Rover Metro 1.1 Starting Problems

Oct 04, 2003 5 Replies
K

Hi,



My sister's Rover Metro 1.1 1994 has recently been running rough and cutting out and last week eventually died and wouldn't restart. Luckily this was next to the house....!



A few weeks earlier a 'mechanic friend' diagnosed the problem as being as being with the carb, although after closer inspection I saw that no spark was being generated by the coil. This was tested by holding the lead from the coil that normally goes to the dizzy next to the engine block and then turning the engine over. No spark. Before I start on the rest of the car I would like to the ignition working at least :-)



I have checked so far:


1) Fuses - all OK
2) Ignition switch - tested OK at the multiplug by the fuses
3) Ignition relay - tested by substitution
4) Coil - tested by substitution
5) HT lead(s) - tested by substitution
6) Earth is OK
7) Ignition Amplifier module - replaced with new

I'm somewhat out of ideas now. The car is quite simple mechanically, a Rover K series engine but with carb and normal dizzy (no points) so no ECU to worry about. All that's left that I can think of is the dizzy itself, or rather the middle section that contains the coil that triggers the ignition.



Before I replace this part I would like to know if I should be checking for anything else - ie any known 'gotchas' with this car? Also, what voltages should I be seeing on the LT side of the coil?



Thanks for any help,



Kris.


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D

You can check the LT side and the pickup with a dwell meter - it should read near enough the same as with a points set up.

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A

As Dave sugested check the ignition module is witching the coil - if it isn't ----- Have you checked the cam belt and drive sprockets, if the distributer isn't turning you won't get a spark ? Also on some Rover models the ignition and fuel relays are wired through the oil pressure switch, so if the oil presure light isn't behaving normally ie -- on with ignition then off when cranking this could be the problem.

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D

Heh heh - my SD1 had this feature, and when I bought it as a one owner FMDSH car, it had been bypassed...

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K

On Sun, 5 Oct 2003 06:55:03 +0000 (UTC), awm said to us:

Hi,

I haven't taken the cam belt cover off to inspect the belt, but the rotor arm does rotate when cranking the engine. Also, the oil pressure light is as you describe - on and then goes out when cranking.

I'll try substituting the electronic part of the dizzy and see what happens.

Kris

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K

On Sun, 5 Oct 2003 09:59:33 +0000 (UTC), Kris Shaw said to us:

Hi,

I've replaced the electronic part of the dizzy and the battery (which was suspect anyway) and the car ran for 2-3 minutes and then ground to halt. The car wouldn't then restart and again no spark from the coil.

This sugests that some part of the LT circuit is being disrupted by engine temperate - a faulty sensor somewhere perhaps? The car has no ECU, but does a sensor on the inlet manifold and probably one or two others.

Any suggestions on what to check next? I don't have a dwell meter but I can check voltage and resistance. I might have to go and get the wiring diagram from Halfords at this rate!

Kris.

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