Morris Minor Owners Club

right in this topic http://www.morrisminoroc.co.uk/index.ph ... pic&t=3892 I said I broke down, after the garage did some testing, they told me that it was the electronic ignition that failed.

I am going to covertit back to points, I have put them back in, with a new rotor arm and condenser, and its still not starting

anything else I have missed out, the points are opening and closing, so they are working!

Have you checked for a spark at the plugs and points, and have you put the points in and gapped them correctly, and does the fuel pump tick as it should.

Have you got the wires to the points ,the right way on the insulators?

Have you checked for a spark at the plugs

You need to check that before thinking of anything else!

If you have no spark then it's best to go about the rest of the stuff logicaly. There's 5 quick things to check, and can be done in barely a few minutes once you are used to it.
(It's handy to have a voltmeter, but just a bulb + some wires will do. Use a fuse to be safe with the wires)

[Assuming negative earth, and ignition on, and no spark]
Disconnect the wire from the distributor and put some tape over it if it is unsheathed.
1) connect a bulb from the +ve of the battery to the dizzy conector. Turn the engine over slowly with the starting handle. The bulb should go on and off, or if you use a voltmeter it should go 12v / 0v
If it stays on you connected the points plastic washers / wires wrongly.
If the bulb wont come on, then you have a missing connection / broken wire.

If that works correctly (on/off as you turn the engine round):
2)Are you getting 12V to the coil? (measured between to feed to the coil and earth)
If not then the ignition circuit is faulty (broken wire / loose connection / faulty ignition switch)

If you are getting volts on the feed wire:
3) Are you getting volts through the coil to the other coil terminal?
If not then the coil has probably failed

If you get volts on the other coil terminal:
4)Do you get volts at the end of the wire you disconnected from the dizzy?
If not then its a broken wire between the coil and the dizzy.

If all that works,
5) put it back together, connect the wire back onto the dizzy and connect a spark plug lead directly to the coil, if that works then it is a faulty King lead / rotor arm or dizzy cap.

On the other hand - if you do get a spark - AND you have set the ignition timing withing half a mile, then don't be too pleased. The ignition/spark side is relatively easily fixed. The other stuff can be harder depending on what it is.

ok, the problem was the coil was bust!

it now starts, but is running really auful, I think the timing must be out, any tips on how to do it? and is the dwell angel meant to be 60?

no idea what the dwell angle should be - if the points are set to the correct gap then I don't see there is much else to do, apart from set the timing.
The big pointer on the timing chain cover is TDC (top dead centre) the other 2 are
5° Before TDC
10° BTDC

The simplest way is to turn the engine with the starting handle until the tiny mark on the pully lines up with the 5° BTDC mark. If you go past it, go round again, otherwise you will have an error due to backlash.
Then using a bulb from 12v to the dizzy connector, with the ignition on, move the complete dizzy until the bulb is close to going off / coming on. Then turn the adjuster towards 'R' (retard) then back to 'A' (advance) until you get the light flickering.

5 degrees is a good start and it should not give any bad running - Other people will use slightly different settings due to personal preference, fuel octane etc.. and knocking. At this stage it's best just to keep it simple so 5 will be fine.
When all the running problems are gone, then worry about fine adjustment if you want to.

Thanks Ray,

thats exctaly what I did this afternoon and she is running (almost) sweet again

So Paul was the electronic ignition at fault as well as the coil ?

yeah, both the coil and electronic ignition were at fault

its now got a coil from my Dads MGB in it

123_Paul,
I have no idea about MGB's but some BMC cars had 6volt coils.
They will work fine in a Minor until they burn out in a few weeks.....
It's worth checking, or if it is a temporary measure and you're going to put it back on the MGB make sure you get a Minor one ASAP...

Although someone will probably know more about MGB's and whether they are 12v or 6v coils

I know MGB's use 2 six volt batteries.......

MGBs were all 12 volt. The early ones had two 6 volt batteries but they were connected in series to give 12 volts.

its a 12v coil, a lotus high performace one = its not made my minor go any faster tho ;)