The last two times I drove my mini it stalled at red light. Fist time car did not start so had to tow home. Second time was today and I was only a couple blocks away so figured since car would not start I would push car home. While pushing down hill gathered some speed so figured I would try to start car by popping clutch, and it worked and drive car home. Is it possible that battery is no good and that is why car stalled. If not why would car start with push start.

 

Did the starter crank when you tried to restart? If so, it isn't the battery. My Mini sometimes stalls out during a turn, but it restarts right away. If the battery checks out OK, I would look at the infamous Lucas electrical system or the carburetor.

 

I would say if it cranks strong after the stall, then it isn't the battery. If it just barely turns over and quits turning soon, then you might be lucky enough that its the battery. It becomes a LOT more complicated if the battery is OK.

 

check your ground straps...the one from the battery to the body

AND the one from the block to the body. It is usually attached to the engine steady on the left as you face the motor. The body end is typically on the nut on the UNDERSIDE of the engine steady. This nut can loosen and you'll never see it. When it is loose you can get intermittent connection to your battery - even a brand new one ... but the car will jump and bump start fine.

Wanna know how I know???? Took me three months and a trip to a decent mechanic to find this one and biy did I feel dumb when he showed me what was up . . . sometimes my car would start strong, sometimes nothing. I'd get nothing, just stae at the car, try again in 5 minutes and it would fire right up. I was a wee bit mad .... then found this simple isse and never again have had THAT problem.

a bad battery should never cause the car to stall ... just not start. Once the motor is running all the juice it needs SHOULD be comming from the alternator with the excess going to CHARGE the battery.

I believe the stall during a turn is often a carb float issue - but I've never experienced it ... I just recently read about it tho so I'll see if it was in the last MiniWorld . . .

 

Battery ground strap and ground strap to engine seam to be connected fine, I disconnected and reconnected just to be sure. Guess it is on to the carburetor, but car stalled after sitting at red light for about two minutes not during turn. Also for a couple weeks I have noticed engine revs would drop while braking and sometimes even low enough to stall engine.

 

the first 1/3 of the choke pull engages fast idle, b4 choke actually happens - assuming you have an SU carb. If you leave the car on fast idle will it continue to run?

You ARE running only premium? I put mid-grade in mine once .... and ONLY once.

When is the last time you:
a. checked timing?
b. checked / replaced plugs
c. ditto coil
d. ditto points
e. rotor and cap ????

never mess with the fuel system until 110% sure the ignition is not the issue. Mine started to buck a little last year and stalled a time or two. New all of the above plus replacing the points with Pertronix gave me a stronger running car then b4.

You can get the battery and the alternator checked - in the car - at a good chain autopart, or any decent mechanic. Nothing fancy under our bonnets so only the simplest test equiment is needed.

 

I have owned mini for a year and a couple months ago replaced spark plugs, wires, distributor cap and rotor, and coil. Timing have not messed with or checked yet, plan on doing later in the week. I only use 91 octane (premium in california) car is fitted with a 1275 cc and su hif 44 or 6 and cone filter and BCZ needle. I tried to use AAM needle but car would not idle properly although it seamed to accelerate better.

 

hmmmm

I don't see points on that list

scared of setting 'em?

So was I, go Pertronix and not worry now or in the future

don't see timing but you mention that. A $20 light from Harbor Freight is all u need .... but much easier if someone who knows SHOWS the first time . . .

Every month MiniWorld addresses carb tuning and it always comes down to needle selection and without exception they say you need two things: a person with SU experience and a rolling road (dyno) . . . on an SU it is ALL about the needle.

If it ran good yesterday, and you changed ANYTHING on the fuel or ignition side, and it runs different .... it is probably a needle issue . . .

 

What do you mean points? What needle dio you have in you mini?

 

a CRITICAL component in your distributor is the "contact points"

this is the component that controls generation of the spark . . . it is an item that has a spring that weakens over time, a set of contacts that open as controlled by the cam in the dizzy & which must be set correctly for timing and gap; & simply need regular adjustment.

http://www.minimania.com/web/item/GCS101/InvDetail.cfm

different dizzy's need different points sets, and btw you'd want to change the condensor too . . . .

or replace the points and condensor with a Pert' kit (highly recommended)
http://www.minimania.com/web/item/LU143/InvDetail.cfm

some refences say replace actual contact points every 12 months.

