crookedspireite
New Member
Been off road today, stayed about an hour, then got a tow home.
This is actually the second time I've had an AA van behind me, first time it was on my trailer
Can't say I enjoyed this time it was p1ss1ng down.
how come your landys still clean then???? after ten mins offroad mine is covered in shiiiiite wots ur secret
baniradley
New Member
I had a similar thing many years ago in an old Sherpa camper that I had, it turned out to be a worn rotor arm, so 1 new rotor arm and cover later and I never had that problem again.
how come your landys still clean then???? after ten mins offroad mine is covered in shiiiiite wots ur secret
The picture shows how far off road it got (on the grass verge)
ratty
I'm not special I'm limited edition
The picture shows how far off road it got (on the grass verge)
Thats still further than a gaylander.
nuggets
Banned
Oooo I spent 3 hrs at Birmingham Airport waiting for the AA to sort there act out today.
Gearbox failure on me RR...lots of revs not going anywhere.
Bet mine will cost more to fix
was it in the long stay car park or the short stay
??
I'm hoping that it's rotor arm or dizzy cap. Can't think why a rotor should fail suddenly and completely like that though, or a cap
The nice man from the AA said that we have power to the dizzy but no spark at the plugs so I dunno.
I thought that a wire had snapped somewhere it happend that quick, no splutters or coughs just powering up through the gears then zilch, nowt, dead, ignition still on etc but dead engine, can't understand it...
Any road up, new rotor arm and cap coming tomorrow so will try one at a time and see if it works.....wish us luck then eh
Not got points it's got an optronic type system in place of points so sparks have been good. It wont run propper on gas if the sparks are faulty and it was going like a train so just something broken I think .
pete_j
Active Member
If it is the arm or cap, surely the AA chap would have tried these, or couldn't he obtain spares for you? Usually they're pretty hot on such 'simple' faults. Does sound strange though.
I had a 1.8i Mk 2 Astra which failed in the same sort of area. Had got me 15 miles home OK, and I had parked it; next morning, nothing. AA chap found that end of the rotor arm had burnt away. He couldn't understand how I'd managed to get home the night before!
With your Optronic setup, is there still a capacitor present? I remember from reading fault-finding guides years ago that a failed capacitor could cause similar dead effects.
I had a 1.8i Mk 2 Astra which failed in the same sort of area. Had got me 15 miles home OK, and I had parked it; next morning, nothing. AA chap found that end of the rotor arm had burnt away. He couldn't understand how I'd managed to get home the night before!
With your Optronic setup, is there still a capacitor present? I remember from reading fault-finding guides years ago that a failed capacitor could cause similar dead effects.
The AA man said it was the rotor arm but he tested it wrong (didn't like to say anything), he tried to get a circuit from the retaining clip in the base to the brass bit on top. Any way the brass bit on mine picks up from the coil in the centre and is solid brass from there to the tip so can't be faulty.
I suspect you may be on to something now you mention capacitor, or whatever electronic trickery is associated with the dizzy..
I'm going up to have a look at it tomorrow as it is still parked where the AA man towed me to (my choice) as I don't really have the space here.
If this turns out to be expensive my missus will be a little angry to say the least.
pete_j
Active Member
Having refreshed my knowledge by reading the Wikipedia "Distributor" article...
The capacitor (or 'condenser') was connected across the contact breaker points to suppress sparks which would degrade the surface of the contacts. If this capacitor failed open-circuit, some arcing would occur across the points, reducing efficiency (at the very least) and gradually causing pitting and burning of the surfaces until they no longer conducted sufficiently. If it failed short-circuit, I don't think the system would work at all, as the points would be effectively closed all the time (ie no sparks anywhere?)
Unfortunately, that is likely to be of only passing interest, since you probably don't have a capacitor in the first place! However, it could well be some other part of the 'electronic ignition' that has failed...
Good luck in finding the fault.
The capacitor (or 'condenser') was connected across the contact breaker points to suppress sparks which would degrade the surface of the contacts. If this capacitor failed open-circuit, some arcing would occur across the points, reducing efficiency (at the very least) and gradually causing pitting and burning of the surfaces until they no longer conducted sufficiently. If it failed short-circuit, I don't think the system would work at all, as the points would be effectively closed all the time (ie no sparks anywhere?)
Unfortunately, that is likely to be of only passing interest, since you probably don't have a capacitor in the first place! However, it could well be some other part of the 'electronic ignition' that has failed...
Good luck in finding the fault.
The AA man said it was the rotor arm but he tested it wrong (didn't like to say anything), he tried to get a circuit from the retaining clip in the base to the brass bit on top. Any way the brass bit on mine picks up from the coil in the centre and is solid brass from there to the tip so can't be faulty.
.
Well the AA man was right and I was wrong
Every one who said rotor arm was correct
The 'new' rotor arm I put in the other day was replaced with another new one and she fired up straight away, must have been a dodgy new one, I get all the luck me, mostly bad.
Thanks for all suggestions, and I will be carrying a spare rotor arm with me in future.
