12 replies to this topic

[Bass Man]

My daughters Mini broke down yesterday, that'll teach me to say how good it is running!!

Any help will be appreciated.

Symptoms were

Running fine, started missing then just stopped, would start but not rev and back fired a bit. Called AA(!) and checked fuel, points gap etc. He took everything off, put it back no difference, changed the timing and it started running, albeit C**p. I took it home, stuck the timing light on it and it was running fine.

Took it out for a run, all OK, got the same distance from the house and it stopped again!! I pulled off the vacum and started, put it back and started it and it was fine, run for about 2 miles and stopped again! Nothing would get it going then!!

So, what d'you reckon? It has new plugs, points, leads, rotor arm, dist cap and condensor. I suspect it might be the condensor, I am going to change that this evening. It could be the coil, how do I test that?

All help appreciated, my daghter has been looking forward to L2B for months!!

[t@z]

mine used to misfire lots, burn't value and head gasket..

ti used to sputter, never seem right on the fueling

[Retro_10s]

Coil breaking down?

[Bass Man]

Head recently overhauled and compression is good

Coil is a definite possibility, how do I test it?

[benpopham]

mine did exactly that... and i changed the coil and worked fine, just change it, a sports coil is about £15

[Jammy]

Whats the year of your car? Electronic ignition?

I would suspect the coil too. Do you know how to test for a spark (ie. take the HT lead of each spark plug in turn, rest it against the block and turn the engine over, where gloves to stop you getting fried!)?

If you getting a spark check for fuel, take each spark plug out and make sure you can smell or see petrol on the end after turning it over. No fuel, I'd suspect blocked or stuck float chamber.

If you seem to be getting fuel, I'd go back to changing the coil and seeing what difference that makes.

[Guess-Works.com]

Blockage in fuel delivery..

Will it idle for a while without issue... if so what's happening is the fuel in the float bowl is being used up and the car stops... when you start the car again at idle the bowl fills up again and off you go..

[Bass Man]

Blockage in fuel delivery..

Will it idle for a while without issue... if so what's happening is the fuel in the float bowl is being used up and the car stops... when you start the car again at idle the bowl fills up again and off you go..

That sounds like a possibility, 'specially with it failing at almost the exact same spot......

Could that be the float sticking?

I'll check this first.

[Guess-Works.com]

It happened to me a while back.. the cause was a kink in the fuel pipe...

It would just let enough fuel to keep the float bowl topped up at idle, but driving it, a couple of miles down the road it'd basically run out of petrol... you'd crank it over on the starter a couple of times and it'd fire up ok as if nothing was wrong... and then a couple of miles later... chugga chugga pop..

If the bowl was sticking shut then you would not get the restart, if it was sticking open, you'd get fuel pouring out the overflow...

The other option would be the fuel pump may be perforated... if your oil smells of petro then this is a possibility..

[Bass Man]

It happened to me a while back.. the cause was a kink in the fuel pipe...

It would just let enough fuel to keep the float bowl topped up at idle, but driving it, a couple of miles down the road it'd basically run out of petrol... you'd crank it over on the starter a couple of times and it'd fire up ok as if nothing was wrong... and then a couple of miles later... chugga chugga pop..

If the bowl was sticking shut then you would not get the restart, if it was sticking open, you'd get fuel pouring out the overflow...

The other option would be the fuel pump may be perforated... if your oil smells of petro then this is a possibility..

The pump is pushing out plenty of fuel, so I don't think it will be that. I will take the float bowl apart and see. The pump is only a few months old as well!

I probably won't be able to get a coil to change tonight, one thing though, how do I tell if I have a Ballast type, they are both listed for my year!

Oh and Jammy, it is '83, no Electronic.

[supermotolee]

check the breather off the carb i had this problem were it would run for so long then stop and it was the float bowl breather pipe i took it off and it ran fine, when i blew through the pipe it was just bunged up its a metal pipe that bolts onto the clutch housing

[Dan]

And it's an overflow, not a breather.

If the coil is fed by a pair of wires to the positive terminal, one very thick pink/white wire and one thin white/yellow wire then it is ballasted. If it is simply fed by a normal white cable then it is not. Ballast came in during '84 so your car shouldn't be, but BL were very good at messing up specification changeovers.

It does sound like what I have experienced with coils in the past, but as John says there can be intermittant fuel faults. Intermittant faults are such a pain in the a***.

[Bass Man]

Thanks for the help, it was the condensor!

I cleaned the float chamber and no joy, checked the spark and it was a bit weak, replaced the condensor and it started running with only two plugs connected! Plugged everything back any it fired up lovely.

I have a coil and another condensor in the boot now just in case!!

One other thing, everything back on and the r/h front indicator wasn't working, I waggled the connections a bit and it started, last time I did anything it was the horn did the same thing! Worried , Me?