Problem for your deliberation

[kevh]

Hi Guys,
My series 2 starts on the button and runs perfect until it gets hot, then it starts to splutter upon acceleration, rapidly gets worse and cuts out, if I leave it to cool down the car starts and we then go through the same cycle again.
My first guess is the coil, what would your suggestion be?

[Heuer]

Coil. Check you have the correct one (3ohm non ballast for the S1, 1.5ohm with ballast on the S2) and they are not interchangeable.

[kevh]

Have you got that right David?
My chasis number is 1R 35159 which according to SNG should not have a ballast resistor and I currently don't, although I did have to check

[politeperson]

I think David could be right, although I had exactly the same thing symptoms on a S1 which turned out to be restricted fuel delivery caused by an internally corroded fuel line.

The poor fuel pump could only just provide enough fuel for the car to start and idle. It would then drive for 10 minutes then pop bang and eventually conk out. A new fuel line produced a big health spurt of fuel at the carb end of things and it was all fine.

[christopher storey]

My vote is for the rotor arm becoming conductive. The symptoms you state are absolutely classic . To try and eliminate this, try interposing a layer of cling film between the rotor arm and the distributor shaft ( it takes a bit of fiddling to do this without puncturing the film ) . If this eliminates the problem, the the best solution is a Distributor Doctor rotor arm

[SimonBrown]

Had exactly the same problem with mine. New rotor arm from the Distributor Doctor fixed it.

[kevh]

Many thanks for your replies, I will get a couple of the rotor arms and a coil, fitting just the arm first will tell me which of the two is the culprit, a spare will always come in handy.

[gtjoey]

Are you running points or after market electronic.?
gtjoey1314

[kevh]

still on the points

[Laicey]

Another vote for the rotor arm. It's a pain to diagnose as by the time you stop and check for spark it's working again. Lucas outsourced manufacturing of the old rotor arms a few years ago and the new ones short out when hot. Buy alternatives from specialists or put the the old one back in.

[kevh]

It's only a couple of months since I changed the rotor arm so I didn't suspect that would be the problem but I changed it today and went for a drive, yesterday the problems started at around the 5 mile mark and today I drove 12 miles without any issues so it looks promising. I will order some better ones from the distributor doctor as I can no longer trust the ones I have been using.

[mgcjag]

Hi Kev....i had a similar problem....car only started to splutter once it got hot.....I changed all the usual parts but it still persisted........finally solved it......a wire not crimped tight enough in the spade connect that fitted onto the coil (pulled on wire..it came out).......so check or re make the ends through the low tension side....i now always crimp and solder......Steve

[Heuer]

Also check the fuel filler cap. It should have a vent otherwise a vacuum will form in the tank which eventually overcomes the pump pressure. Once the car is stopped the vacuum leaks away and the car can be started again.

[Marcus2571]

Not sure if this has been solved but would recommend checking and replacing fuel filter. If blocked this can starve the engine of an essential element of the combustion process!

This would tally would the engine restarting once cooled as the pressure drop in the fuel line allows any sediment to settle and once the pump gets going it clogs the filter again

M

[kevh]

To update this post, I started with the easiest fix and fitted a new rotor from the doctor and this solved the problem. The rotor I took out had done less than 100 miles, this has taught me not to trust a part just because it is new.

[tinworm]

I had exactly the same on my 3.8 FHC - that was the rotor arm too - in my case the engine ran just fine at all speeds but if you stopped it it would not restart until it had cooled.

Barrie