haunted mini?

Thread view:

Enable EMail Alerts

Start New Thread

Thread rating:

Sonic - 15 Jun 2004 08:17 GMT

1994 Cooper 1.3 Spi (goes by the name of wiggles, and no, I didn't
name him)

for some reason this car appears to be haunted considering the number
of electrical problems we've had (various fuses, lights not working
etc), but the most recent ones have foxed me, a local mecanic and the
local mini centre....

1) If the car sits in traffic for more than a couple of minutes it
cuts out. temperature gauge still reads normal. after a while of
sitting the car will restart and run with no problems. HT
leads/Plugs/Cap/Rotor Arm all changed, diagnostic machine at mini
centre gave clean bill of health. I'm think there must be something
thats very temperature sensitive cutting out the engine, possibly
engine management but no idea what. (oh and once it reved itself to
2000rpm before cutting out?)

2) If you flash the lights/put the hazards on the stereo cuts out but
then ccomes back on immeadiatly with no memory loss.

3) The brake lights don't work (although it's probably just the
switch, i'm mentioning it more out of annoyance than anything else!)

Any advice/guesses/exorcists very welcome.

Tristan

Reply to this Message

Walter - 15 Jun 2004 08:33 GMT

> 1994 Cooper 1.3 Spi (goes by the name of wiggles, and no, I didn't
> name him)
[quoted text clipped - 22 lines]
>
> Tristan

It has been my experience that when a vehicle keeps shutting off in
traffic for no apparent reason and the problem isn't readily seen,
chances are good it is the ignition module/engine computer. I'm not
familiar with that particular car, but most of the time, the offending
part will be hot to the touch.

Brake lights not working is usually the switch and it's usually located
somewhere on or near the brake pedal. The last one I replaced was $8 or
so. If it's not the switch, you may have a bunch of burned out bulbs.
I have had that happen on a few cars, too. While it's rare that all the
bulbs burn out at once, it has happened.

As for the hazard lights/radio thing, I have no idea other than their
sharing a ground somewhere.

Reply to this Message

Sonic - 15 Jun 2004 19:20 GMT

> > 1994 Cooper 1.3 Spi (goes by the name of wiggles, and no, I didn't
> > name him)
[quoted text clipped - 37 lines]
> As for the hazard lights/radio thing, I have no idea other than their
> sharing a ground somewhere.

Cheers

I would incline to agree with you, except the ignition module on this
has just been changed (£80 from rover main dealer. for a plastic box
with some wires. damn...) Will check for "hot things" anyway. good
idea.

I thought it might have been the coil but it still cut out after it
was changed. it's going into croydon minis on Monday, where theres
talk of having to send the ECU off to be checked. This really isn't
good news...

As for the brake light switch, that really was me mentioning it out of
annoyance - i took one look at it and the whole thing had just
disintergrated. I can't belive what a cheap bit of plastic it is! on
the up side at least this it wasn't an electrical fault. yey!

(On a side note, after fixing minor things like the above i quite
often take a look in the haynes book of lies to see what bizzare way
they suggest it is done. This time they tell you to adjust the switch
so it comes on after 6.3mm of pedal travel. Please, someone tell me
how we are supposed to achive this with a plastic switch?)

Anyhoo, and more to the point, I really, really don't want to send
this ECU to rover....

Also I vaugely remember some suspicious radio wiring taken off the
fuseblock, I'll take a look at some other point. I'm a bit too angry
at the car to go near it now.

Tristan
"Project" custom 1982 Mini HL
"Motorway and mini tow" 1999 Rover 825
Carer of a 1994 Cooper Spi (shares many engine management parts with
the rover, usefully!)

Reply to this Message

Tim - 16 Jun 2004 07:17 GMT

My 2000 model Cooper did the same of a while, we traced the fault to the
loom. On the bulkhead there is a black box tingy (I know very technical)
with a mass of wires going into it. One of the wires had a crack in the
insulation which was casueing a short. In conversation with one of the guys
at Longbridge who was on the assembly line he told me this sort of thing is
not that uncommon, because the looms arrived all wound up in a knot and got
piled i nto cartons....

> 1994 Cooper 1.3 Spi (goes by the name of wiggles, and no, I didn't
> name him)
[quoted text clipped - 22 lines]
>
> Tristan

Reply to this Message

Sonic - 17 Jun 2004 15:44 GMT

Funny you should say that, thats exactly what the local garage just told us!

Thanks for the help. loom getting re-wired as i type.

Cheers!

> My 2000 model Cooper did the same of a while, we traced the fault to the
> loom. On the bulkhead there is a black box tingy (I know very technical)
[quoted text clipped - 30 lines]
> >
> > Tristan

Reply to this Message

Fitzy - 17 Jun 2004 21:24 GMT

It could be the bottle of spirits on the back seat ?

Sorry,,, could not resist that one,

Fitzy

> Funny you should say that, thats exactly what the local garage just told us!
>
[quoted text clipped - 36 lines]
> > >
> > > Tristan

Reply to this Message