11 replies to this topic

[mark the diver]

Our 94 SPI Cooper had been running fine with no issues.

Yesterday was travelling along at 60mph when it slowly started to miss and lose power, eventually it came to a stop and wouldn’t restart.

Suspected that we might have run out of fuel, as was very low, got some fuel brought out to us and the car started straight away.

Drove home but car was lacking power and missing a lot and generally running rough.

Once home it cut out wouldn’t restart.

Have checked for spark and got good spark on all plugs. Engine turns over fine but just won’t start.

All the vacuum lines are new.

I’m suspecting a fuel issue as plugs are dry when taking them out.

The fuel pump can be heard priming when the ignition is first turned.

Not sure of age of fuel filter so will change that and see if that helps.

Any ideas or advice would be gratefully received, thanks.

 

 

 

[cal844]

Check the inertia switch, then check and Clean the throttle body and injector (good video on DB Mini Diy YouTube channel for all the troublesome issues with the spi system)

Edited by cal844, 02 January 2022 - 03:53 PM.

[richmondclassicsnorthwales]

The point you took off the cap, put some fuel in, then it ran again

 

Then it run dry again

 

Is the petrol cap not venting, I have known this a couple of times, it stops fuel flow.

 

Was the cap easy or hard in coming off the filler neck. I remember once I had one, there was so much suction, I could not turn the key in the lock

 

Worth a try

[MatthewsDad]

Is any fuel getting to the throttle body?

Possible particle contamination in throttle body as above. You could check condition of gaskets at the same time (mine had disintegrated). They're currently available online and cost a few quid.

Finally you suggest the fuel filter might need replacing - how old is it? They can get pretty contaminated.

[viz139]

A clogged filter will usually reduse power gradually over time. The fuel tank vents through the charcoal canister not the filler cap.

The Inertia switch is known to fail intermittently before total failure.Bypassing it is an easy test. The injector may be failing or clogged, remove the air filter  and have somebody crank the engine, you should see fuel hitting the butterfly in the throttle body.

[MiniMadRacer]

A moot point now, but running any car out of fuel so it sucks up the concentrated "crap" out of the bottom of the tank is never a good idea. Obviously running a tank low doesnt add any more crud to the petrol but it does concentrate the crud, and can easily block pipes, pumps and / or filters, whereas it would normally be dispersed enough in the fuel to not do that.

 

As the other gys have all intimated above, I would susect a blockage somehwhere in the line... maybe take the fuelline off and blow an air line (carefully) fom the injector end back to the tank end as a temporary check / fix.

[GraemeC]

When you had fuel brought out to you, just how much did you put in?  Did you then top it up further to a sensible amount?

A fiver's worth of fuel is only about 3.5 litres - that would soon start to run out again.

[bpirie1000]

Also worth checking what kind of fuel.
The new fuel will eat the rubber hoses or a classic alot quicker than the old 4* fuel ever would...

That 4* fuel could be kept for a year and still be fine.. fuel these days goes off in weeks/months...

[mark the diver]

Just a quick update. I took fuel delivery line off throttle body and got really good fuel flow, blanked end of pipe and could hear pump noise change and the pressure increased, so fairly sure the fuel supply is good. Fuel filter is also new. Tried starting and fired up straight away, ticks over lovely but really struggles to rev up, lots of coughing and spluttering before finely reving nicely. Got a nice healthy spark at all plugs and what appears to be good fuel supply but no power, at a bit of a loss, and ideas gratfully received.

[minimat]

Sounds like it could be ignition coil, they fail when they get hot especially if its a lucas one.

[mark the diver]

Think I might have found the issue. Replaced the coil with another new one, everything worked fine, tick over smooth and drove great through all the gears, except the tacho wasn't working. Found that I had forgot to recconect the tacho trigger wire to the coil negative, once the wire was recconected the tacho worked and the car would tick over but not rev up. Remove tacho wire and everything back to normal. Guess there must be a short somewhere in the tacho wiring.

[xrocketengineer]

Before blaming the tachometer, I would clean all the earth points on the engine steady and the gusset by the brake servo. Then try the tachometer again.