Stuart McLelland writes:
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Hi,
I was wondering if anyone may be able to help with an intermittant
fault with my Dolomite Sprint that's starting to get a bit annoying.
Periodically, the engine will cut-out. When it happens the revs will
suddenly drop 0 and then increase before dropping to zero again -
this will continue until the engine stalls but it's normally quicker
to switch the engine off. Usually it will restart and behave normally
if it's left to rest for 30 secs.
The car has had electronic ignition fitted (by the previous owner).
I've recently changed the coil and the battery is also new. The
starter motor sticks sometimes, but I assume that is not related.
Other than that I don't really know where to start. If it's the
electronic ignition can this be repaired or would I need to buy a
complete new unit? The only other part of the ignition system I think
might be at fault is the plug leads - but the replacement is costly
so I don't want to go ahead unless it's likely to be the casue of the
problem.
Thanks for any help
Stuart
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Stuart,
Does the tach drop to zero even though the engone is still turning?
If so then it sounds like you are loosing the ignition firing pulses to
the coil (and the tach). It could be the electronic ignition system
(either the control or the pickup in the distributor) or it could be the
ignition switch contacts are becoming intermittent. This happened
to me on my TR6. A new switch fixed that.
When this happens, does anything else stop working? What type
of timing pick up is there in the dizzy? Is it properly positioned?
There are a few possibilities. The hard part is eliminating the
impossible leaving the real culprit. Sherlock Holms said something
like that.
Dave Massey
St. Louis, MO USA
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