Griffith 500 cut out

[AdBall500]

Hi,

Earlier this evening I took my Griffith out for an evening drive, but managed to get just a couple of miles away before there was a bit of hesitance in acceleration, then as I started up a bit of a hill, lost all power and the engine cut out. At this point the yellow oil pressure light came on the dash. Prior to that, oil pressure had been fine at around 30, and water temperature was fine too, around 65/70 if I remember correctly. Turned the key and it briefly fired up but then cut out again straight away.
So, I tucked it over to the side of the road, hazards on & popped the bonnet, not knowing what to expect to see. All looked fine - no sign of any leaks or spewing fluids everywhere. After 5 minutes or so, I tried the key again & it fired up, no yellow light and seemed to idle ok.
Got home and had a look over things with a neighbour who used to own a Chimaera. Oil level was fine, stepper motor was only cleaned a couple of weeks ago & it managed a 450 mile round trip to Goodwood & back last Sunday & didn't miss a beat. Only thing that did look out of place was that the coolant in the expansion tank was rather full. Removed some of this to leave it at just over half full, and it seemed to run better - less hesitance, kept pressure & temperature fine.
Any ideas as to what it could be? Could it be that too much coolant was upsetting it?
Any ideas / suggestions on next step(s) to take would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,

Adrian
(Sorry for the long post Ermm)

[andy43]

I’d guess at coil or ignition amp. Leave it running til well after the fans have kicked in a couple of times and see if it does it again. Mine did the same when I was still on the Lucas system - turned out it was the original coil that had finally packed up. Was fine when cold.

[tivver500]

Had similar on my 500 - it was the coil!! It would give enough power for a spark on test but then broke down as it heated up. New coils and no further problem

[AdBall500]

Thanks for the responses guys.
Had a look earlier tonight & found that one of the HT leads wasn't seated very well - needed a bit of persuasion but then popped firmly in to place. Not had chance to take it out tonight so will give it a test run tomorrow - fingers crossed.
I'm hoping this is what was causing the hesitancy and in turn the cut out.
Thanks again!

[jesfirth]

Or possibly the air flow meter. That can cause them to stall. Its an easy test. When it stalls and won't start just unplug the afm. If it starts that's the culprit. It will run very rough if it's unplugged though.