Morris Minor Owners Club

hi all,

having some issues (predictably!) on fitting my new accuspark electronic dizzy.

i finally had a chance to fit the dizzy this morning, connecting the short black lead to the lead that was coming out of the wiring loom to the outside of the old dizzy and the red wire to the + terminal on the coil.

i've also checked that the rotor arm is pointing to spark plug one when the cylinder closest to the rad is at TDC (checked using a straw with the spark plug out).

when i try and start the engine, nothing seems to happen. i haven;t had a chance to check if there's sparks coming out of the leads and king lead (although would be weird if this suddenly didnt work given it has nothing to do with the dizzy) and will try tomorrow am.

is there something major I'm missing - there isnt even a sign of life when i try and start which makes me think something is fundamentally wrong!

You could be 180 degrees out , that is you think you are tdc (compresion stroke ) , but you may be on the exhaust stroke . But I think you should check for a spark.

When I fitted mine I was surprised how much I had to alter the timing. Give it a big turn anti-clockwise (20 degrees) and see if it makes any difference, if it doesn't start take it back a touch, then when it does eventually fire up advance or retard to get the smoothest idle.

Thanks both, will give it a try tomorrow. This K you might be on to something about being 180 out - will crank round again and retry.

I hope I don't have to retard too far, having fitted an oil pressure gauge, the oil warning light sender is blocking the in the way of the vacuum unit meaning i cant rotate very far back. Hope it doesn't come to that though!

Yep exactly the same as me, I ended up with the vac advance touching the oil pressure switch to get the timing right. I did have to move the leads round one position so the vac advance was at the rear of the oil connections.
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well i got out this morning and it's good and bad news. to kill two birds with one stone i put the old dizzy back in and it started first time, so thankfully not 180 out and has good spark.

i guess the bad news is that the electronic one doesn't appear to be working - i tried retarding (a lot!) and advancing (also alot!) and no sign of life at all. off to accuspark to ask what's going on! could it be that whats labelled as the + terminal on my coil has actually been wired as negative at some point and the things a gonner? (my car is definitely negative earth)

problem is that i've bought the new electronic dizzy as the vac advance on my old points is busted. stuck between going for a new points dizzy or just buying a new vac advance (if accuspark dont come good)

That looks like the exact dizzy I just fitted, and the vacuum take-off on mine points up. It looks like yours is rotated 90 degrees too far anti-clockwise. It may not matter if the firing order is the same, but as you say you've cheated yourself out of easier adjustment!

Did you try what Panky suggested? I fitted one to my Wolseley Six (albeit the points version) and had exactly the same issue as he described and I had to move the leads round one position in order to be able to get enough adjustment. You should try that before you send it back.

sure did, and unfortunately that didn't help either - tried advancing just as much but nothing... have called accuspark and they agreed that it sounds faulty - sending back with a freepost label tomorrow

Monty-4 wrote:That looks like the exact dizzy I just fitted, and the vacuum take-off on mine points up. It looks like yours is rotated 90 degrees too far anti-clockwise. It may not matter if the firing order is the same, but as you say you've cheated yourself out of easier adjustment!

I tried it by moving the leads 90 degrees clockwise but the vac unit hit the switch from the other side so couldn't get enough advance This was the only way I could get it to run right without removing the oil pressure T piece, the timing seems spot on where it is though.

dudload wrote:sure did, and unfortunately that didn't help either - tried advancing just as much but nothing... have called accuspark and they agreed that it sounds faulty - sending back with a freepost label tomorrow

Good luck

maybe a little more good news - at cold the oil pressure gauge is reading 55-60, so hopefully that means the engine is in fairly decent nick!?

will need to get out at a 50mph hot run at some point to test it out

It should read 70psi when cold.....But as you say - the hot pressure is what counts - should be at least 50psi at 50 mph in top gear,

Did you check for a spark at the plugs ?

I did put it back on, not a jot from the plug. Hopefully just a faulty unit.

Will post when I have either a new unit or a hot oil pressure

Seems to me you haven't given this dizzy a fair trial, most unlikely it is faulty - unless it has been wired up incorrectly. It is obviously installed incorrectly - the vacuum advance unit should normally stand pretty much vertically. You probably need to reset the drive shaft inside the engine - from the camshaft, and then install the dizzy with the rotor arm pointing at the HT connection going to #1 plug when #1 piston is at TDC with both valves closed. Only then can the engine hope to run.

got some news - accuspark have sent a new one as the old one was faulty. thank goodness for that! hopefully replacement will arrive today and i'll be able to test over the weekend!

good news! fitted the new repaired dizzy and it worked first time!! seems to tick over better, but may my imagination (checked before installed and the rotor was in the exact same position as the old with the dog in the same place)

now to take it out for a run and see if that's solved the loss of power at high(er) speeds

Excellent. I noticed the difference straight away, smoother running all round and seemed to have a bit more torque.

I also noticed a difference after fitting mine. I reckon it's due to the new vacuum and mechanical advance mechanisms rather than the fact that it's electronic.