no spark!
Turbo Mini Forums

hi there!
i know it will sound silly but i do't know what to do!!

so i swap my 988cc engine to mini metro turbo, but it has electric distributor! (i had mechanical before)

so i don't really know where all wires go!! can any one half with wiring pic?

Another thing is that i can understand if there coming out any + from my coil!
i put my finger into it to check :) so there was very very weak + coming out and not always, it it should be like that?

i tried to change coils, (i have 3 of them) and all results are the same :(
so i was wondering maybe my coil wirings are wrong! any pic?


any steps what i can check?
any pic with electric distributor, and all the rest wiring??
how to check is my coils are working?? (but they were before!)

i really don't know what to do now, i think i checked everything, but i am 100% there is something what i missed :(((((

Nothing special!

as far as i can recolect ........... i may be wrong but......... you need a live wire to the pos on the coil when the ignition is switched on then piggy back that live wire to the destrib on the top terminal then the bottom terminal goes to the neg on the coil if you want to use a taco piggy back off the neg on the coil

hope this helps

do someone have wiring picture, diagram?

i think i have wrong wiring to my coil!

is there 1 wire from ignition to coil (+)
then (+) and (-) goes from coil to electric distributor.
1 wire from body (-) to coil (-)

so it is 2 (+) and 2 (-) on coil?

how can i check if distributor works? can i just take cup off and look if its rotating?

i will check my coils tomorrow, but don't believe that all 3 gone at the same time?


if i plug spark plug into spark lead end (which goes from coil to distributor cup top) instead distributor cup, will it give spark?

Nothing special!

what year is your car? you could have the ballasted ignition setup that only gives 9v unless cranking the starter.

Schrödinger's cat - so which one am I ???

''what year is your car? you could have the ballasted ignition setup that only gives 9v unless cranking the starter.''

i have 1990 checkmate, and i got complete engine(with coil, electronic distri... ect) from mini metro!
what is ballasted ignition? how i can chage it tomake it work??

Nothing special!

Nothing special!

sorry for my grammer

Nothing special!

Pink/white is usually a ballast wire which is a special piece of resistance wire to drop the voltage down to 8-9Volts for a ballast type coil (which runs at a lower voltage and is fed direct from the starter solenoid when starting the car when the battery voltage is low).

EDIT - as yours is 1990 is almost certainly is as they started fitting it in 83/84 but you can never be 100% certain as Minis have often had theire wiring messed about in previous lives - endEDIT

If you have (or can borrow) a multimeter, turn the ignition on and measure the voltage at the coil +ve to confirm. Note, this test is only valid if the electronic module on the dizzy is connected and working, so get those connections right (as listed above) first.

In the mid 80's when they first started using ballast ignition, they still used the old loom with the 12V feed wire and added the ballast wire on top of it, and taped the 12V wire up and tucked it inside the slam panel. I'm not sure if they were still doing that in 1990 but it's worth a look. If not, you need to run a new wire from the fusebox, off a terminal which has 12V only when the ignition is turned on, to the coil +ve.

There is no simple way to test the module other than to wire it up correctly and see if you get a spark. If you have used the original cable that belonged with the electronic dizzy (between the coil and the module), it has a connector at the dizzy end that will only go on one way and the coil end has male and female connectors so should only fit one way.

Finally, forgot to mention before, you need the correct coil for the electronic dizzy, the originals are actually marked for electronic ignition only but some aftermarket replacements aren't.

Edited by Rod S on 26th Feb, 2010.

Schrödinger's cat - so which one am I ???

mmm..

i am so confused now!

so i need to make sore that positive wire white/pink is giving 12v on coil, not 9v?

than i need to buy special coil, for electronic distributor!
for SINGLE POINT INJECTION MODELS would be ok? or which one i need!

any suggestions where to buy correct coil and good quality?

Nothing special!

You need to make sure the positive wire is a 12V wire, not a ballast 8-9V wire.

The colours usually give it away as the 12V wires are usually plain white and the 8-9V ballast wires are usually pink/white.

But if you want to be sure use a DVM / multimeter / voltmeter / whatever else you want to call it....

You really can't trace electrical problems without one.

And you don't need a "special" coil, just the one that belongs with the electronic dizzy. Lots of later Minis and Metros - carburettor versions - used the electronic dizzys. The originals coils that belonged with them are clearly marked.

