Wants to die at idle and at throttle tip-in

[bergxu]

Hey all,

Some of you may have remembered the thread I posted a couple weeks back about my 93 Griff 500 which died on the motorway and was sorted with a new Bosch coil. In addition to the new coil, I also installed a new Lucas ignition amplifier and rotor (cap looked fine but old rotor arm riveted contact was loose). I installed the rotor and the ignition amp prior to the coil, neither of which addressed the non-running but the coil cured it straight away. So this evening I decided to take the car out for a proper drive after the fix as it had not been out of the garage since getting it running. I went out to dinner and on the way back after getting off the interstate, the first symptom was that when I went to accelerate away from a stoplight, the car cut out for a split second and then went back to normal but thereafter every subsequent stop that I came to, the car would want to die unless I held throttle on and if I let off the throttle just a little bit, when I went to give it throttle again, it would want to cut out. Fortunately, I was pretty close to home at this point so I managed to limp it home but it started to run worse and worse and died altogether when I got it in the driveway but it restarted and with enough throttle, made it into the garage. Fuel pump appears to be working fine or at least so it sounds that way, and so I’m just wondering if anyone has had any issues with the replacement Lucas ignition amplifiers. Otherwise, I’m thinking maybe the throttle pot or stepper motor have had it.

Restarted car after it sat and cooled in the garage for a couple hours and all is back to normal. Thinking maybe I should swap the other ignition amp back in...

Thoughts?

Edited by bergxu on Sunday 12th July 02:22

Edited by bergxu on Sunday 12th July 02:23

Edited by bergxu on Sunday 12th July 02:23

[Steve_D]

Ignition amps, caps & rotor arms are well known trouble spots.
First would be to connect rovergauge and see if that is showing any issues. Things like unusual readings from the throttle position or air flow meter.

You would not be the first to remove the new rotor or cap and replace with the old ones you threw under the bench.

Steve

[David Beer]

I no longer have a tvr, but my griff did exactly the same and was the throttle pot.

[Belle427]

Replacement lucas branded amps are hit and miss as they are not made by lucas anymore as they don't exist.

[bergxu]

The only other option I saw for ignition amps was Eurospares. As for the rotor arm, I’m waiting on a red one to arrive from Racetech.

I understand a throttle pot for a pre-serp car is NLA so am I left to scavenge one from a Range Rover in a boneyard?

[Barreti]

Throttle pot part no. is ETC8495 - it's a Land Rover part and Rimmer Bros list it as an ETC8495A though this has now been superseded by ERR2263KBP.
If you can find one it is also Lucas part number 70408A.

[bergxu]

Barreti said:

Throttle pot part no. is ETC8495 - it's a Land Rover part and Rimmer Bros list it as an ETC8495A though this has now been superseded by ERR2263KBP.
If you can find one it is also Lucas part number 70408A.

Many thanks. I see that Rimmers sell the one that converts it to a Colvern throttle pot. Probably a good idea! I’m going to swap the old amp and rotor back in today and see how it goes. When the red rotor arrives from Racetech, I’ll pop that on along with the new cap I got.

[bergxu]

UPDATE:

So I swapped the old ignition module and rotor back in. Drove the car 25 mins up to my garage and ran just fine. I can only think to chalk it up to being a victim of a faulty new Lucas module.... I don’t know who makes the modules for Lucas these days but they do come in the green box so???

In any event, I will probably just order a spare and will get the Eurospares brand. Besides, the shop who sells it guarantees all of their parts for life, so that might be a good ‘un to have that peace of mind with!!

[Belle427]

Keep an eye out on eBay, some original Lucas old stock sometimes turns up, normally in red boxes.
I think the part number is dab118 and it was fitted to a lot of other cars back in the day.

[Steve_D]

I hope you have a fix but a common failure mode for the amp is when it has been running for a while.
I once had a RR classic that would start and run fine driving 10 miles to work but die within spitting distance of the works car park.

Steve

[Zener]

Those green box Lucas ign modules are cheap generic ste if they dont have the embossed logo into them they are not kosher Lucas the only units worth fitting available new old stock only sadly , it dont need to have the white back to be genuine Ford Orion,Escort,Fiesta used them 80's along with 80's Austin Rover cars Maestro,Mini,Metro among others , they do come up keep looking I would not be content till I had one of these genuine products fitted genuine can last decades and many Griffith & Chimaera have and are still running around on 90's fitted modules however seen loads of the cheap ones fail within weeks/months of fitting it has the potential to ruin your day fitting these cheap crap units I try to avoid break-downs and have no patience with em .......................................................................................... here you go And Ford CVH model from the 80's black back/cover same thing

Edited by Zener on Sunday 12th July 23:25

[bergxu]

Many thanks for that, I will keep an eye out on eBay and the like. I should reach out to Lucas corporate and let them know that this particular part is complete ste. Maybe they can find somebody in the very fine cottage industry manufacturing over there in England who can make one that will be as good as original.