So it finally happened after 3 years of faultless ownership.

[Gorilla Boy]

Long story short, lovely run back from the gym yesterday and it started to struggle to idle (very choppy and would cut out if the revs dropped too low, having to heel and toe in traffic to keep it going.)

Got about 3 miles from my home and it completely cut out, would refuse to turn over and had a healthy fuel pump etc.

Pushed it to the side of the road, waited 10mins to let things cool down a tad, had a fiddle with the dizzy/cap/points and then it fired into life.

Any ideas?
Felt like the ECU didnt know what position the engine was in so wouldn't allow it to spark? Not sure if these old things have a cam/crank position sensor?

Car is a de-catted 400HC with a high lift cam.

[ITVRI]

The possibilities are many. Do you have Rover gauge? This may show you fault codes logged by the 14CUX ECU to point you in the right direction. It’s not a silver bullet to solve your issue but its better to start with this than just guessing.

[Gorilla Boy]

ITVRI said:

The possibilities are many. Do you have Rover gauge? This may show you fault codes logged by the 14CUX ECU to point you in the right direction. It’s not a silver bullet to solve your issue but its better to start with this than just guessing.

I've got rover gauge yeah, need to bring my laptop from work home then, thanks

[Belle427]

Could be many things but check the basics first such as Rotor, cap and leads.

[pb450]

King lead into the coil? Had exactly the same symptoms and this was the culprit.

[Gorilla Boy]

Rotor/cap/leads are all virtually brand new (leads are 3k miles old as are the sparks.)

King lead is interesting, as the coil itself im not sure on the age of.. could be a contributing factor when the old girl is very warm?

Edited by Gorilla Boy on Tuesday 22 September 16:25

[Classic Chim]

Gorilla Boy said:

Rotor/cap/leads are all virtually brand new (leads are 3k miles old as are the sparks.)

King lead is interesting, as the coil itself im not sure on the age of.. could be a contributing factor when the old girl is very warm?

Edited by Gorilla Boy on Tuesday 22 September 16:25

That was my first guess, that or ignition amp suffering the same fate

[pb450]

Gorilla Boy said:

Rotor/cap/leads are all virtually brand new (leads are 3k miles old as are the sparks.)

King lead is interesting, as the coil itself im not sure on the age of.. could be a contributing factor when the old girl is very warm?

Edited by Gorilla Boy on Tuesday 22 September 16:25

My components weren't old either. However, the loose king lead had arced and knackered the bakerlight end to the coil, so a new coil was the answer. Problem solved.

[Zener]

New parts so cant be faulty well I'm here to tell you from a long career ...... Assumption Is The Mother Of All Fu*K- Ups in other words dont dismiss new possibly faulty/failed parts you fitted either , Ign module reliability/lifespan/quality differs greatly for example

[Steve_D]

Zener said:

New parts so cant be faulty well I'm here to tell you from a long career ...... Assumption Is The Mother Of All Fu*K- Ups in other words dont dismiss new possibly faulty/failed parts you fitted either , Ign module reliability/lifespan/quality differs greatly for example

We have replaced 2 dizzys (both due to mechanical failure of the bob weights) both new dizzys arrived to us with dead ignition amps.

Steve

[Zener]

Steve_D said:

Zener said:

New parts so cant be faulty well I'm here to tell you from a long career ...... Assumption Is The Mother Of All Fu*K- Ups in other words dont dismiss new possibly faulty/failed parts you fitted either , Ign module reliability/lifespan/quality differs greatly for example

We have replaced 2 dizzys (both due to mechanical failure of the bob weights) both new dizzys arrived to us with dead ignition amps.

