Irish Mini Owners Club

Was driving along the M50 today when the car lost power, its a 1990 998cc.

Got it home and had no spark at the plugs.
Checked the points on the distributor and nothing.

Checked the 4 inline fuses at the bulkhead and one was gone, it has a white white going
out the the front end and this was attached to the resistive wire to the coil pack.
Even without this i still have power going to the coil (resistive wire)

When I checked the lead going from the coil to the distributor cap theres nothing.

Has my coil burnt out?
Can I replace this with a universal coil?

Another idea's what the problem maybe?

Assuming the car is an unmodified 1990 998cc, The car is fitted with a ballast coil ( no coil pack) .There should be 2cables on the coil+ , white/yellow from the solinoid for starting and pink/white resistive cable from the ignition switch. There are no fuses on the ignition circuit.
Put a voltmeter or testlamp accross the coil and turn over the engine, you should get a flickering 12volts as the points open and close, if not check the points as they would be the most likly problem.

i replaced the points 2 weeks ago i've no power coming out of the coil to them

If the points are closed or shorted out there will be no voltage on the coil -. With a multimeter you can measure the resistance of the coil or with a test lamp you can with the wire to the dizzy disconnected and the ingnition on check for 12v at the coil + and then at the coil -. If both are 12v then coil is ok. If the car was running ok before then the fact that the points are only 2 weeks old would make me look there.What else did you replace?

A simple test is to take the centre HT lead off the distributor ( the one that comes from the coil). Stick a spark plug into this lead and use a vice-grips to attach it to one of the head stud nuts.
Now turn the engine over with the key....if the plug sparks, then it's probably your newly-fitted points that are causing the problem, if not then your coil probably needs changing.

Think you may be mixing up points and rotor.

Think you may be right there Woody...
This is what happens when you try to work and surf and the same time.

got it sorted, it was the coil, decided to pack it in.

Thanks for the help lads

I stand corrected, well done.