So far as my needle - it don't matter unless our engines are 100% the same and run the same ..... that's the point, Mini experts and SU experts regularly agree (in MiniWorld anyway) that short of finding an expert, your getting the right needle on a modified engine is guess work. You need experience, a rolling road (dyno) and an assortment of needles. At one time custom cutting of SU needles was a racing tune. I was fortunate to have an acknowledged US expert shop at hand when I first got my car - ABACUS Racing of Virginia Beach - you may find someone who says otherwise but one fact is true. The way you adjust the running fuel/air mix on an SU is via the "needle". If someone says they adjust the mix via the crew adjustment on the side ..... well, read a book about the SU and then decide for yourself.

If you are not familiar with your carb, you should try to get familiar. You can easily take off the top of the carb (pot) and inspect the piston (three screws around the rim). In doing so you MAY find a layer of film in the piston chamber is causing the piston to hang up .... a simple carb cleaner fix. And you want to ensure the piston damper chamber is filled with oil ... some believe you can tune engine performance by varying the weight of the oil here - I use 3 in 1 most of the time but have also toyed with a good sewing machine oil . . . .

dunno what I'm talking about???? Time for some research
http://www.teglerizer.com/sucarbs/index.html

 

Took off distributor cap and could not see contact points. Under cap at the base of rotor was a welded plate. Where would contact points be located? Also I think problem may be fuel related, yesterday and today car stalled out and I noticed fuel filter was empty. Yesterday I disconnected fuel line from fuel tank and placed in gas can and car started. Today tried to use same fix but fuel filter did not full and car did not start. I will add fuel to car fuel tank to make sure I am not on empty even though fuel gage says over half.

 

cap off, rotor in the center, at 4 o'clock the condensor
at 8 o'clock the points (these are "red" - and that is a 59D dizzy but from this view the 45 is 99% identical)

if you see something like this instead

you already have a pertronix and then yes it is probably time to move to the fuel system as these are pretty foolproof unless a wire has come loose

 

I did not see either under distributor cap, kind of looks like picture of your distributor but there is no place for wires to run down into distributor and condenser , contacts are missing. Only has solid plate. I will take a picture later so you can see what I see.

 

what year is your car ... really? or more important what year is the motor? is it carb'd or an SPi?

What model dist' have you? Your description sounds like a 65DM4 distributor - a very late one, fully electronic but I believe that only came on the injected models . . .

 

Car is registered as a 1971, Not sure what year car really is and not sure if it still has stock motor. But I did figure out what the problem was, and do I feel dumb. Gas gage was reading incorrect and car was empty. When I went to start car today to try and figure out problem gas gage was showing empty. Sorry to have waisted your time, but thank you.

 

have you checked the build dates on the boot latch and the wiper motor? you'll find 4 digits. first two are the week and second, the year.

Mine reads 18 79 - week 18 of 1979. At least up through the MK4 (and 1979) I know this works! Not common parts to have replaced. If you find both and they match you have a pretty good ide what year the body is anyway. If you are re-engined there's ways to tell but if like mine your engine number is gone. I know an A+ block from a Metro but don't know what year. Doesn't matter too much since so few original parts are there tho . . .

but if you have a 65 dizzy, that sounds like a much later car as those only came on injected motors to my knowledge and while I suppose someone might put an injected (or former injected) and computer controlled engine in an earlier body it would seem to be WAY more work than just finding a 'plain' 1275 which is a direct swap . . . I believe the 65 has to be controlled by a black box . . .

 

I've seen references to premium fuel around before, but not much information on it. Are you saying these engines require higher Octane? or just the 1275? or what?

I guess I'm really wondering if I should be using 91-93 octane in my 998cc. I've only fueled up once and it was 87, of course.

 

what was the standard octane rating in the 70's (when you think you car is from)

what does any Mini owner's manual call for?

Now, I could adjust the ignition of my 1975 Cutlass to run on the lower octane fuels that came into practice just a year after the car was built. It involved changing the timing. You could adjust things to ensure the car would not knock {also known as pre-ignition} while running lower octane fuel - [do you understand the meaning of "octane"] ?

These lil' old engines were built to run at an octane level that equals "high test" today. If your car runs good on less - it has been de-tuned.

Could be a factor in your poor running experience....

 

I only bought mine about a week ago and have been poking around at the brakes first. But it fires and runs great, though I haven't even used one gallon yet. I'm afraid I've probably pushed it in and out of the garage more than I've driven it (only because I don't like to run any engine needlessly)

But I suppose that's one of those things I've not taken into consideration. I sort of thought it was the other way around, octane levels have increased over the years. I am still looking for a proper Haynes manual (can only seem to find .pdf files online) and I have no owners manual however. :(

I'll pay close attention this weekend (I hope to be driving it) and if I hear knocking I'll add some octane boost and then switch to the proper fuel.