‘93 Griff 500 sputtered, died, won’t restart

[catsey]

catsey said:

yes it will fire on the default setting run like a dog over rich barely get you home

and yes it refused to start until I unplugged then it was a bh to start and drive home coaxing it on the throttle

[blitzracing]

Whip a plug out after trying to start it and see if it's wet with fuel. Can you hear the relays in the foot well click on when you turn on the ignition ( don't start) and then one drop out again after a few seconds? Can you hear the fuel pump run ? Just basic tests to see if the ECU and fuel are doing what they should as you know you have HT. The rotor has quite a wide arc range on it, and should need to be a long way out to kill the engine totally.

[bergxu]

blitzracing said:

Whip a plug out after trying to start it and see if it's wet with fuel. Can you hear the relays in the foot well click on when you turn on the ignition ( don't start) and then one drop out again after a few seconds? Can you hear the fuel pump run ? Just basic tests to see if the ECU and fuel are doing what they should as you know you have HT. The rotor has quite a wide arc range on it, and should need to be a long way out to kill the engine totally.

Yes, I can hear the relays click briefly and I hear the fuel pump prime as well. Also, can smell fuel as I’ve cranked the car over a few times now, although not for long stints so plugs shouldn’t be loaded up yet.

I also tried locking and unlocking the car to make sure it wasn’t anything to do with the Meta, still no joy. So far, all I’ve found that looks suspect is that rotor arm, although I’ve not pulled an injector but given that I can now get a whiff of fuel under the bonnet, the fuel side of the system is working.

I unplugged the AFM but car still wouldn’t start. I guess I’ll need to get the RoverGauge installed on my spare laptop at long last, Twas only a matter of time! Where does the plug connect to on the car?

[QBee]

There's a white 3 pin connector down in the rats nest in the passenger footwell.

Don't forget to reconnect the wire loop when you have finished

[Hedgehopper]

bergxu said:

Cheers, thanks for that. I’m suspect of the rotor since the riveted contact was so loose. But I’ll have a good look at that site for reference.

Is the spring loaded carbon contact still present in the distributor cap?

[bergxu]

Hedgehopper said:

Is the spring loaded carbon contact still present in the distributor cap?

Yep still there. I did get a new Lucas cap too, just to be on the safe side.

[geeman237]

Aaron, did you get all the instructions for Rovergauge that tell you how to connect it properly?
Have you actually confirmed you’re getting a good spark at the plug tip?
I’ve got one of these testers and it works well because you can adjust the gap and see you’re getting a juicy fat spark and not a whimper. These are about $10 from your local auto parts store.

[bergxu]

geeman237 said:

Aaron, did you get all the instructions for Rovergauge that tell you how to connect it properly?
Have you actually confirmed you’re getting a good spark at the plug tip?
I’ve got one of these testers and it works well because you can adjust the gap and see you’re getting a juicy fat spark and not a whimper. These are about $10 from your local auto parts store.

As I recall, when I ordered the RoverGauge cable, the CD came with it but I’ve not yet put it on my laptop. I reckon you’ve got the know-how to install and set it up? If you wouldn’t mind to PM me, maybe we can have a chat by phone.

[bergxu]

QBee said:

There's a white 3 pin connector down in the rats nest in the passenger footwell.

Don't forget to reconnect the wire loop when you have finished

Cheers! Thanks for that. Maybe I’ll grab the laptop and cable when I go over to my garage today and bring it back to the house so I can get the programs loaded and running.

[geeman237]

bergxu said:

As I recall, when I ordered the RoverGauge cable, the CD came with it but I’ve not yet put it on my laptop. I reckon you’ve got the know-how to install and set it up? If you wouldn’t mind to PM me, maybe we can have a chat by phone.

No worries. I’ll pm you.

[bergxu]

New Lucas cap and rotor arrived today, have yet to fit them but imagine my surprise when I found the contact on the new rotor loose as well

Worst part is that it states country of origin on the new rotor is England. Guess maybe time to put in a call to Distributor Doctor...

Will report back if new rotor happens to fix the issue.

[bergxu]

THE BEAST LIVES!

New Bosch coil and it fired straight away. Well, I’ve at least also got a new cap, rotor and Lucas ignition module fitted as well so should have ignition system freshened up for a spell.

Swear I had a spark off the king lead. Guess just not good enough...

Edited by bergxu on Saturday 4th July 21:09

[FFMan]

the heat kills the coil, as does mounting them horizontally.