On Aug 6, 2006, at 12:15 PM, Kristi & Lambert wrote:
> Well once again Lambert and I are having problems with Mini Lee
> ('74 Midget). We were driving her on Wednesday and when I got on
> the highway she basically cut out on me. The tach went from about
> 3000 RPM's to 1000 then back up to 3000 then back down. I pulled
> over and with in a couple of seconds of me pulling over she died.
> Of course we then tried to figure out what had happened. I was not
> out of gas, the car was not overheating despite the almost 100
> degree weather. She just won't start. We thought maybe she had
> gotten vapor locked but after letting her sit and then trying to
> start her with the fuel cap off and the next day she still will not
> start. We have since had her towed home again, changed the fuel
> filter, changed the negative battery cable (started to smoke a
> little this morning while trying to start the car), checked the
> coil, checked the distributor (found a cable that was at one time
> soldered into place (ground wire) fixed that. We had a hard time
> trying to check and make sure we had spark at the plugs since the
> new cables have long caps on them we can not pull the wire and see
> the spark. We are lost. The points and everything in the
> distributor look fine, the plugs look fine, the fuel filter is new
> and seems to be working fine, fuel pump is working. Any thoughts?
OK,
I think you will find it in the Dizzy.
First see if the dizzy popped out of the clamp. When this happens
the dizzy moves up just far enough for the gear at the bottom of the
dizzy to not engage and the rotor in the cap does not turn). Thus no
spark to the plugs. I've seen this happen more than once.
If the dizzy is still in place and the rotor in the dizzy turns then;
Check for spark at the points by taking the dizzy cap off and (while
someone turns the key to start the engine) you watch for spark at the
points. If you have spark at the points and not at the plugs then
the rotor or cap is bad. If you have no spark at the points,
install "known good" points and condenser and check all the
connections to the coil and the dizzy. Check for spark at the points
again.
You can call if you need more help.
Kev
|