Car broke down, here we go again...

[macaroni]

Driving home on Friday and night, in a traffic queue, and the car just stopped. No warning, nothing.
After kicking it for a while and getting towed home, I started looking at it. There is plenty of fuel getting through, but no spark.
There is power at the coil, but nothing coming out of the dizzy so that's my prime suspect.

I knew I should have kept the 1.9gti engined car I sold a few weeks ago...

[Anders Dinsen]

How very annoying! I remember you had problems with your ignition module some years back - could that be your problem again? In any case, I hope you get it fixed before you regret selling the other Murena too much

/Anders

[macaroni]

I did have problems with the ignition module, but that was replaced and the symptoms are different.

I now suspect the coil, but that was also replaced soon after I got the car.

Does the 2.2 engine have a ballast resistor? A local car electrician, who seemed to know about these cars, reckoned it did, but I can't one anywhere in the vicinity of the coil/ignition module.

Any help gratefully received.

Antony

[Anders Dinsen]

I did have problems with the ignition module, but that was replaced and the symptoms are different.

I now suspect the coil, but that was also replaced soon after I got the car.

So was mine, but it turned out to be faulty anyway. It was either the wrong type or a bad coil, or both. I'm now running with a used Bosch salvaged from another Murena as that was what I had when I realised that my coil was to blame for all the running problems I had, and NOT my new Weber's

Does the 2.2 engine have a ballast resistor? A local car electrician, who seemed to know about these cars, reckoned it did, but I can't one anywhere in the vicinity of the coil/ignition module.

Absolutely no. Ballast resistors are only used with 9V coils, where the resistor is bypassed while the engine is cranking to give a better spark when the starter motor is loading the battery. That's not necessary with electronic ignition which doesn't drive the coil by voltage, but by current. So you need a coil for Bosch electronic ignition. A good auto electrician should be able to help you there.

/Anders

[macaroni]

Thanks very much Anders.

I removed the coil and it looks like a real cheap one, but it was fitted in an emergency, so I guess it could be at fault.

I'm surprised the auto electrician guy mentioned the ballast resistor, as he knew the ignition was electronic.

I'll try and get one tomorrow.

Cheers bud.

[Anders Dinsen]

Cheers bud.

Cheers, good luck!

[michaltalbot]

My old silver 2,2 did exactly the same. I drove long distance and in one moment it stoped and engine wasn't able to start. After some searching I found that coil connectors were released. They were on their place, but have no contact. It was simply a result of lot of demounting / mounting them from the coil. So I squeezed them a little and everything was O.K.  Very often the biggest problems are caused by the smallest reason 

[macaroni]

Well I had the coil tested and it seems OK. I guess I need to dismantle, clean and refit the whole ignition system and see if that helps.

I won't feel confident though as I won't have found anything "wrong".

I can feel another sale coming on...

[Anders Dinsen]

Well I had the coil tested and it seems OK. I guess I need to dismantle, clean and refit the whole ignition system and see if that helps.

Don't worry - you'll find the problem. It's there! At lest you don't have a periodic fault - they can turn your hair really grey.

/Anders

[roy4matra]

Driving home on Friday and night, in a traffic queue, and the car just stopped. No warning, nothing.
After kicking it for a while and getting towed home, I started looking at it. There is plenty of fuel getting through, but no spark.
There is power at the coil, but nothing coming out of the dizzy so that's my prime suspect.

It sounds quite simple, and I can't understand the supposed electrician and his suggestion or analysis.  He's not much of an electrician in my opinion!  If you have 12v power at the coil then it can't be a ballast system! (and as Anders pointed out this is an electronic system anyway!)  You pull the king lead from the distributor, hold it close to a vehicle earth and turn the engine over.  You should get a series of sparks.  If you do, the coil, amplifier and distributor appear to be working.  If you don't, you have a problem with one of them.

If you now refit the king lead and pull one of the spark plug leads off a plug and repeat the test, you should get a series of sparks again but obviously less often than before.  If you don't, then the fault is either with the rotor arm or distributor.  If you do, then check all plug leads if necessary to make sure they are all getting sparks.  I once had a distributor that only fired on two plugs as the rotor shaft bearings were worn and it was not making contact on the other two.

As always, tracking down a fault involves collecting information and analysing the results, to lead you to the cause of the fault.

Roy.

[macaroni]

As always, tracking down a fault involves collecting information and analysing the results, to lead you to the cause of the fault.

Roy.

That all sounds very dull and boring, so I just replaced the coil, as that was the only thing I could actually buy, and would you believe it, it works!

I don't know if it was actually the coil, or something else I fixed while faffing about, but anyway, it starts.

Unless it has a good 6 months of solid reliability, its going by the end of the year.
I've got my sights on something Italian and twin-turboed...

[michaltalbot]

Italian and twinturboed...?

Two synonyms for high reliability (take it easy )

[lewisman]

"Two synonyms for high reliability"

unless of course it is one of the new Bravo jtd's

[davidewanprice]

Would it by chance be a V6 with twin turbos or V8! maserati maybe?

[macaroni]

I have been offered a Maserati Quattroporte Evoluzionne with the Murena as part exchange, which I am very tempted to do.
The main problem is that the interior of the Maser is monstrously beige, which I hate. It did get me looking at 4portes and 3200gts which are tantalisingly cheap, but as has been pointed out, not exactly dependable.
When the Murena breaks down it is an inconvenience, but if/when the Maser breaks it will be inconvenient and very expensive and in the case of the 3200gt, dangerous.

Anyway, enough dreaming, I'm off for a spin in the Matra, wish me luck!