Morris Minor Owners Club

Help please!

I live in Churchdown (between Cheltenham and Gloucester), and own a 1967 Morris Minor 1000 (called Molly). She's covered roughly 68,000 miles since then, and I've spent lots of money restoring her. She used to belong to my Grandfather and I acquired her just over 2 years ago. I've spent thousands on restoration work:
All 4 x corner wings, Valves on the engine converted, Alternator, Halogens.. the list goes on.

Since December last year, she's started to play up. I've replaced the fuel pump, points, condenser, rotor arm, distributor cap, alternator (again!), alternator belt, coil (x2!), carburettor, air filter, had a fuel filter installed, spark plugs, leads replaced. For the last month or so, she's been stuttering. She starts OK, but when I move/drive, she stutters. This is not doing any particular speed, neither is it any particular gear, and it can happen anytime (when the engine is cold/and even after driving to town). She stutters and lurches forward. Almost feels like fuel starvation. I took her to my usual garage in Cheltenham as they know her pretty well. But even they were stumped. They checked fuel lines, fuel filter, cleaned out dash pot, checked the carburettor and looked for any possible leaks but couldn't find any. Checked the battery and all of the ignition side too (points/condenser/rotor arm) etc. They also adjusted idle speed and mixture. As well as stuttering, she was also cutting out. I would come up to a set of lights/roundabout and slow down, and she would cut out (whilst still moving). I would have to try and juggle both the accelerator and the brake. 9 out of 10 times after she cut out, I would turn the key and she would instantly start up again, but it wouldn't sound good. I'd also have to put my foot on the accelerator too and keep revving lightly whilst stationery. They called me up to say they had sorted it. I asked them to get her running and to leave her idling for 10 minutes. She cut out after 3. The garage in Cheltenham really has no idea anymore as to what it is. I have a mechanic friend who ruled out debris in the tank. He hooked up a hose and a jerry can and he drove around the village (with fresh fuel) and she still cut out and still stuttered. He pulled over and adjusted the idle speed and mixture again, and let her idle for 10 minutes. She didn't cut out, but on a few occasions she would start to sound as though she were about to cut out (I believe they call this "hunting"). After 10 minutes, I put my foot down on the clutch, and she almost immediately cut out. I got her going again, and took her for a drive. She stuttered off the drive way. Cut out out at the lights and then at the roundabout. There were a couple of loud pops (sounded like something exploding) when I drove back home, only doing about 50mph. Had to limp her back up the hill (which she didn't like). She stuttered and cut out again another 4-5 times. She really didn't sound very good.

Any ideas? I'm really puzzled. I'm not mechanically minded, but for work purposes, I would be looking to sort her now, and to move onto a car that I can rely on, on a daily basis. I absolutely love Molly, and would hate to have to let her go. Is there anybody in the Cheltenham or Gloucester (Staverton) area that knows a lot about these sort of cars that might be happy to have a look?

Thank You All in Advance

Joel Oakes[frame][/frame]

this might sound silly but what type of oil have you got in the carb dash pot i am wondering if the oil in there is too thick , might be worth taking off the dashpot draining the oil and refill with 3in1

there is a batch of dodgy condeners around and rotor arms get a red one . you have had a lot replaced , are the connections to the coil tight . i went to electronic ignition 10 years ago never regretted it accuspark do a good replacement dizzy for £60 .

With all your tests etc - and the backfiring -this IS an ignition problem -assuming the engine is generally in decent condition. It would help if you had compression readings to show us. I would again check the points/condenser/rotor arm etc. A complete spare dizzy is really handy here - you stick it in and if the problem disappears - at least you know where the problem lies. Perhaps you should consider a 45D dizzy from Accuspark or SimonBBC - not expensive - everything is 'new' and seem to get great reports. Here you go.... http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mini-AccuSpar ... 2a1c3ebc06

I'm not entirely sure what type of oil I have in the dash pot. The carburettor was replaced about 2 months ago and was topped up with fresh oil and ran OK for a month. Then it started stuttering. I'll check and replace the oil just to make sure though, and to rule that out. With regards to the rotor arm, I replaced it with a brand new one (not a Red one though) about a week ago, and it made no difference. Surely, a brand new one wouldn't show symptoms straight away, should it?

Thank you for replying to my post! I'm very impressed with the Morris Minor Community and Support!

Try the Accuspark 45D... it's well worth that money! I doubt it's the carb - but a few cc of engine oil in it will do no harm.

I recently suffered similar issues with a "new" condensor so I ordered a replacement one from here, http://www.distributordoctor.com/distri ... ensers.htm
The difference in quality is obvious and it cured my problem.

It could of course simply be a bad/loose connection. maybe run a straight wire from battery to coil - and a jumper from coil to dizzy - for a test run to see if by any chance the problem disappears! And while I say 'It's NEVER the coil' - this only holds for good/old/original coils. If you have fitted something modern...... go back to the original coil if you still have it!

It may also be useful - in ruling something out - to run the engine after dark and look under the bonnet for any wayward sparks or flashes indicating loose connections and/or short circuiting.

Hi have you considered the ignition switch might be loose or worn , or a loose wire

Thanks for your posts. The garage that has her now, has changed both the coil with one that works, and a new condenser, and the problem still persists. They've also checked to see whether there are any visible sparks whilst in a dark room, and still to no avail, the problem persists...

2nd vote for trying a new or known good dissy/leads complete.

Taupe

It's NEVER the coil !! Put the old one back on the car. Have you ordered the new dizzy? It IS the answer - and a LOT less expensive than garage bills - especially when they don't know what they are doing......

I've just spoken to the garage, and they are going to try a distributor that they know works. It'll arrive Wednesday, and they're hoping that will sort it. Thanks!

there's a very slim chance that it's an intermittent open circuit in the circuit to the points.
That sounds like one of the few things that you've not checked!! Using a live (not even a switched live) straight to points would rule it out.

Your symptoms don't sound like fuel - however it IS possible (but rare) to get similar symptoms from a fuel issue.

Where are the 'garage' going to get a known working dizzy? Did you ask them to fit an Accuspark 45D??

Hello wonderful people! I've just called the garage, and they have fitted a new working distributor. The symptoms are still present. The distributor they tried, came straight out of another working classic car. I can't remember what he said it was, but the engine and everything under the bonnet, is almost identical to everything under the bonnet of a Morris, except that the wipers ran on a mechanical system as opposed to the Morris' electric system (or something like that - not sure if you know what I mean!) I'm not sure whether it was an Accuspark 45D..

The garage plans to hook up fresh fuel tomorrow (in a jerry can I suppose), and to bypass the recently brand new electric fuel pump, hoping that on the off chance, it might be a faulty fuel pump.

I don't suppose anybody has any other ideas as to what could be causing all this trouble?

I think he said it came out of an A30/A35? Would that sound about right? If not, I might've got the car muddled, as I can't quite remember!

If the dizzy made no difference - tell them to put the original back in. Seems they are 'shooting in the dark' - it hardly needs any 'rigging up' to test for fuel delivery.....just get the pimp to deliver a couple of pints into a can and measure how long that takes.....

Thanks for all of your suggestions! The garage tried another distributor, and that seems to have sorted things! A brand new one was ordered and fitted last Friday and she runs perfectly now.