78 replies to this topic

[mike.]

Well, been pretty busy and only just got the motivation back to work on the mini over the last few days.

So i've removed the old trigger wheel setup and refitted the specialist components one.

Unfortunately it rubbed the fanbelt:





So had to modify it with the dremel, luckily this gave just enough clearance:







So now thats in place, I just need to get the trigger wheel in the right place. So i've got the engine at TDC - Cylinder one both valves closed and cylinder 4 with exhaust and inlet opening/closing equally. and this is how i've got the trigger wheel rotated - So that the sensor is 90 degrees before the missing tooth:



Does that look right?

Also what can I use to tighten that lock nut? I've not got a C spanner and the cheapest one I can see from machinemart is £26...

[mike.]

Hello again everyone, still not got this sorted

I worked out where TDC was with help from ethel and using the timing marks on the damper pulley. So i've got the specialist components kit all fitted now, its a poor kit and next engine I build I'll make my own or go for the sexy MED kit.

As well as it rubbing the fanbelt badly and even after filing still leaves me with no room to adjust the sensor position, the lockring for the trigger wheel fowls the radiator cowling...



The clearance is minimal on the trigger wheel and the lockring itself prevents the bottom bolt going through into the captive nut. So after some head scratching, I ended up cutting part of the rad cowl away as well as using washers to space the rad mount up and away from the lockring. This has meant i've had to use washers on the top rad mount too as the rad now sits slightly higher. Still bloody tight fit though, maybe 3mm clearance - PITA.



Anyway its on now and nothing catches, trigger wheel and sensor position is bang on, with approx 0.9mm trigger wheel gap so thats one thing ticked off the list of potential faults.

So, again tried turning it over and still not getting a spark. Tested the voltage with the multimeter and still only getting around 1.2v from the VR sensor at cranking speed. This is using that SC sensor now and not the VR sensor and both are giving that voltage, its half the voltage autosport labs say you should see at cranking speed but I don't know what I can do about it to be honest. Have also tried switching polarity too.

So assuming thats not the problem and it'll be fine at 1.2v I went back to the beginning and check everything again. I tested my wiring again and its all fine. VR to EDIS, EDIS to MJ and EDIS to coil. Its all making a connection and also my coil wiring is correct, I found the numbers on the coil plug and it is wired correctly. Tested the power too, 12v to MJ and middle pin on coil with ignition on, drops to about 10v whilst cranking with a fully charged battery.

Also checked the pins on the EDIS for corrosion and they look fin, gave them a squirt of WD40 and plugged it in/out a few times for the sake of it.

Hard to take photos of but the pins look pretty good to me:





Then looked at my MJ board itself and looked for any obvious problems or broken connections. Now you can see one piece of the board is burnt out, this was caused by a previous attempt at fault finding a while ago when I was trying to see if the board itself was getting power and I shorted it out. However I bypassed the problem with a bit of wire on the back of the board and the MJ was sent off to a MJ pro off the autosport labs forum (also a member on here i do believe) and he check it all over, re-soldered some joints and replaced a chip that had blew, before testing it and sending it back to me. So i'm fairly confident it should work fine, here some photos anyway. Looks quite messy as the rev limiter is wired internally, but thats all wired correctly as confirmed by the MJ pro I sent it to.







Not the best soldering on that bypass wire but its making a connection



So aside from buying a new MJ unit, the only things I can see being fault now are the EDIS or the coilpack.

So going to enquire about scrapyards near me and see if theres any nearby that have got some old fiesta's etc in to nick some bits off. Then I can cross another couple of things off the list of potential faults.

Apart from that I don't know what else to do really - Any other suggestions at all?

Thanks

[l_jonez]

It should run with out the mj the edis will let it run but at a fixed 10 degrees

[mike.]

I think that is probably my best next move. Only thing is it means removing the rev limiter first and re wiring the coil from the EDIS. Because of the rev limiter the coil's power comes from the MJ's power and is controlled by the MJ not the EDIS.

I know the rev limiter is wired correctly and i'm getting power to the coil.

I might be able to by pass the rev limiter cutting the wire from the limiter to the middle pin on coil, and then putting a bullet connector on it temporarily and wiring it to the EDIS.

I'll have a look at by passing the rev limiter and disconnecting the MJ. Thinking about it I may be able to bypass the rev limiter and test the MJ too. That way I can test it running on EDIS only, and then on the MJ. If it runs - the rev limiter is fubbared.

[mike.]

Well this morning I bypassed the rev limiter and powered the coil from the same supply as the EDIS, and unplugged the MJ so it'd just be the EDIS wired in and still getting no spark.

So its got to be either the EDIS or the coilpack thats not working.

