Scottish Minors

CHECK YOUR EARTH

A club member was having considerable problems with his Minor earlier this year. The car would start from cold run beautifully for a short time before failing. With help, the owner worked his way systematically through the ignition system replacing everything – without success. Even a new distributor failed to solve the problem. The fuel system was thoroughly checked and found to be in good order.

Despite all this work the car continued to fail. Each time it failed the noticeable feature was a very hot ignition coil. Fitting a cold coil meant the car would run.

Eventually the fault was nailed. Investigation showed that the earth strap from the gear box to the chassis was hanging by a single strand. A new earth strap with clean connections cured the problem and the car has run well since.

In the absence of a proper strap, the ignition coil appears to have been the electrical system’s only route to earth.


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