Schrödinger's cat - so which one am I ???

Nothing special!

Any wire (of a suitable size, ie, like all the rest in the loom) will give you the 12V you need if connected between fusebox and coil.

The point is that the BALLAST wire (if it is the pink/white one) is NOT a normal wire.

It might look like a normal wire but a ballast wire is made of special cable to provide resitance and hence lower the voltage.

This is why you really need a DVM/volmeter/multimeter etc. to try and understand your problem.

But the correct connectiopns are as I've already said, 12V to coil +ve, two wires down from coil +ve and coil -ve to the electronic module (but they have to be the right way around) and nothing else on coil -ve unless you have an electronic tacho but just leave that off until the engine runs.

Schrödinger's cat - so which one am I ???

so i need to look for non ballast coil?

Nothing special!

ok i will go to check, hope it will work :)))))))))))))

Nothing special!

Schrödinger's cat - so which one am I ???

yea, but how i can buy it, if i don't know what to look for? :/

ballast or non ballast?
electric or SPORTS COIL
is this one would be ok?
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/COIL-ELECTRONIC-IGNI...=item58863d1687

or
this one would be better?
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/MINI-COOPER-LUCAS-GO...=item48395ca512

Nothing special!

The first one
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/COIL-ELECTRONIC-IGNI...=item58863d1687

...as it's the one specifically listed for the electronic ignition modules on Minis and Matro Turbos,,,
But you really should have had the original correct one provided with what you have bought for your engine.

You could also probably get that eBay listed one cheaper elsewhere.

Schrödinger's cat - so which one am I ???

You have a lot more patience than I, Rod, good for you !

Nothing special!

"Turbo's make torque, and torque makes fun"

"did you know you can toast potato waffles?"

You got me thinking Rod because I know my 90' Mayfair is fitted with a ballast wire (pink/white), so I went out with a multimeter and measured 11.6 with the engine not running in position 2 on ignition?

However, there is another wire running beside it in to the same terminal which is thinner, but is yellow/white, so maybe this is the backup 12v wire you were speaking of?

When my car was running coil and dizzy, it was wired the same way so i kept it like this when i switched over to jolt, and ended up taking the power from the coil feed to EDIS and the coilpack.

First, if you are on a conventional contact breaker setup, and just measure the voltage at pos 2 it is hit and miss what reading you get.

The coil will only draw current and hence drop the voltage down the ballast wire if the contact breakers are closed. If they are open, there is no voltage drop down the ballast wire because your multimeter draws sod all current.

If you are currently feeding something like EDIS from the pink/white the voltage you measure will be derived from the current it is drawing with the ignition in position 2. The full drop down to 8-9V only occurs when a heavy current item (the coil) is energised.

The yellow/white (sometimes yellow/black) is the ballast bypass wire. It comes from the solenoid so whenever the starter solenoid is energised, the maximum battery voltage available is fed to the coil just for the cranking period. That's the purpose of ballast ignition - low voltage coil fed through a resistance wire normally but fed straight from the battery (via starter solenoid) when trying to start.

Schrödinger's cat - so which one am I ???

hi Rod :)
i checked my electronic distributor module and it is cracked so i think it is toasted, any suggestions where to get cheap one?? :)

one more question:
i am confused, do i need to change all wire from coil to ignition, there going two wires from inside car and they are connected to white/pink wire which separates in two wires again and one goes to coil + but other goes to fuse box top one.
So should i change only that white/pink wire to normal or i need to change everything what goes from inside car as well to get 12v?

Thank you a lot :)

Nothing special!

The modules come up on eBay from time to time but you have to be carefull.

The original was a seperate module on it's own mounting plate, the second was bolted on the side of the dizzy and had a two wire connector (Lucas size tags) and the third was also on the side of the dizzy but had a three wire connector with smaller tags (but only two wires were used !!!).

ie, this is the three terminal module
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Escort-Fiesta-Orion-...=item20af8aab29

So be carefull which you buy.

The only wire you need to change is the pink/white from the fusebox (or it may be from the ignition switch as Leyland were forever changing things) to the coil +ve.

You just need a plain wire, ie a 12V wire, not a ballast wire, from the ignition switch or the right terminal on the fusebox down to the coil+ve

Schrödinger's cat - so which one am I ???