been going on for a couple days now. both my friend and i are having this problem, which makes me think it might be a common problem with these.

normally when it is at idle, my engine will randomly turn off, then takes a couple turns to get it on again, wasnt a huge problem till last day, but last night it turned off when doing about 60kmh

this is a 1979 mini 1000,

thanks, danny

 

The engine could be shutting off for a number of reasons:
* Intermittent engine ground
* Intermittent coil voltage
* fuel starvation

Please be more specific with what 'engine turns off' means. Does it stumble, then shut off, or instantly shut off? When the engine shuts off, does the rest of the Mini have battery voltage (do the lights work? do the gauges work? does the starter crank?).

Seems likely an electrical problem. I'm assuming the engine is carburetted, not a fuel injection swap.

You could open the bonnet with the engine running and move the coil wires and/or wire loom to see if you can get the engine to shut down. If you can, then you've got an open or short in your engine wiring loom that will need to be fixed.

Jeff

 

fairly instant shut off, lights still work, the red ign light stays on(cuz the key is still in the on)carb was rebuilt 3ish months ago, running strong, started doing this, i rebuilt it again, didnt change, newish(6months, 6000miles) plugs and wires.cars usually starts up after(i have to turn the key obv)

 

DELETED - this dropped at speed? Then it sure don't sound like a fuel supply issue ... concur sounds like you have an electric gremlin.

Give us more details on your car and what were your last 3 mods or fixes?

 

put a header on it, removed electric windows(long time ago, put some rally lights on it, also a while ago(seperate fuse box from all manditory components.

it is a 1979 BL mini 1000, only mods are in the suspension and converted to disks.

i am thinking it is a ground wire somewhere, just gotta figure out where, cuz when a coil dies, it isnt normally a long process, it just stops working, shouldnt be plugs or wires, that would just make a misfire.

 

well, when I had a ground problem it would impact the ability of the starter to crank.....sometimes it did and sometimes it didn't. this was eventually tracked to a poor grounding strap 'tween the motor block and the chassis which caused an incomplete circuit 'tween the battery and the starter.

but once running, the engine is really a closed circuit onto itself - the battery grounds will only impact battery charging or I'm sure someone will correct me. Even the fuses are out of the equation - altho all the fused systems seem to be working anyway. So the problem seems to be 'tween the alternator and the rest of the ignition system. If the alt is charging the battery it appears that alt output is OK but any good parts store can check the alternator output for you (but their diagnostic equip probably wouldn't find an occasional drop....)

You seem to just "loose the spark" for a time. How about something inside the dizzy? Points good - TIGHT? The condensor too???

are you still on a mechanical fuel pump? do you have a fuel filter in the line (it would be an added thing, original 79 didn't have one to the best of my knowledge...my didn't and I don't see a part # or ref in the Haynes) but then again POWER WINDOWS???? Or was this an obvious add-on that you un-added?

electric fuel pump loosing power? or a really clogged fuel pump with a big chunk fluttering?

FAR OUT THOUGHT BUT IT CAN'T HURT - disconnect those new lights from the system....you can always re-connect.

You say a buddy "has the same problem" .... similar Mini....similar work????

 

i still think the problem may be at the coil or dizzy (loose or bad wire)

 

well yesterday i decided to take the metal dash off, rip out any wire that was no longer needed... i found that there where wires going from fuse box to no where, i ended up taking out a little under 20 feet of useless wire, bigest piece being about 2 feet.

there was power windows, i took it out and put in the cranks, i also re did the wires from the dizzy to coil, it didnt look like it had the best connection. i drove the car for about 20 minutes last night, didnt have a problem, i will drive it around more today.

my friends car doesnt have lights or a previous jackass owner.

 

and it is a mechanical fuel pump, put on about 3 months ago, new. also fitted on a fuel filter when i got it.

 

well, i am still having the problem, any suggestions/recomendations for a new coil?? plz post what kind, and where is best... dont wanna wait 3 weeks for one to come in lol.

 

A coil is a pretty generic piece of equipment, at least a stock coil. Any standard 12V coil should work. I've never had a coil problem that was intermittent, though. Failures yes, but not intermittent. It's a pretty simple piece of equipment, just a very long coil of wire and some dielectric oil inside. If the wire breaks, it won't work at all. I would be _really_ surprised if it turned out to be a coil, but it is an easy thing to swap out. Did you rule out the distributor, or are you just going to replace the coil since it's a simple swap? Just curious.

I would ask someone at the parts counter that you need a generic 12v coil and they should be able to hook you up. Any auto parts store will have one, and you won't have to wait three weeks. And it'll be cheap. Just bring the Mini coil with you so that you can make sure the spark plug lead and threaded studs are correct.

