Help Required - Car Cutting out - Ignition?

[terryp]

Hello all
Today when driving the car , all of a sudden the rev counter dropped to zero and the car died, then suddenly it picked up again, only to cut out again. I waited a bit and it started and I was able to drive the 100 or so yards home.
Now my guess is ignition. It has Lumenition elctronic ignition but I recently fitted a sports coil in lieu of the standard.
Are these coil symptoms? Or are they Lumenition symptoms?
What does everyone think

Thanks alot
Terry

[neilsjuke]

Ckeck the earth to the Lumenition box then check the supply to the coil /Lumenition .

[terryp]

Thanks for that , but how do I check if the problem sems to be intermittant?
Is the lumenition box that metal thing ontop of the pedal box?
Sorry to be so useless but this is my first experience with electronic ignition.

Thanks
Terry

[twincamman]

Im not big fan of Luminetric ignition systems ---the formula 2000 cars have had many problems with them --especialy if left on a short time ---I'm for points and condensers as they are easier to change -set and trouble shoot ---ed

[john.p.clegg]

Terry
As neil said,you'll have to figure out the power feed circuit from the battery via the ignition switch to the lumenition and check/remake all the connections.....if you're lucky it'll only be one faulty connection (high resistance/intermittent disconection)....If not could be more than one...
Same for the earth(but to eliminate this you can just run a good temp. earth connection)
John

P.S.

Check the three way connector from the lumenition box to the dissy...One of mine was slack.

[terryp]

John
Thanks for that , so is it unlikely to be the coil?

Thanks
Terry

[rcraven]

It might be all kinds of things, including the coil. After all, the fault seems to have started after you changed the coil. Why did you do that? Maybe you disturbed something when you fitted the coil. Or sometimes a faulty coil will cause an intermittent fault, breaking down when it's hot and then working again when it's cooled.

[Frank Howard]

Terry,

If you have one on your car, I would check the anti-theft switch in the glove box. Wiggle it around (don't switch it off) while the car is running. If the car stumbles at all, there's your problem. Good luck.

[GEORDIE]

Hi Check that the HT lead from the coil to the distributer is not too close to the sensor wires to the distributer. I had the exact same problem earlier this year with my Sprint. moved the sensor wires away from HT lead problem gone

Good luck

[HardTop]

Perhaps as the fault started with the coil change it would be worth trying another, to see if the fault clears.
I had a fault with a coil and electronic ignition. A brake in the coil winding was concealed by the hi voltage jumping the gap. As the coil warmed and expanded the ignition failed, only to work correctly when cooled.

[Jason1]

Sounds like a fault I used to have.

My car only had 1 engine earth lead which was dirty, so the luminition was not earthed properly. I cleaned up the earth and added another earth lead from the chassis to the engine.

Jason

[denicholls2]

Hello all

Are these coil symptoms? Or are they Lumenition symptoms?
What does everyone think

Sport coils are commonly high-energy coils, and may not be compatible with the Lumenition. Confirm or switch back to the original coil immediately or you may wreck the Lumenition.

A lot of confusion happened awhile back with a Europa lister and the Pertronix (which is an excellent unit free of the problems associated with Lumenition and I highly recommend it.) He bought the Pertronix high-energy coil not realizing the incompatibility and blew up the Pertronix Ignitor. (They do make a unit that is compatible with the coil but he didn't have that one).

I forget the exact specs, but this may well be your issue -- the coil overloads the Lumenition and you are on the brink of total failure.

Check the numbers 'cause these are from memory, but I seem to recall a threshold of 5k ohms resistance being where the problems start, at least for the Pertronix Ignitor I.

[ElliottN]

I think you have a wiring issue and something is shorting. It's intermittent but it is also full on go or full on stop and coils don't usually go wrong that way. I recently had exactly the same issue/symptoms and I went over all the ignition electrics in the engine bay for hours (I have Alyson electronic ignition) without any joy. Finally worked my way back to the ignition wiring behind the dash and lo and behold I had a relay in the ignition circuit which was floating around the steering column (not fixed/tied down) and the lead to the tacho was coming adrift.

I secured the relay so it couldn't float and short anything and crimped up the connector for the tacho lead. Problem 100% fixed.

I think it is just a matter of where in your wiring the problem is occuring. I'm afraid that will take patience and a methodical approach to checking.

[neilsjuke]

With a intermitted fault I would try to isolate the fault remove the supply from the coil or lum /box that comes from the dash to the engine compartment (white) ,
Then hot wire from the live terminal of the starter solenoid and re test.
Also note I believe some electronic ignition do not like the under body temperatures of elans.
Neil

[powellsmail]

Just to add to the possible solutions, you could be suffering from the bad rotor arm disease which seems to pop up every now and then. I had similar problem, intermittent engine dying and only restarting after cooling down. Having changed just about everything (pertronix, coil etc) a new rotor arm did the trick. Looked ok but when hot would allow the spark to earth through the dizzy body rather than to the spark plugs.

Mark
69 s4 se.