MOTPASS THEN ISSUES AFTERWARDS

[NOEL]

Just had my MOT test done, well pleased as a pass and no advisory`s so was feeling well chuffed as I set off back home, car started as normal, few roadwork's just outside the garage so slow single file traffic for about 300 yards, went to accelerate once passed the obstruction and then a stuttering jerking motion, car was still running but really badly, managed to pull over to the side of the road, quick check, tried to re start, turned over but did not fire, took the cap off and the rotor arm fell neatly apart into two pieces!
Never had that before, refitted a spare and made it home ok but still not perfect. Checked points, bit of pitting but nothing serious, spark plugs gap was ok, checked leads and found one poor connection going onto the plug, cleaned things up, refitted everything and normal service resumed. The strange thing is before the MOT the car was running well, I guess it was just coincidence things went wrong afterwards and I know about poor quality parts but that rotor had been on for some years without an issue and I can`t see why the garage would touch the HT lead to the spark plug, anyway, a big thank you to past contributors re ignition problems and possible remedies, because of the info gleamed on here in the past I kept calm and was able to get going again rather than a mad panic of thinking I need a coil, new distributor or waiting for a breakdown truck

[TDV102]

If they connected the emissions analyser (usually unnecessary for our old cars) that would be connected on to the leads.

[kennatt]

do you mean the pipe that goes up the exhaust . they would have no need or infact authority under the vosa rules to take the cap off to touch the rotor so pure co incidence

[TDV102]

The rig also has a connection that clips over an HT lead to detect rpm, that would explain a lead being disturbed, the self destructing rotor arm I agree is pure coincidence. Was it a pattern part or genuine Lucas?

[NOEL]

Thanks for the reply's, the rotor was from a part that was purchased from one of the well known suppliers beginning with B, cant remember the packaging as it was some time ago and it has since been disposed of , the one now fitted is the original one that was on the car when I bought it back in 2010, I also have a third that is in red/orange coloured packaging that I got from one of the rally`s and I am pretty sure this is a Lucas one.( I will have a look when I get back to the car as it is in my spares box) the clip over the lead makes some sense as being a possibility of disturbing the HT lead but I have used a similar device when using my strobe and never had an issue.
The MOT was done at a garage I normally use although I never have had to have them do any repairs on this car, thinking about it the normal tester had a young assistant with him, perhaps that is a coincidence as well but now I am starting to wonder if it was cause and effect, anyway, main thing is it appears to be ok again now touch wood.

[liammonty]

I'm surprised that you would even consider that an MoT tester 'loosened' an HT lead and broke a rotor arm!!! Perhaps a good service is in order? Rotor arms are known to be rubbish these days - just because it's been on the car for a long time doesn't mean it isn't going to break

[NOEL]

I never stated I considered the tester had broken the rotor arm, not sure why you thought that.
I agree re the quality statement regarding certain parts available but , I can assure you this car is like many others on here is serviced and checked frequently, the quality of modern parts on modern cars is not always great and appears to have a limited life, I have had to change lambda sensors on my son`s Nissan twice in 4 years, like many things cost and quality are variable.
Yes the rotor had been on there for a number of years and had done approx. in excess of 8000 miles, in nearly 40 years of owning and maintaining minor`s, mini`s and 2cv`s amongst others I have never known a rotor break in half like that but obviously it can happen,
I can`t comment further about the HT connection except for what I found.

[dalebrignall]

there are a lot of rubbish rotor arms out there , ive had a red one burn out once . im glad you had a spare i recomend the ones from accuspark and to be honest it is a service item depending on the milage i change the cap and rotor every 2 years as ai do 5000 miles a year .another good ignition supplier is distributer doctor

[Monty-4]

I went through condensers and rotor arms at an alarming pace until switching to those from the "Distributor Doctor". The difference in the weight of the condensers alone is convincing.

Good luck and great that it was such a minor problem!