Good luck,
Jeff

 

sweet will do, ya i figure it is cheap, mine is old, doesnt owe me anything.

will also look into a distributor, but i imagine that will be a fair bit more $$... i just got laid off, so if a coil fixes it(also doubt, they usually die all together)

 

I hope it's just the coil for you. My car (87) does the exact same thing-random stalls, sometimes during full power, but more commonly when coming to a stop...more frequent when not fully warmed up...I do leave choke open until warmed. Wiring was totally bodged when I bought the car and has been sorted out wire by wire. Runs great otherwise. I don't think it has a fuel filter.

 

did you change your coil?? what all have you tried?

 

well a new dizzy is A way to go ... but I doubt you actually need a new one. I'd change the points and condensor maybe the rotor and the cap too. And if going this far consider changing the points/cond' out to a Pertronix electronic replacement and never worry about points issues again.

http://www.minimania.com/web/Item/9LU144/InvDetail.cfm

points, cond, rotor and cap will run around $100 prob'ly less... you can get a coil for $20 and up ...

Pert' is about $130 but a worthy investment in my opinion. Next time I go to change the points it is the direction I'm going. I've NEVER heard anyone who did it, regret it.

 

+1 Pertronix FTW!

Jeff

 

i found the 123 to be the best dizzy!

 

Mine is a '73 Mini 1000. Very stock (only mod is to a spin on oil filter). A couple of months ago, on the freeway, it just shut off. I dove for an exit, but hit the ignition and it started up. Stopped again about 8 miles later, this time on city streets. Started, and I got home. A week or two later, I used the car and this time I didn't go far, but instead of being able to start it, it got worse and I had to tow it home. Put a new fuel pump on, had it happen again (and towed it home), put a new condenser on it, same thing. Pulled the carb, and found a bit of crud in the float bowl but otherwise nothing noticeable. Then when I had someone else put a new front steering rack in it last week, I had it looked about. Was told the condenser had shifted and was too close to the dist. cam and the rotor wasn't on solidly. I added an inline filter since I don't believe there's any filter on this car. Drove it yesterday, worked fine on a general 8 mile run. Tonight had driven it at least 10 miles of city street driving (fairly briskly, but not excessive), when it quit, but started right up. Didn't misbehave until I was on the freeway, and I made it to an off ramp. Noticed that the inline filter had very little fuel, but it continued to pump fuel into it (it's clear so I could see this), and I headed out. To shorten the story, the problem got progressively worse, and I'm going to have it towed home in the morning. Fuel filter has nothing in it, and while the fuel pump is new, I suspect there may be some sort of blockage further back.

Have you tried any way of determining if you've got fuel coming into the float? I've had coil problems in the past, but just as someone else mentioned, they were instantaneous and complete, not intermittent (I always carry an extra coil in the trunk, since they're relatively cheap, and can be changed by the side of the road if necessary).

 

i also have a inline fuel filter beside the carb... clear and it always has gas in it.

 

CONDENSOR

 

sure seems to be looking electrical and "always be sure the electrics are spot on b4 you futz with the fuel system"

So at a minimum I'd pull the dizzy cap and check for corrosion, tight connections, point gap, rotor wear and spray everything with a water displacer .... and if in doubt replace....and if replacing consider the Pert' solid state stuff.

 

going to see if i can borrow a friends coil, and his dizzy... today i seem to have run into a huge problem.. my IGN light is no longer on... car turns over, getting fuel, no longer getting spark...at all


i will try condensor.

 

FWIW, I looked at the wiring diagram from my workshop manual - the IGN lamp circuit is as follows:

12v to IGN lamp in dash, then to pin 2 on ignition switch, then to IND post on alternator. Based on that, it seems there's an open between the 12v source and the IND post, or you've 'let the smoke out' of the alternator.

A simple check would be to disconnect the IND wire on the alternator, then put the ignition switch in the ON position and put a test light or volt meter between the wire that connected to the IND post on the alternator and ground If you get 12v, the circuit is good. If you get no voltage, the wiring is open. Can you confirm the IGN bulb is still good? Maybe it's as simple as a blown lamp. Probably not, but you never know.

Since you've got a couple electrical problems now, you may also want to check for voltage at the coil ... 12v at the positive post when the ignition is ON. Maybe your distributor is OK and the coil is not getting energized (blown fuse?).

Hope it helps,
Jeff

 

well.... i have a job interview today... so i think the mini can rest for a bit, after first paycheck, new coil, dizzy, and some other things, last thing i need is to replace something, and have something else die.

 

I think you've identified your problem already when the ign light didn't come on - it's the electrical part of your ignition switch that's bad. They're a fairly common failure on these cars and pretty easy to replace, it just attaches to the back of the key part of the switch. just make sure you get the wires back in the correct places by making a diagram before you remove any wires.......

If you installed your driving lights without a relay, you're pulling too much current thru the switch and probably melted it. If you did use a relay and wire them properly, it's just the cheap *** switch they used.