10 replies to this topic

[ghostleader101]

Hi guys. I'm having problems with my 1992 998cc mini. Its been off the road for a couple of years, i stripped half of down (including the top half of the engine) and put it all back together a few months ago, It now wont start lol. Since not having the funds to sort it i left it until i saved up some cash to spend on him. I know its ignition issues as fuels getting to the engine but none of the plugs have a spark.

 

The ignition system im pretty sure is a non ballast type (please correct me if im wrong) which i was going to replace with an electrical type one from eBay:

http://www.ebay.co.u...=item27ccc274e7

 

I'm assuming its a wiring problem as the coils still has sufficient (higher than normal) ohms but i would've thought it would start still.

I have the condenser plugged in as well as the small wire from the distributor plugged into the same side. other than that i don't know what's wrong (obviously the big distributor leads in too), im not sure if ive missed any wires (probably have) or the distributor's decided to pack up after 2 years of non use :/ could be the ht leads are wired up in the wrong order but i don't think so :L

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated as i want to try and get it back on the road soon and have plenty of other jobs to do on it :L

 

Hopefully it all makes scene if not then please just say and il try and explain haha

 

Cheers

Rob 

 

 

[KernowCooper]

1992 would be a ballast system unless its been converted, they had from the factory a White/pink 9v feed from the ballast resister and a White/yellow from the starter solenoid giving it a 12v feed while cranking, test the coil and see if you have 12v on the coil + or 9v which will tell you if you have a ballast system still or its been converted to 12v with a coil to match. Ballast 9v coils have 1.5ohms between the +/- terminals and the non ballast coil 3.5ohms.

 

The firing order is 1342 with the no1 position at the 1-2oclock and anticlockwise 3-4-2, take the king lead out the coil if the above checks test out and get someone to crank the engine while you hold the king lead 1/4inch from a head bolt, if it sparks then its either the cap or rotor arm at fault (all 4 leads wont be faulty)

[dklawson]

1992 would be a ballast system unless its been converted,

 

Really?  I don't ever see Minis that l late but I am surprised.  I assumed that all British ignitions had gone to electronic by the 1990s.  

[KernowCooper]

Most likely Doug but there are one or two running about which have all sorts to rid the stock down of the older stuff. It whats left on the day in the British Motor Industry in the 90s

[dklawson]

Thanks for that.  I'm still a bit surprised but the more I learn the more I find I don't know!

[KernowCooper]

The year I have in my data is 1990 for the 65DM4 Electronic but there were lots of Minis in stock at various places which even though they were registered after the official move to electronic, were running the 59D4 Sliding points distributor, Were talking British here and if we have any fit em.

[ghostleader101]

Thanks for the replies.

 

Right, i cant find the white/pink wire, literally spent like 15 mins trying to find it :S where's the ballast resistor? Il try and locate it from there haha!

I think i have the starter solenoid wire sorted lol, il double check when i have spare time. 

The cap and rotor arm were replaced not long before i stopped driving it so they should be fine.

Doesn't surprise me the thinking of the rover group, fit whatever's there :L

 

From what i can remember the ohms were like 4-5 something, so i will have to check that to see and check the voltage, what terminals do i go off to measure the voltage? But im guessing that will only work with all the wires connecting properly lol

 

Cheers

[dklawson]

The Mini would not have a separate resistor, just that pink wire you were looking for.  The pink wire would connect to coil (+).

 

To check the compatibility of your ignition components, place a coin between the contact points in the distributor.  (It is imperative that current flows during the voltage tests.  Placing the coin between the points insures current has a path to earth through the points).

Set your multimeter to measure DC Volts.

Turn the ignition key to the run position and measure the voltage between coil (+) and an earthing spot such as the distributor body.

Turn the ignition off and remove the coin from between the points.

 

To measure coil resistance, mark and disconnect the low-tension wires attached to the coil.

Set your multimeter to measure Ohms and measure across the coil's low-tension terminals.

Replace the wires from where you removed them.

 

If you measured 12V during your test, you have "standard" ignition wiring.

If you measured 6V to 9V, you have a ballast ignition wiring.

 

If your coil measured from about 2.5 Ohms to 4 Ohms you have a standard, non-ballast coil.

If your coil measured between 1 Ohm and 2 Ohms, you have a ballast coil.

 

Use the proper coil for the type of wiring your car has or (if necessary) convert the wiring to match the coil you want to use.

[ghostleader101]

I found the wire eventually, its been cut so its just some bare wire, the wire comes out of a loom next to the distributor and just above the starter motor, with the ignition on it read 12v, so im going to have to buy some more wire and solder it together to complete it again.  

 

When checking the Ohms on the coil, across the terminals it read 0, but when i did it from either terminal to the output terminal (to distributor) it was reading 5.4 Ohms. Don't know what's going on lol, 

 

Still not sure what ignition system i have, if the pink and white wire is 12v im guessing non ballast? 

 

Thanks dklawson for the help :)

[dklawson]

I do not understand from your description where the wires have been cut and where they are bare.  

 

I suspect that since you measured 5.4... you have a meter where you set the range and you may have had it set for 20k Ohms.  The resistance from the high-tension (plug wire) terminal and the spade lugs could be anywhere from 4k to 10k Ohms).  When the meter is set to measure 20k Ohms full scale... 3 Ohms will likely be displayed as "zero"

 

Nothing you have checked should have measured 5.4 Ohms.  First make sure you are on the correct scale if your multimeter is not the auto-ranging type.  Second, when measuring coil resistance, mark and remove all the wires from the coil.  Then measure the resistance across the low-tension terminals (from one spade lug to the other... or one threaded post to the other if you have removed the spade lugs).  If you still measure 5.4 Ohms using that method, take the two meter probe tips and hold them against each other.  That will tell you the resistance of your probe tips and their wires.  Whatever the meter reads with the two probe tips touching... subtract that from the coil resistance value you measured.  What remains is the coil resistance.

 

Once you know the coil resistance you can alter the wiring as needed to match.  I don't want to go into details about that until you know for sure what coil resistance you have.

[KernowCooper]

Have a read of the way to test coils here http://www.theminifo...-testing-coils/