Poor Running. Engine Stalling

Someone else had the same problem as me a couple of years ago, so must be a common problem:

most common problem that can give these symptoms is the rotor arm. It is worth replacing even if it is a recent one.

This is even more likely to crop up in damp conditions.

MrCheerful

Sounds logical, but the reason I didn't look along these lines is because the Rotor Arm, Distributor Cap and HT Leads were replaced in May by the people I bought the car off.

I will have a look though.

You can't always see the fault in the rotor arm. A giveaway is if you have a spark from the coil but no spark or intermittent leaving the distrib cap.

MrCheerful

Rotor arm first. These break down and give these symptoms. There is a modded one now. If the dissy cap looks at all suspect inside replace this too.

Tim..

Ign coil GIVES problems on this car

Cheers for all you're replies guys.

I took a look at the dizzy cap, etc, and the spring-loaded contact in the middle of the distributor cap, which touches the rotor arm, wasn't sticking out very much. It seemed like the spring had broken, or was weak because if I pushed it in, it didn't spring back out hardly at all.

As for the rotor arm, are they usually tight to get off on the K series engine? I gave it a pry, but seemed quite stiff and I was worried about breaking it (I needed the car for transport). It did have green corrosion on it, so I cleaned it off and lightly coated it with WD40.

As for the coil, there was a spark from the coil, because the engine would run (until put under load). Whether it was enough voltage or not, I don't know.

The rotor arm will be *really* stiff to get off unless you undo the grub screw first :-) Think you'll find that slackening this makes the job easier. You can't miss it, opposite side to the rotor contact.

Cheers Bob.

This sounds well worn to me- the little spring should push the carbon "electrode" out 3-4mm so it makes good contact with the rotor arm. Its always good practice to replace rotor arm and cap together- with same make if possible.

Yes they are usually *very* tight on the shaft- I usually just smash them off- have a plumber wrench which fits over the shank of the r/a then i just squeeze and the bits fall off... ;)

Tim..

PS there is a small grub screw opposite the pointy end of the rotor arm on some too- would help if you slacken this first!

Tim..

I am not gonna live this down am I? ;-)

In my defence, I was outside on the drive in the cold wishing I was inside, I had no light or mirror, and the grub screw was on the bottom out of sight. At least I didn't do the apprentice thing and 'break' it off.