Help my turbo kills ignition coils!
Turbo Mini Forums

Hi All,

I have a big problem.
My turbo mini seems to like to kill electronic coils!
Has anyone experienced this kind of problem before?

I used to run a sports coil once back before i had the car dyno tuned and never had a problem....
but since then i have decided i should fit a new electronic coil ( direct replacement for the metro) and change the ignition module as well as i was unsure of the condition of the old ones and it made sense to have that side of things all in tip top condition as at that point i thought the old parts may had been why the engine never ran that great.
I had car dyno'd and she has been running great.

Until one afternoon my car decided to die on the side of the road without warning when i was driving it.
It turned out to be No spark...i had power to coil but there was 'nobody home' and module was fine.
Upon buying yet another new coil...only this one like the little electronic ones you find in jappa cars made by bosch, my car started up first time and has been fine.
I thought end of problem

Only one nite of my way home from a mini meet my car started heavilly backfiring...i thought it was a fueling problem but since painstakingly inspecting the entire fuel system over a few weeks!...i discovered it was my 2nd coil that ive installed playing up on me!!!
And what is really confusing is i put my earlier electronic coil back in again and its running ok again!!!!!!

It has me puzzled !

I am thinking could it be something to do with my voltage/ charging system that is maybe spiking them or something? dunno

Any thoughts would be much appreciated.
Thanks,

Jeremy

1975 MkIII Morris Mini 1300 Turbo, 100bhp...if only it could run long enough to drive it legally!

What voltage is your alternator putting out?

Alex

AlexF

I have had this problem with lucas sport coil before. I opened the plug gaps to about 0.050" and it solved the problem.

Are you using the correct coil for the wiring loom? using a ballested ignition coil (requires 9v, used to ease starting on low battery charge) on a loom with out the resisted wire to the + terminal (pink and white) allowing 12v to the coil? this may be what is killing them?

where is the coil placed? on the engine? this may vibrate and make the oil in the coil cool less efficiently. Then they boil and stop working very quickly. I ruined 3 coils in a month on my 9000 rpm redline 1071. After I moved the coil to the inner wing, all has been fine

Edited by miniminor63 on 12th Oct, 2006.

Hey i have no idea on the voltage that my altenator is putting out, i guess i should test that.
My coil is mounted on the bulkhead so yeah no problems with vibration, That is interesting about the ballast resistors, i am not sure if it requires them or not...did metros orginally have them?
I do think my coil will be getting full 12 volts all the time.

1975 MkIII Morris Mini 1300 Turbo, 100bhp...if only it could run long enough to drive it legally!

pretty sure all metros were balasted, specially the lecy ignition ones, I'd say 90% chance thats the problem.

as stated above, the gold coil shouldnt be used with leccy ign...

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

"did you know you can toast potato waffles?"

You havn't got it wired backwards.or a radio suppressor on the wrong side

Metro turbo weekend driver,Mini turbo in the making again!

Hey all,

I tryed running the ballast resistor as suggested.
It runs ok until i get the high boost up then it starts to misfire...so i took it back off and runs sweet again.
I think i will change back to my sports coil that has " not for use with electronic ignition " stamped on it cause it never gave a problem....or maybe just run with 2 spare coils with me until i can trust the one thats in it dont fail again.
Thanks for your suggestions.

1975 MkIII Morris Mini 1300 Turbo, 100bhp...if only it could run long enough to drive it legally!

mine runs on 12v not baalsted 9v, so try running cable from fuse box ( unfused side) i recon yours is ballasted and the electy coils dont like that.

always looking for them bigger bunches of bannanas

Hey again,
Yeah my mine seems to run way beter 12v not ballasted 9v.
Im sure the positive cable does come for fuse box too. Today was the second day of the Mini Nationals here in N.Z, my car went well all day with just the normal electronic coil...but yet again it failed on the way home.
This is a headache!
Yeah i will just put my sport coil back on now and see if the problems disapear.

1975 MkIII Morris Mini 1300 Turbo, 100bhp...if only it could run long enough to drive it legally!

you need to measure the voltage to the coil if its more than 14.7v then that will blow it to.

fitting wrong coils to elecy ign wont help neither, my didnt like them so called sports coil.

but you must make sure that the coil you are buying is actually the right one,.

fitting a points coil to elecy set up will kill them to.

some suppliers over here havnt a clue and if you aint carefull they will give you a wrong coil.

best bet is to ask for a mg turbo coil from 87 onwards.

as so mg models had ducciler moving points set up like my old one but most moved over to elcy set up from 86-87 onwards.

always looking for them bigger bunches of bannanas

All MK2 1275 Metros had electronic ignition, not just the MG and turbo.

i know mate but a lot of motor factors seam to give you a standard coil unless you as for a mg one thats why i stated it.

always looking for them bigger bunches of bannanas

Hey,

I did specify for a MG Metro Coil when i brought it.
They looked it up in the book so im guessing they gave me the right one!
My car went great for a couple of days but yeah i have the problem of it missfiring on High boost again...and with my Sports Coil back on.