Steve

Worse than I thought then I hate a lot of this repro stuff Steve for that very reason , fortunately in this respect working on older stuff TVR MG etc is not the core of my business so dont see too many problems I do often steer customers that can wait towards sourcing new old stock genuine or good used equipment , sometimes cant always be avoided however and get stung

[Gorilla Boy]

Zener said:

Steve_D said:

Zener said:

New parts so cant be faulty well I'm here to tell you from a long career ...... Assumption Is The Mother Of All Fu*K- Ups in other words dont dismiss new possibly faulty/failed parts you fitted either , Ign module reliability/lifespan/quality differs greatly for example

We have replaced 2 dizzys (both due to mechanical failure of the bob weights) both new dizzys arrived to us with dead ignition amps.

Steve

Worse than I thought then I hate a lot of this repro stuff Steve for that very reason , fortunately in this respect working on older stuff TVR MG etc is not the core of my business so dont see too many problems I do often steer customers that can wait towards sourcing new old stock genuine or good used equipment , sometimes cant always be avoided however and get stung

Appreciate that new parts are never guaranteed to be serviceable, was just stating that i wasn't using original 90s leads etc.

Rover gauge being plugged in tonight, will scan for codes etc.
If it ends up being the amp/coil, do you have a suggestion on what i go to?

My chim is going to Trim Unique for a new roof tomorrow so ill have a week to wait for parts to turn up

[Gorilla Boy]

Cleared the lambda code from the even cylinder bank and it didnt reappear.

Think ill replace the amp/coil regardless as they're likely weak.

Anyone see anything alarming? I'm alright with very large medium/high speed marine diesels but less so with little car engines

[TarquinMX5]

Stepper motor?

[WOO5IE]

It could be any of the things listed above but surely none of these if it wouldn't turn over at all.
Low battery , immobiliser

Just a thought

[TarquinMX5]

Missed the bit about not turning over - relay.

IIRC, there are two relays in the footwell, one for fuel pump and one for starter; possibly the latter? Poor starter connections?

[Classic Chim]

And or low battery level. It can play havoc with the electrics/ ecu I seem to remember.
Engine running rough!

[ITVRI]

It’s not clear in which order you took the pictures but I’m assuming the first is before clearing the code and the second after?
Reading Rovergauge is a bit of a black art but my observations are in the first picture the even bank had a high lambda reading which has tripped your sensor fault code but in the second picture (after clearing the code?) the lambdas haven't had enough time to reset (2-3 minutes at 80-90c) and begin cycling. In any case the MIL light is still showing (is it the same fault). If the lambdas are not cycling back and forth you will need to run the car for longer at idle and see if the same bank has the same high trim or maybe take it for a short run to see if the same fault code reappears.
Based on the original fault code the ecu was trying to increase the fuel on the even bank so possible reasons to cause this are a blocked injector, faulty lambda probe, or an air leak.

The voltage is showing 14.1 so there is no issue with low voltage, the alarm would not influence rough idle and the stepper position looks normal.
BlitzRacing has loads of information on his site http://www.g33.co.uk/pages/technical_fuel_injectio...

[ITVRI]

Gorilla Boy said:

Got about 3 miles from my home and it completely cut out, would refuse to turn over and had a healthy fuel pump etc.

I had originally assumed that you meant it wouldn’t fire

Zener said:

Assumption Is The Mother Of All Fu*K- Ups

If it wouldn’t physically turn over that could be a additional problem or part of the same problem.
I would continue to eliminate the fault code first at home and confirm the lambdas are working correctly before you take it for another drive with your AA card handy. If it cuts out completely again and won’t turn over that could point to a power loss or earthing problem.

[Zener]

ITVRI said:

Gorilla Boy said:

Got about 3 miles from my home and it completely cut out, would refuse to turn over and had a healthy fuel pump etc.

I had originally assumed that you meant it wouldn’t fire

Zener said:

Assumption Is The Mother Of All Fu*K- Ups

If it wouldn’t physically turn over that could be a additional problem or part of the same problem.
I would continue to eliminate the fault code first at home and confirm the lambdas are working correctly before you take it for another drive with your AA card handy. If it cuts out completely again and won’t turn over that could point to a power loss or earthing problem.

Agreed I missed the "it wouldn't crank over" bit too yes could be a failing ground connection etc