4 replies to this topic

[PaulHam]

Hi all

Eventful day... I went to Southend with a friend today to get him a mini, we found the mini online it's a 1992 city E auto.

Everything went well the car hasnt been used in 6 months till last week when it got an mot so battery was flatish. test drive was fine, bought the car and got it taxed. We drove down to the seafront and everything was ok, we left the car for an hour and come back and it started first time.

Problems start.

Ready to go home we went to a petrol station to fill up, after adding petrol the car wouldn't start so we pushed it into a parking space and tried to start it up again, turned on first time, happy we were we tried to drive off. There was a queue leaving the petrol station and the car stalled and wouldn't start again.

Luckily we had 2 cars with us so I went to the nearest halfords and bought some jump leads. Come back to the car, a abit of wiggling the gear selector and it started working again.

Now the car will not go faster than 40mph, when you full throttle it splutters and looses power. My mate (the driver) said that it would sometimes pick up speed for 30secs but then bog down again?
Then pretty much every traffic lights we get to the car stalls (me following behind) puts the hazards on, jump out and connect our new jump leads up, starts up and were off again... Well for another 5 mins!

The usual 1 hour journey home actually took nearer to 3.5hrs today, annoying everyone in our path.

Tomorrow is fixing time, the battery is already on charge, but does anyone know what could be wrong? What can we try to fix it?
Sorry for the long post, but I hope someone can help.

Paul

[Mini-Mad-Craig]

Sounds exactly like the Inhibitor switch at fault to me. You say if you wiggled the gear selector it'd start... the car isn't being told which gear it's in since the Inhibitor needs adjusting/replacing... unless the auto gearbox is in 'P' or 'N', the car won't start.

I'm presuming the car is injection? The Inhibitor switch is screwed onto the base of the transmission. Find it, and check everything looks OK from the gear selector forwards. If you dont find anything suspicious, stick her on some axle stands and stick the car in 'D'. Undo the two bolts that hold the inhibitor switch cover and then remove the wiring connector to the switch. Slacken the inhibitor lock nut and grab you multimeter... set it to the resistance function and unscrew the switch until continuity is present between the switch terminals... then slowly screw the switch into the gearbox until you reach the point htat continuity no longer exists between them. Once you reach that point, turn it a further half turn and then tighten the locknut. Check continuity only exists when the car is in P or N... and then stick the wiring back on and test her out.. should work!!!

Alternatively... you can bypass the inhibitor, you should find that the wires and black and White/lightgreen. I'd suggest you do this if you find that the inhibitor is broken, that way you can still use the car... but definitely get it fixed as soon as you can.

Edited by Mini-Mad-Craig, 19 February 2012 - 01:31 AM.

[Guess-Works.com]

Wont be an injection being a city E...therefore 998, and the inhibitor switch is on the selector, which may just need adjusting so it is giving a positive connection when in N ( 998's don't have a Park )

As the car's been sat for 6 month, I would give it a full service, check the points, sparkies etc and fueling...

I would also check that the alternator is supplying charge, 14v or there abouts.

[iDemonix]

I think I need to play with mine to. If it's sat in Neutral it won't start at all, but if you lean it forwards a teeny bit it roars (lol) in to life.

[S3EEV-117]

ive got the same problem, car is fine untli 30/40 mph then sounds like it misses a gear and wont go any faster or change up?