Electrical issues

[Nigel1967]

Hi, I've had my lovely 110 for a couple of weeks now. All was going swimmingly till Tuesday morning on the way to work. She had started on the button as she had every day, I was most of the way to work when all the electrical power just went off; radio, fan, engine all just stopped as if someone had flicked a big red kill switch. Managed to coast round a corner to a safe place, called for recovery and waited. After about 10 mins I thought I would have a go at starting, and the electrics had all sprung back into life with no intervention from me. However, while she turned over well there was and still is no sign of ignition.

I've checked that there is fuel going to the carburettor and that's fine, the issue is there is no spark, tested on cyliners 1 and 2 HT leads and nothing. The 12v side is there up to the distributor, the capacitor was tested and seems OK, the points are opening an closing when it's turining over. It's not the coil as I've replaced that with a new one to no effect. I have a new rotor arm, capacitor and points on order, all reasonable price so no harm in trying all the easy things ... but while I wait for them to arrive I thought I'd ask here if anyone had any thoughts. Even if I get the ignition working again that doesn't explain the inital loss of electicity so I'd like to fathom that out so as to prevent reoccurrence.

'The joys of motoring' as my dear old dad would have said, and I knew this day would come at some point with a 60+ year old car .. still smiling but eager for some help.

Thanks
 


Thanks

 

[roverp480]

Check the battery connections are good under the rear seat. A poor connection will kill everything without warning . If they are OK check the main battery cable connections under the bonnet.

 

[Nigel1967]

Thanks, I'm have a look. I've had the battery out to charge so I know that's right, but will check the later connections under the bonnet.

 

[Nigel1967]

Loving the world of classic cars, spent 1.5 hours this afternoon with a complete stranger who was admiring my car and then helped me fault find the electrics ... HT lead to the distributor is working - getting a full charge at the terminal, but still nothing going to the plugs. Could be the rotor arm, or the cap itself I guess. Think I might bite the bullet and get a complete set (new cap and leads) then I've done the lot. @roverp480 thanks very much for replying to me so quickly this morning.

 

[jp928]

Unlikely the cap , as usually some of the contacts would work. Rotor shorting to ground maybe. Check for wiring inside dizzy is isolated where it should be. Clean the rotor and inside the cap, and check the carbon brush in the cap centre is contacting the rotor.

 

[Nigel1967]

Unlikely the cap , as usually some of the contacts would work. Rotor shorting to ground maybe. Check for wiring inside dizzy is isolated where it should be. Clean the rotor and inside the cap, and check the carbon brush in the cap centre is contacting the rotor.

Thanks. Having checked some of the HT leads I found lots of corrosion and struggled to get good continuity and resistance readings on most of them so I replaced them all in the end, plus the cap and rotor arm for good measure. At least I know they are all in a good state now. The spindle of the distributor was filthy too, so that won't have been helping good contact. She's running now, if a little rough, so sorting that is the next challenge ... adjusting the bonnet alignment as it catches the front passenger dior whrn it closes .... onwards and upwards!