Misfiring again.....Ballasted car?
Turbo Mini Forums

Hey,

ok I put up a post a while ago about my car missing and I thought id fixed it when I fitted a new coil because it seemed to go away.

Its come back though. it misses badly and stutters then once it comes on boost its smooth and pulls really well. All goes away once it comes on boost.

My car being a 1989 mini city E is apparantley Ballasted. Could this be the problem and im slowly burning out coils?
Does anyone know how I should wire up my coil?

Any help would be much appreciated.

Cheers

James

If it is ballasted the power wire to the coil will be pink and white.

If it is a normal 12V feed it will be all white.

(this assumes no-one in the past has messed around and changed colours....)

The pink/white wire is actually a special resistance wire to drop the coil voltage down to 8-9Volts when running (it is bypased by the solenoid when starting).

If you have the pink/white wire just unplug it and tape it out of the way and run a plain wire (pfererably white) from a 12v switched ignition source.

Mid 80s the looms had both so you might find a white wire taped out of the way nearby but 89 is probably too late, worth a look though.

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

Yeah, mine had the pink and white wire connected.

Disconnected it and ran a 12v switched ignition live.

Cured it.

Cheers.

HI

I had/have a simmilar problem with my turbo mini. replaced whole ignition system coil, leads, module, plugs, link from dizzy to coil.

Ran well for about two days, i mean really well i was smoking everything, then went to start car and car wouldnt idle without throttle, got progresively worse into a horrible missfire!
Pulled into waitrose in worcester park turned off ignition to check over the obvious parts, no ridiculous heat from the coil and car wouldnt re start! Checked the spark and it was pathetic and inconsistent.
After getting towed back home and not being able to look at it for about 2 weeks it starts first time and hassnt missed a beat since. has anyone got any idea what this could have been? any light spread on situation would be helpfull / T3nhp

First, has the coil and module got the correct 12V feed and not the ballast feed that is so common on mid to late 80s Minis.

Second, when you renewed "everything" did you fit the new module with proper heatsink paste.

Finally, is it the correct coil for electronic ignition - they are different.

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

what rod says....

I have had modules that will be fine apart from when realy warm, ie in traffic or on a hot hot day, then they will die until cool, one was fine with the grill off, but didnt want to know with it on.

Its a 1980's mini with standard wiring loom!
The car has started missing again and refusing to idle.
This 12v feed where is its source by any chance is it the white cable with the stripe that goes back into the loom?

thanks T3nhp