Ignition problems

[Roli]

Help!

A couple of weeks ago I had the unfortunate experience of breaking down on my way to work. Boris had been going fine (had just done a 500 mile round trip visit to the parents) but having filled up he then refused point blank to start. Fortunately I was at the petrol station and not at the side of a road, UNfortunately their coffee was rank.
A well known breakdown service came to my aid, and duly announced that the 38 year old coil had given up the ghost. The mechanic replaced it with one he found in his van, and told me to order a new one asap.
Having got to work, coughing and spluttering the last mile, I coasted into the car park, swore, gave up, and went to work.
At the end of the day I prayed that everything would be OK now and that I could get home before it got dark, and got all of 5 yards. Another mechanic from the aforementioned breakdown service came along and cleaned up the points, wiggled a few things, cursed, bumped his head on the bonnet and got me going. I managed to get 7 of the 9 miles home before I came to a grinding halt and ended up being towed home, in the gathering dark, with no hazard lights (note to self: fit hazard lights)

Since then it has been a nightmare, not aided by postal strikes and a postman who refuses to leave parcels with helpful neighbours. The replacement coil that was put in by the first mechanic was clearly too meaty and literally melted the plastic block on the points. Boris now has a new distributer cap, new leads, a new coil, new rotor arm, new condenser and new points.
He was (finally) up and running at the weekend, although he was a little noisy. Then on monday morning, he coughed to a halt (in THE most unfortunate place) but I managed to get him going again and got myself back home where I blagged myself a lift to work with the mother-in-law.

Him indoors has checked the timing and gone over the ignition system as best he can (in the dark and cold with a lamp) but we are at a loss for what to do now. Any suggestions? anyone live near Maidenhead and fancy a poke around under the bonnet??

Any help gratefully received

Roli

[Kevin]

Hi Roli just one thing as you have already had one wrong coil did you get the replacement from a Moggie specialist as sometimes motor factors with supply you with a ballast coil rather than a non ballast one, also have you checked the small low tension lead on the dizzy as these can can let you down, also try putting the old rotor arm back in as there have been some iffy ones around a while ago.

[mogbob]

Hi Roli
Kevin has covered most of the possibles.
The small lead in the dizzy, the pigtail lead, which Kevin mentioned is also a favourite to let you down.
It might also be worth taking a "careful " look at the very short low tension lead between the coil and the distributer.These , at a quick glance, look OK but if you remove it from the car you may find the lead is hanging on by a few strands of wire.Connecting sometimes, sometimes not.
Bob

[Roli]

Thankyou, we'll try that

(it is a proper coil - bought it from a moggy specialist)

[bmcecosse]

Don't be too sure of that coil! Check it's resistance - should be ~ 3.2 ohms.
But these symptoms suggest to me a fuel starvation problem - are you sure the fuel pump is working as it should ?