Morris Minor Owners Club

My recently acquired Traveller started fine and ran well but the circuit controlling wipers, heater and flashers didn't work. It appeared that the fuse box connections needed a good spray and fine emery! They now work fine ! Great !! ( thanks Simmitc!)

Alas the engine no longer works!! no spark at plugs so checked out the connections to the coil. Started with the 3 white cables coming to the fuse box.
The one from the ignition switch worked fine when the switch was switched on. I identified the one which goes to the fuel pump and that was fine ( and the pump did the odd click.
So according to the wiring diagram the remaining white cable ]should be the one to the coil ? this is where the plot thickened; there is no sign of any power getting to the coil and the coil set up is not what I am familiar with on older cars ( it could be some kind of electronic ignition I guess) . There were in fact 2 white leads going to the coil both from a gadget on the side of the distributor In addition there is a blue/black lead going from that gadget to the coil terminal marked +ive
BA ( the other terminal is marked - ive and has just the single white lead going to it) The coils +ive terminal also has a lead going to a condenser.
The basic problem would seem to be that there is no power getting to the coil I'm guessing that the distributer has been 'converted' and that the coils power now should come from the blue black lead via the gadget on the side of the distributer. (or perhaps the white lead from that same gadget?).
I will be most grateful for any advice on this!!

PeterCat wrote: ↑Sat Apr 11, 2026 11:04 am
So according to the wiring diagram the remaining white cable ]should be the one to the coil ? this is where the plot thickened; there is no sign of any power getting to the coil and the coil set up is not what I am familiar with on older cars ( it could be some kind of electronic ignition I guess) . There were in fact 2 white leads going to the coil both from a gadget on the side of the distributor In addition there is a blue/black lead going from that gadget to the coil terminal marked +ive
BA ( the other terminal is marked - ive and has just the single white lead going to it) The coils +ive terminal also has a lead going to a condenser.
The basic problem would seem to be that there is no power getting to the coil I'm guessing that the distributer has been 'converted' and that the coils power now should come from the blue black lead via the gadget on the side of the distributer. (or perhaps the white lead from that same gadget?).
I will be most grateful for any advice on this!!

All that is non standard.
It sounds as though you have some 1970s/80s aftermarket electronic conversion, of which there were a plethora in that era, even DIY build following instructions in car magazines.....

Much more information is required to offer any realistic help.

Firstly is the car Positive or Negative Earth; if you don't know check which battery terminal is connected to the body shell.

Then we require photos of the bit's you've spoken of, the Coil connections, the mystery gadget etc. If in doubt, provide it.
Especially any identity or manufacturer's labels.
Include one of the inside of the Distributor so we can see if anything in there has been replaced.
If you don't know how to attach photos, see the "Attachments" tab below where you press [Submit].

Then, what if anything you have done to the electrics between it working and not working (you'll be surprised how many people ask questions and we find out later they've cross connected something and neglected to mention they had been messing with the wiring... )

As Berni says, we need some photos as it is not a standard points set up. It may be that the electronic gizmo has failed internally, in which case it is kaput, or it could be as simple as a bad connection.

If you need to have the car back in use as soon as possible, probably the simplest way to do that would be to convert back to a standard points system. Without knowing what your electronic gizmo is, it is impossible to say how much (or how little) would need to be done to achieve that. Some of the early gizmos preserved the points so they could even still be there and reverting to standard points would be very simple.

Please post photos of the gizmo and the inside of the distributor.


Stephen

Thanks guys. Issue resolved. the coil supply was via the non standard blue/black cable I referred to. It had failed, I could not discover just how this lead was supplied so, in the end just replaced with a lead direct from the 'correct' connection on the fuse box. Sounds simple but ( as you hinted) there were many false trails due to poor connections all over the place. A 20 minute job took hours! Thanks again.

Glad you've resolved it, though some photos would have been nice, only as you teased us with a description of some non standard parts.

"A 20 minute job took hours!"
We've all been there!

beware! The extras could be a ballast resistor modification. You may be at risk of over-heating the coil, if it was.

Obviously can’t tell from here, but just a note for you to check it out before you suffer a failed coil.

PeterCat wrote: ↑Mon Apr 13, 2026 8:49 pm Thanks guys. Issue resolved.

See our comments, especially relevant is that of 'oliver90owner', about the possibility of a Ballast Resistor.
Hence why we were asking about getting some photos.