I've been having some engine trouble on my '94 Sprite SPi for the past few months. The first indication of a problem was when the engine decided that it didn't want to idle by itself after warming up. Now in addition to the idling issue, the engine is misfiring and is burning a TON of gas. I went from 32+ MPG down to 15-20 MPG. I've replaced all of the spark plugs, wires, coil, water pump and the fuel filter. The fuel filter appeared to be original as the housing was covered in rust and a ton of rust poured out of it when I replaced it with a new filter. I've also noticed louder than normal "knocking" noises coming from inside the rocker cover.

The car is a Japanese import that has 48,000KM on it (or it could be 148,000KM, who knows). All vacuum lines appear to be connected properly and I only run 93 octane gas through it.

Would a carb conversion kit like this one possibly cure my engine woes?
http://www.minimania.com/web/Item/MM.../InvDetail.cfm

I don't want to buy expensive O2 and temperature sensors if they won't cure the problem.

Any input would be greatly appreciated!

 

those can sensors can be tested at a good shop.

going carb will get rid of those sensors....the beauty o spi is that it can be done, vs. mpi that does not even have a hole for the distributor.

 

just curious if anyone here in the USA has done the carb conversion. I recently purchase a 1994 SPi and am having ruuning issues. I have replaced a lot of the omponents including coil, plugs, Plug wires, water pump, thermostat, vacuum lines, relay box, fuel filter, fuel pump.

Basically the car of cold start coughs, sputters, sometimes it will stall... when I hit the throttle, this goes away, however once warm and I am driving along if I hit the clutch, sometimes the car will stall out. It will fire right back up, but its quite concerning.

My next replacement parts are going to be coolant temp. sensor, Oxygen sensor and a different wiring loom as this one is messed up from the previous owner.

Anyway, if someone has done the conversion please reply as I am STRONGLY leaning that direction.

 

I haven't done one but it seems like an easy conversion to do, pretty much a bolt in deal.

 

Easy except for the 1300.00 plus core fee price tag . Seems a bit excessive for what it comes with.

 

Lots of info on converting injection Minis here:

http://www.bmw-mania.com/web/SCatago...8/ArticleV.cfm

http://www.theminiforum.co.uk/forums...?showforum=140

http://forum.minicooper.org/showthread.php?t=8691

Useful for the Rover MEMS SPI/MPI information:
http://www.gaima.co.uk/peter/RoverMEMS.pdf

 

the conversion is easy to do. I have installed one. The parts are "bolt-on" You just have to rewire the harness for the starter, distributor, and alternator for a carb model (this is the hardest part of job, but using a haynes manual will get you all sorted out). You can even still use the electric fuel pump, you just have to install a pressure regulator. This conversion will take about a day to complete.

Plus the conversion can be done cheaper then what minimania sells, just surf ebay for the most of the pieces you need.

The knocking you hear could be that your valves need adjustment. I would start with basic engine testing.....compression, and fuel pressure. This will tell you what shape the engine is in and if you are getting the right amount of fuel....either to much or not enough.

FYI.........The conversion can be done on MPI models too, you just have to get a stand alone igniton kit. I have this information for anyone that would like to do this for their mini(these kits will work on any mini). Just send me a PM.

 

I will have a MEMS Rover scanner for the SPI here this week in Rainbow City, Alabama, about 96 miles South of Nooga, you are more than welcome to come use it to see what is wrong, replacing sensors and relays until you find the culprit is very expensive. DJ's Mini's in Wesley Chapel, Fl. has any SPI/MPI item you might need once you find the problem.

 

If you are going through that much gas I bet a whole lot of it is ending up in the crank case. If it has it will dilute the oil & you will damage your engine. That may be why you are hearing more noise out of your engine. FWIW change the oil or at least take a sample to see if it is gas/oil.

 

I just may take you up on that! My next investment may be a higher capacity fuel tank/cell as I will have to refuel twice to make that trip. Thank you for the offer! I fixed the idling issue by replacing the vacuum line from the throttle body to the ECU. It had a tiny crack in it.

@Crashton - I changed the oil and didn't notice any odor of gasoline.

I would love to add a supercharger kit, but it's so expensive and I might as well swap out to VTECH to get that extra power and a desperately needed 5th gear.

