Irish Mini Owners Club

Had a great day there Sunday but the mini just wasn't right. First off it took several attempts to start it that morning, now I just thought it was a result of the frosty morning. Got to Dromod ok but when I went to restart it didn't rev normally it was very stuttery it was like this for a good bit of the day. Come Monday morning and nothing it will just turn and turn but just won't catch.
Thoughts?
And it’s a 1.3 spi
John

press the fuel cut off button its on the right hand side of the engine. also remove the air box and check the black and red pipes that go to the air box/inlet manifold there known for breaking and causing havoc with the engine

checked the fuil cut off not it, pluss i have a induction kit on mine and the pipes are all connected

broken or cracked vacum pipes won't prevent it starting... the SPi has a coil, check the condition of that, sounds very much like mine as the coil died over a few weeks.

My thoughts were of an electrical problem I’ll look around the coil, plugs ect but electrics are a bit out of my field of expertise

Right finally got at the mini this morning, first off had a look around to see that all wires etc were connected and they were, so i thought I'd try and start it, knowing that the battery would be fairly dead after trying to start it last Monday i hooked it to another car, turned the key and after 3 or 4 seconds of turning it fired. then i went to give it a short spin to see how it was, it conked (my fault) went to start it again it did start but at a struggle, had to keep the accelerator pressed full and again took several seconds to start. After the spin it starts normal. but it think this is because the engine was warm. going to leave it now and try it again this evening to see.
Dose this still sound like its the coil?
John

yes. check the resistance in the low tension and high tension side. i havent the numbers to hand could also be damp in the distro-cap?

From the sound of it last Sunday I would check the dizzy cap as well.

tried it this evening started ok but after a short bit the revs dipped a few times then it died and refused to start after that, battery gone flat now from trying to start it. looked at the dizzy before christmas and cleaned off the white corrosion that builds up but i'll look at it again. i don't have multi meter now but i can get my hands on one. Which is the low tension and high tension ?
thanks guys

low tension is where the spade connectors go, marked + and -
the resistance for post 1990 cars with the GLC 143 coil should be between .070 and .085 ohms
also,
from haynes:
Is the resistance between the ignition coil “+” and HT terminal between 5.0 and 15.0 kohms?
Yes: Proceed to Test 5 or No: Renew the ignition coil

the HT terminal is where the spark comes out!

Right finally got some time to poke around the mini and this is what i found



No water here but it could have dried off
these are the readings i got first the LT to HT


And between the +&-


i put up images so ye could see what i was at
So from what you can see above is it the coil that is at fault?
John

Fair play lads, its fair to say that its the interest and enthusiasm of the people on ths forum that makes it as good as it is, great photos

well i thought i'd put up pics so people can see what we are talking about
also so they can point out where i went wrong

that's a pretty worn dizzy cap.

check to see if your getting a strong spark to the plugs??
take of one of the leads put an old spark plug in the lead hold it on the cylinder head, crank over the engine and see is there a spark at the end of the plug, stick a bolt in it if ya cant find an old spark plug..
theres a few lads in sligo with same year minis, borrow there coil and try???

steven

just_st3v3n wrote: theres a few lads in sligo with same year minis, borrow there coil and try???

true, i'm in sligo and i'v got a 1275 spi. willing to help if ya need it

Thanks lads but I'm not in Sligo at the moment out in the wilds of Letterfrack the only other mini out here is a mpi. I did the old trick of holding the lead just off the plug last time I checked and it sounded fine but I’ll give your way a go. I still should get a spark while just turning with the starter motor?
Can anyone tell me if the readings are ok for the coil?
According to Keith the LT to HT is ok but a little low but the + to - is nowhere near or is it me?
John

looking at the pics (great pics) the terminals for the LT seem pretty rusty... i'd be inclined to unbolt the terminals and apply a rotating wire brush to all that, getting it back to shiny clean metal again. then vaseline it and make the connections again.

Neil also made a very valid point: the distributor cap is well tired: at the very least it should be spotlessly clean and dry inside. likewise the rotor arm.

reading through your description again, it seems to run worse/not start when warm. it could be the coil is failing due to heat? does it get hot when running? normally they should get warm, but mine when i changed it now gets *really* hot and im convinced its not correct. it was an "intermotor" part from the fine folks in Rathgar.

If you can borrow *any* coil that has similar properties, voltage and resistance, and try that.

Thanks Keith I’ll give the terminals a good cleaning and see. And it’s the other way round it will start again when its warm almost the first shot of the key. TMG is right inside the cap is looking sorry I'll give that a good clean put it back on and seal it with Vaseline and see how that goes may need to replace it (hope not)
I finish early tomorrow so i will be able to give it a good bash
They are good pic considering i took them with a phone
John

The terminals inside the cap look too worn to me, best to replace.

TMG i agree with ya on this one. Also went to work at the coil as kieth sujested and well.......

Started to fall apart and I barely touched it
so i think i need a new one
http://www.irishminis.ie/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=4640

dont be too upset if you cant get a distro cap initially.. a good coil will overcome most poor distro caps.. as long as the cap & terminals are clean and dry. my coil last year cost me about €20 at a motor factors.

Thanks Keith I'll check the local one here. something tells me i'll have to order it in not many minis this far west

It lives!!! ........ well kinda
I was in Galway and said to myself why bother going to an auto factors I'll pop into Ray in Galway mini centre and pick up the coil there. He asked me why I wanted the coil for so I told him my story, and he said it’s not the coil, so he said he would have a look at it. Got it down to him last Friday and he got back to me today. TMG you where right dis. cap and rotary arm needed to be replaced and it could do with a new coil but the one that’s on it, is working. So as I said it's alive...kinda, I asked Ray to give it the once over and ..... Front driver’s wheel has an inch of play, cause: spacer in the hub damaged and worn, bearing worn. Bearing in passenger’s wheel also. Ball joints have never been changed so they need doing. Front drop shaped mounts on the sub frame have come off....again turns out I need extra spacers.
So I’m on beans on toast for the next while
John

*happy grin*