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TOTAL LOSS OF POWER


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Hi All, no further issues with losing oil, but yesterday the wife & I were returning from mid Wales to Hereford when suddenly there was a complete loss of power - no stuttering or misfiring first, just total power loss out of the blue. We had to be recovered back home. Call out guy felt it was probably due to coil or 123 dizzy.

I will pop over to Holdens in Bromyard tomorrow to get a coil but I wondered if anyone could confirm those likely possible causes. Car spins on starter just fine, and everything else appears normal, inc electric fuel pump.

Best wishes     Willie

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Certainly sounds likely but there are a couple of quick checks you can do (unless the recovery chap did them).

Have you checked for presence of a spark?  Is there power getting to the coil? 

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The call out guy did remove #4 plug and checked for a spark. None if I recall correctly.

The engine turned over on the starter, but absolutely no hint of any firing. Fuel pump running and in-line fuel filter not blocked. I checked that whilst waiting for him. I was planning to get a new coil tomorrow which will be a carried spare if it makes no difference. I asked the question in the Forum in case the guy missed something!

Willie

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UPDATE:  A fellow WyeDean member just  contacted me and suggested it might be over-heated coil. I just spun over the motor and iT STARTED immediately. I'll change the coil tomorrow and hopefully that's the end of it.

Many thanks for your responses          Willie

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2 hours ago, Willie said:

. We had to be recovered back home. Call out guy felt it was probably due to coil or 123 dizzy.

 

Best wishes     Willie

Hi Willie,

 there were some posts on here a short while back suggesting the the more modern Distributors (123 etc) put more of a demand on the coil.

I don;t really know if this is true.

Have you considered going back to a standard contact breaker and coil ignition.  These tend to fail slowly and are kinder to the coil.

You could also have a spare coil attached in the engine bay. So if there is another failure it is easy to swap things over.

 

Roger

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Thanks Roger. I'll stick with the 123 dizzy, but  I have it planned to carry a spare coil. I do already have spare dizzy cap and rotor arm in the boot.

A bit frustrating yesterday, as trip was in part to clock up miles for PoA contest at Malvern in August. Denied about 50 miles!! Rats.

Best wishes    Willie

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Willie when you say complete lake of power, do you mean it’s like you are driving into molasses no matter how much gas you give it? I had this symptom happen to me and it turned out to be a broken mechanical advance in the dizzy. The car started and idled fine but no guts.

Jim

Edited by Tr4aJim
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Jim,

        WE were driving on a decent A road at about 55mph; started to go up a 200 metre bank when....uh-oh says I, there is absolutely no power whatsoever. NO misfire, NO kangaroo petrol, just NOTHING. Rolled to a halt and just no hint of a firing stroke when I tried to restart. Starter motor behaving normally.  Looked for loose wires, checked elec fuel pump in boot - no issues. 

After a WyeDean group colleague told me about coils coming back to life when they cool, I tried to start the car this afternoon - it fired up instantly.

Willie

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Distributor caps can crack, leading to instant death!

Don't know why this should happen (I had a Renault 4 which suffered this) - but when it occurs, it stays dead.

Ian Cornish

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Hi Willie

Electronic distributors can also show the same symptoms as a coil when it overheats so don't rule that out unfortunately for you the car started without you substituting either the coil or distributor . My guess is the coil I would renew and road test taking a spare distributor. I changed to a csi electronic distributor and I keep the old unit in the boot along with a spare coil just in case

Chris   

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I have just fitted a new coil - Lucas DLB110. I'll purchase a spare at some point to go with the distributor cap and rotor arm I already carry.

Many thanks to everyone who has added comments.

News of the issue spread! We arrived at Holdens in Bromyard just as another TR4was departing. He immediately recognised me from a discussion he had yesterday!! The gent is the one who regularly wins the PoO due to his high mileage [as well as a high quality presentation].

Willie

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same happened to me in my 4A 3 or 4 years ago, hot day, stopped & wouldn't restart until cooled down (I was still on the original coil!) fortunatly I was back home, stopped car to open garage. New flamethrower from DD sorted. Tested original coil afterwards, 162 ohms!? I'm still on original dizzy with good old points

Doug

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I've been told by more than one rally mechanic that there are seem to be a lot of really rubbish imported coils on the market now, sold online.

Royal Enfield in India just recalled several hundred thousand of its bikes due to faulty coils. Just saying.

Nigel

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5 hours ago, Willie said:

I have just fitted a new coil - Lucas DLB110. I'll purchase a spare at some point to go with the distributor cap and rotor arm I already carry.

Many thanks to everyone who has added comments.

News of the issue spread! We arrived at Holdens in Bromyard just as another TR4was departing. He immediately recognised me from a discussion he had yesterday!! The gent is the one who regularly wins the PoO due to his high mileage [as well as a high quality presentation].

Willie

 

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HI Willie it was nice meeting up today and glad to hear the TR4 now up and running again, you can now get a few more miles on the TR ready for the Pride of Ownership.  We’re looking forward to IWE and of all goes well we will be joining you this year with the TR2 in the concourse hall 

All the best Jonathan and Caroline 

BD5A9859-A429-4992-903F-EB732A32DF7E.jpeg

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Dittto Jonathan, pleasant surprise to bump into you at Holdens this morning.

At least I have a UK made coil on board.

Looking forward to further camaraderie at Malvern!

Willie

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