So i will check the voltage to coil and what alternater is putting out, and then see what coil i should be using.
I will keep you posted as to how i get on.

I brought a non turbo metro car the other day and have got it home. It does'nt use a ballast Resistor on its setup.
I may even pull the coil off that and give it a try.

Thanks
Jeremy

1975 MkIII Morris Mini 1300 Turbo, 100bhp...if only it could run long enough to drive it legally!

also check your float valve as well as this could be leaking past on high boost which will also give you a misfire as well.

always looking for them bigger bunches of bannanas

I'm using these coils with the standard electronic distributor.



No problems and not a lot of money.

Saul Bellow - "A great deal of intelligence can be invested in ignorance when the need for illusion is deep."
Stephen Hawking - "The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge."

Hi,
I know you are enquirying about coil,but what about your sparkplugs, which one are you using?
how do you know that's the coil, did you test it how many ohms do you find on primary and secondary?
when your mini is stopping does the coil is very hot?
what about the module? did you kept previous one, it seem to have worked before you change it
hth
cheers
fab

Hey,

I tested the voltage...the voltage supply to my coil sits around 12.5 volts and doesnt exceed 13.
Drops to 8 Volts when cranking....and this is without a resistor!
I tested the alternator charge to my battery...Battery has 12.3 volts and with alternator charging it sits around 13.7 but sometimes goes upto 14 volts.

So i dunno, that side of things seem pretty normal to me.
So im not sure why im having coil problems.

The coil never goes hot and is mounted on firewall. The module was new but have reverted back to the old one as it is fine and took the new one back to the shop as it cost me alot of $$$.

The sparkplugs are NGK BP7ES and where new a month ago...before that i had champions in it but never found them that great.
Normally i choose Champion over NGK in my other cars as usually have found them beter.

But yeah im lost as to what to do now!

Help !! ???

1975 MkIII Morris Mini 1300 Turbo, 100bhp...if only it could run long enough to drive it legally!

ngk can sometimes collapse under boost , depend on the set, but they don't like charge pressure, I would try another set or better an other make, I personaly like volvo 480 turbo plugs, champion and bosch super 4

Could it be your HT leads?

You've not mentioned them but they need to be in good condition.

Saul Bellow - "A great deal of intelligence can be invested in ignorance when the need for illusion is deep."
Stephen Hawking - "The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge."

No i dont think it would be my leads aye they are good near new and of the 8mm High Temp Silicone type.

Ok yeah i might try another set of plugs as easy to replace....Are the Volvo plugs made by volvo or especially for them by another company other than NGK/Champion/etc ??....as im thinking i would prob have to go to a dealership to get some here.

1975 MkIII Morris Mini 1300 Turbo, 100bhp...if only it could run long enough to drive it legally!

the volvo plugs are certainly not made by volvo , part n°3344899-4 engine : b18ft/b18ftm
they are double copper core and made in uk, they have the same core design as champions (script marks..)
but this plug is really different
why did I come to this plug?
I had a volvo 480 turbo, which had rattles problems, at this time I used the cross reference guide for plugs, and it was bp7es ( same as my mini engine) so I used a set of my mini plugs on it, and this was even worst (in fact to cut a long story, I replace many parts: leads fuell filter, fuell pump,fuell inj, coil,etc..to find only a small improvement).
then I registered on a 480 turbo forum to help, and many guys told me to use volvo plugs and it will cure my rattles, bingo a set of plugs later , it was as before .... powerfull)
then I looked at his comb chamber design, and it is a flat cob chamber with dished pistons, the plugs had a slightly longer nose with a bigger gap. as the cross reference named same as mini plugs i tried a set on a turbo mini which had troubles,they worked greatly, I also used them on my daihatsu 3 cyl turbo with success,I know use them where I were using bosch wrx ones,
remind that I'm talking about road mini turbos, race and high boost would need colder plugs

a pic to show that this is not black magic, the plug nose go down in the chamber , it is also strong and with double copper core increase heat dissipation therefore decrease temp of the electrodes.