

Let's assume you have power on the ignition switch side of the coil (easy to test as I described above). If you place your test lamp on the distributor side of the coil and the lamp NEVER turns on while cranking the engine, it means the points are not opening, your condenser has an internal short, or in extremely rare cases... you could have an open circuit inside the coil. IF on the other hand your test light never turns off, your points are not closing, or the points/breaker plate has lost its earth connection.

[cookie4343]

Thanks everyone for help especialy dklawson a couple of electric shocks later and she went

[dklawson]

That's excellent news.

Would you mind posting a summary of what you found and corrected to get the spark back? It's very helpful to others searching for similar topics to see what others found.

[cookie4343]

This is the best i can do to describe what steps i took hope they help.

1/cleaned all contacts on solenoid and checked for bad connections.
2/changed coil to a nice new one but still no spark.
3/ripped out points and condensor and binned as where knacked.
4/Replaced with a nice new part best buy in ages would reccomend to anyone picture below and link as seen in mini chat on page 6.
5/got the good old haynes manual out found the coil wireing diagram ie mini 1000 coil wireing white/black wire to take away solid white wire to plus.
6/checked the spark again and silly me thinking it woulnt work holded the lead got a shock.
7/reconnected all leads and turned the key and fired straight up with a bit of choke runs now better than ever.

here a pic of the ignigtion kit i fitted red wire goes to coil plus termanal black wire goes to the black and white wire under the distribiter.
I know this aint described very well but hope it helps and for the price of the kit below its well worth it heres a link to the website i got it of
http://www.mm-4x4.co...nsor-2721-p.asp

[dklawson]

While I'm glad you got the car running I would encourage people to dig a bit deeper about why the points did not allow your engine to develop a spark. If you had installed the BritParts kit and still had no spark you wouldn't know if the kit were at fault or if there was an underlying cause elsewhere.

The BritParts kit has been discussed a couple of times in this part of the board also. I think it's fair to say that most people who have installed it say it's an excellent value and that they are pleased with the results.

Edited by dklawson, 31 December 2008 - 09:47 PM.

[Shifty]

Yup, I'm a big fan of the brit-part kit, got one in My '67 Elf, made a hell of difference.

(and cheeep!!)