It was a georgeous Saturday morning and I was returning from a few errands
with
my hood down and a flat of impatiens in my trunk, thinking about how good
they
were going to look in the front window box. As I was pulling away from a
light on
Sunrise Highway, the engine simply cut out. With all of the traffic noise,
it took a minute
or for me decide if it was the throttle cable or if the engine had indeed
died.
As luck would have it, it was the latter so I pulled over to the shoulder and
raised the
bonnet to diagnose the problem.
I checked the spark first since I have an aversion to making sparks in the
engine compartment after I have spilled fuel. Checking the fuel turned out
to be
unnecessary as there was absolutely no spark.
I walked back to the intersection and called AAA, first time in the 2 1/2
years I have
owned the car that I have had to have it towed. When I got the car home I
checked it
quickly and verified that the problem was, indeed the ignition system, and
assuming
that the original Lucas electronic system had expired, I called Moss and
ordered
the Crane system. Then I hurried off to watch my son's tennis match.
While watching the match, I started thinking about the entire problem. While
checking out the system I had performed two tests:
1. Verified that I had voltage on both sides of the coil. (Passed)
2. Checked continuity across the two wires which lead from the control
module
(external) to the distributor. (Failed).
While I did not know much about the theory of operation of a Lucas electronic
ignition, I did know that the two wires leading into the distributor went to
a coil of
some sort. There should have been continuity there. I resolved to check for
obvious problems when I got home.
The problem was obvious, a broken wire between the strain relief grommet and
the pickup coil. (I had already removed the distributor to verify the part
number
in case I needed that information to order the Crane Ignition system).
Fixing the
problem was a simple matter of removing the plastic sheild which protects
these
wires and soldering in a short length of wire. I replaced the distributor,
and the
car started immediately. I short test drive, however, revealed a noticable
miss
under heavy acceleration, so I let my order for the new system stand. Since
the
wire from the grommet to the coil has to flex with the vacuum advance I was a
bit
uncomfortable with the way the solder had stiffened it. I assumed that the
miss
had something to do with that.
The Crane Ignition system arrived on Tuesday, but I was unable to work on it
untill after 10:30 at night because my daughter had a track meet and a
band concert. In any event, I worked until a bit past midnight and got all
the
stuff that goes into the distributor in its proper place and installed the
distributor.
Tonight after work, I mounted the control unit on a bare spot on the inside
of the
right wing connected the wiring as per the diagrams, and tried to start the
car.
Nothing!!!. I rechecked the wiring, checking for voltage at the coil and
voltage
on the leads coming out of the control module. There was voltage between the
black and white leads which, I assume is supposed to drive the LED on the
pickup unit. I could not see any light coming from the pickup unit, however.
In any event, I removed all of the Crane stuff from the car and replaced the
original
pickup coil in the distributor, taking pains to arrange the wires so that the
base plate could still rotate with the vacuum advance. The entire process
probably
took less than 15 minutes.
The car started immediately and, on a short test drive up to the grocery
store
and back by way of the parkway, ran better than it did before last Saturday
(Might have been that it just felt better to me after driving the Oldsmobile
for
two days or perhaps the MG was just glad to get out of the garage.) In any
event
I will be running with the original reliable ;-) (I have always wanted an
excuse to use
one of those icons) Lucas Ignition System until I get the problem with the
Crane
System sorted out. Hope that I have not spoken too soon.
Peter Schauss
1980 MGB
email: pschauss@aol.com
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