Was also thinking, whilst cranking the engine over, would I see voltage at the coil socket? i.e. where the HT lead connects to? Because I know the coil plug is getting power, but was wondering if the pins in the plug are making good contact with the pins on the coil...

Currently browsing google to find any breakers near me to find some EDIS bits off...

[The Matt]

New EDIS coil packs are only about £30 from most motor factors.

You should have +12v at the centre pin of the coilpack with the ignition turned on too. Sounds to me like you could do with borrowing one from somewhere though just to plug it in and test it, or find another car with an edis coilpack on it and swap that for yours and see if their car still runs.

Only other thing is the EDIS module. Where was it mounted? It was all running until you had some welding done wasn't it?

[mike.]

Yeah i've got 12v at middle pin on coil with ignition on and then drops to just over 10v whilst cranking which should be fine as all the fuse's drop to this whilst cranking.

Borrowing a car with MJ or car running on EDIS would be the best test, might be tricky to find someone willing to let me play about with their car though.

I'm gona ring this big breakers this morning and see what they've got and rough price. Going of the ASL website its any 90-00 escort or 90-99 fiesta i'm looking for and looking at the place on google maps they keep a lot of cars so they've got to have a couple of cars with EDIS bits at least!

I've been reading up on some topics on the ASL website about testing the EDIS and coil

Seems theres no real way of testing the EDIS, just to testing what signals the EDIS should be receiving:

http://www.autosport...ification_Steps

Then found this for testing the coilpack:

http://www.autosport...opic.php?t=3324

'

For testing the coil, the primaries should measure about 0.6 ohms, secondaries should measure about 15K ohms.

On a 4 post coil you would test the primary windings between the center pin and one of the outer pins (there are two coils inside this coil pack). Channel A is left side <-> middle ; channel B is right side <-> middle.

For testing the secondary windings you would probe between the two posts on the left (with the connector facing you) for channel A, and the two posts on the right for channel B.'

So could give this a go too today if I get chance.

[mike.]

Oh and yeah I've had it running before on the MJ, then it stopped working and I took it all off assuming it was the shoddy wiring loom I had made. It was off the car when I had some welding done

[The Matt]

Aaah, I see.

Definitely worth trying a coilpack by the sounds of it.

Other thing is, are you seeing earth at the two outer coil connectors as you crank?

[mike.]

Not checked that so don't know.

I'm off to the motor factors shortly to see if they've got the coil pack in...

[mike.]

Well went to the motorfactors and picked up a new coilpack for £28

Got home, plugged it in, see a good spark straight away :) Plugged the fuel pump wire back in, gave it some juice, turned the key - Started first time!!

Annoying after all this time and messing around, loosing motivation for the car but still a massive relief to know it was just a faulty coil pack.

Only problem was when I turned it off and took the key out it kept running, had to unplug the coilpack to stop the engine. So just need to check why that happened as like i've said its all powered through the relay, switched off the top ignition switched fuse - So it shouldn't of had power...

But before I went, I plugged the MJ and the coilpower back in through the rev limiter and turned it over again and was still seeing a spark, so looks like thats working fine too


So thanks for all the help guys, fingers crossed the MJ and my rev limiter wiring is working fine and the running on problem is a simple fix!

[The Matt]

Great news!

Out of interest, what gaps are you running on yer plugs?

[mike.]

Erm about 0.70mm I think

[mike.]

Ok i'll check it and adjust to 1mm and see.

I'll probably change the plugs anyway, the ones in now were the ones that were in the engine when I bought it. I was gona wait till I get the car rolling roaded and mapped and see what recommendations were.

[mike.]

Not changed the plugs yet, but the ones in there are NGK R BCPR6ES which are resistive type already.


I've had it running off the MJ today, so thats working fine. Didn't want to rev it too high so not tested the rev limiter yet and didn't have laptop with me to set the limit low.

The only problem i'm having is the engine doesn't turn off once its started. I've traced the problem and I've got an idea of whats happening.

As i've explained earlier, the big relay which powers the fuse box the MJ is powered off is switched by the top fuse on the fuse box. This works fine with the engine not running, it switches the relay on/off fine via the ignition key. But, the power for these fuses comes from the starter solenoid I think and alternator also charges the battery via the starter solenoid. So I think whats happening is, once the engine is started, even once the keys removed the alternator provides current to the top fuse and keeps the relay in!

So basically, the alternator keeps the relay in and keeps the power to the MJ, even when the key is out. This is my theory anyway

Not really sure how I can get around this though, I need to find a new way of switching the relay via the ignition key, that won't get 12v once the engines running... Any ideas?

Also, the engine is revving quite high - Tried backing off the idle speed screw, slackened off the throttle cable and yet it still idles about 1300rpm. I noticed the dashpot is low on oil - Could this be the cause?

Thanks again