 

Thre should be a small black plastic trap in that line, is yours there ?, in a bracket behind the intake with two tubes coming out the bottom, the rubber fittings shoud be color coded.

 

Do NOT even consider changing to carb , the SPi is very reliable and only has a few problems that are easily fixed , usually when you get 'rich' fueling its because of a pin hole or break in the microbore black plastic pipe from the ECU to the manifold , replace this with any suitable pipe and it will sort the problem , when you have erratic or high idle press the throttle pedal 10 times with the ign on the 2nd position this will reset the idle , changing to Carb is a retrograde step imho .
G

 

I forgot to mention that I replaced the fuel trap when I changed out the vacuum line.

 

FYI, I just bought the SPI to carb kit from MiniMania, I was able to get them down on the price by a few hundred dollars, so I was able to justify purchasing this finally. I ahd literally replaced avery part of the SPI system, and still it would run rich and mis-fire at random.... basically, I gave up. I just want to drive the car, and know that at least with the carb, I can drive it.

I will let you all know how the conversion goes.

 

Please do let us know how it goes. Does your car have AC by any chance? Mine does and I'm a little worried about getting it to work after removing the MEMS unit.

 

I do not have A/C, but I have never heard of anything programmed within the MEMS unit being related to A/C, as far as I know its a standalone system.

I will post how it goes, I will be installing the kit over the long weekend.

 

well, I started the install, and will finish it probably Monday, but so far so good. I have removed the Intake manifold, and ECU. Located the correct pin assignment on the ECU harness according to the install notes from MiniMania.

I have noticed the following in reagrds to MiniManias "kit". It does NOT include everything you need, even beyond hose clamps an misc items... its missing nuts that attach the carb to the studs, and bolts or studs to attach the air filter to the carb.

these items can obviously be purchased at say PepBoys, but for the price of this kit, you should at least recieve 90% of what you need... oh well.

I'll post more as I go along, but so far so good

 

Alright, well I completed the install over the long weekend. It went fairly well... except that the directions for the kit from Minimania talks about an electronic ignition, this would be a 65DM distributor. The kit includes a 59D distributor, thus you can ignore the two wires noted, and simply wire the dizzy off the -ve terminal.

Next what really got me was the ignition coil, and this required quite a bit of research to figure out why the SPI coil would not work with the 59D dizzy. Essentially the SPI had a ballast style coildesigned for electronic ignition, when we removed the ECU, we removed the resistance system from the ignition system, and added a non-electronic dizzy (points) so simply put, you need to swap to a non-ballast coil for this setup to work... or get a ballast resistor on the +ve feed pre coil.

I went with simply getting a cheapo non-ballast coil from NAPA for the time being, and I was good to go.

The vehicle has never ran this good before, it doesnt randomly stall now, it doesnt choke and far and burp, it doesnt have a troubled idle... just a nice smooth idle, and a much beter acceleration. I now have a world more of options as far as modifications go, and if I really want to, I can swap back to SPI... I did a very easy and slow removal of the system, and simply tie-wrapped up the excess cabling.

Anyway, if anyone wants info on the swap, let me know, but I wuld NEVER look back now that I have done this, I simply gave up trying to fix an electronic system I couldn't get a computer on and that after replacing virtually every part still ran like junk... thats now gone and I can actually enjoy motoring.

 

Congrats and happy motoring. It sounds like you've got yourself a runner, now.

I'll be getting my hands on an SPI classic Mini in the next week. I'll remember you, if I have any problems with it. Some seem to have lots of trouble and others swear by the SPI.

 

Wow, a dizzy with points ... not much of an upgrade Pertronics electronic ignition helps smooth out the idle and produce power even more, and you won't need to adjust the points every couple months! Pertronics FTW

Something to think about anyway ...

Congrats on finishing the swap,
Jeff

 

how easy was the Pertronix install? I have a el-cheapo coil right now and the stock 59D dizzy... but I really dont want to deal with the adjustment of the points, so this would be a good mod based on the price point im seeing on it.

 

Adjusting points is easy....just need a feeler guage to do it. But points do wear, doing a electronic dizzy kit would be more reliable and less maintenance. The Pertronix install is pretty straight forward...you just need to identify which dizzy you have so they get you the right kit that matches. Can be done in about a hour...the intructions are pretty good