No spark cont..

257spring · Post by **257spring** » Sat Jul 07, 2012 11:41

Hello

Finally got onto this group, I've got this excel, and it was going but the petrol tank needed cleaning, so I took it out, cleaned it, put it back in; Went to start the car and NO SPARK, just no spark, changed the coil, still no spark, changed the ignition amp, still no spark.

Is there anyone with some insight into these car that can fix it?
(Nottingham area)

regards
Pete.

AndyC · Post by **AndyC** » Sat Jul 07, 2012 12:12

There's no common fault that I know of that causes this, there are however lots of possible ones.

It's going to be a case of diagnosing based on checks, measurements and inspection.

I suppose the simplest two are, check for +12v to the coil and check that you don't have a spark at the coil (before it goes into the dissy cap.
Then work on what you find from those two.

257spring · Post by **257spring** » Sat Jul 07, 2012 12:24

There's no spark coming from the king lead out of the coil, I did turn the car on (so that you can here the fuel pump) and got out the multi meter, but to be Honest I don't know what I'm doing with it, the needle jumped at the coil and at the ignition amp, but don't understand it or what setting to put the meter on..

257spring · Post by **257spring** » Sat Jul 07, 2012 12:55

Same problem (No Spark).. the local bike auto electrician said he would have a go at it, if he could get a wiring diagram is there or where do I find this?

All the best
Pete

AndyC · Post by **AndyC** » Sat Jul 07, 2012 12:57

OK.

Rather than write war & peace I'll pop up a few basic checks, if you get a good result then we are making progress. If none get a spark then it will be more involved checks and it will get more complex to explain them.

Right, on the multimeter you'd be looking for a voltage setting of at least 14volts (12v battery is normally close to 13v and with car running it goes higher still so 14v means you'll not damage the meter). We'll assume that's what you were on.

So, a suitable voltage at the coil (on the +ve terminal) is good.
use the multimeter there again, ignition on and check that you get roughly the same reading if you put the red +ve lead to the +ve terminal you probably just checked it on, and the black -ve lead on the other terminal (-ve) of the coil.
If you do, that means you've not only got power to it but also a route for the electricity to flow.

Assuming that's good then put the multimeter down for a while. Pop the main (king) lead from the coil to the dissy out from the dissy cap, pop it on a spark plug with the spark plug resting so that it gets an earth via the engine and that you can see the area of it that would spark. Now, with the ignition on again try removing the terminals from the +ve side of the coil and while you do it, check for a spark at the spark plug. If it's awkward you can then keep tapping the wires to the coil terminal. If you see a spark then it's safe to assume the coil is OK.

If the coil is OK because you get a spark with the above test then you're probably looking at an issue with the amplifier / dissy pick-up/ leads between them.

If that test doesn't give a spark, try disconnecting the engine speed limiter, it's the smaller black item, made out of plastic with wires going to it from the amplifier (amplifier is the black metal box bolted to the inner wing with wires to the coil, dissy, limiter etc). Try the test again with that limiter now disconnected.
If you now start getting a spark where you didn't before then we know what the issue is, if you don't reconnect the limiter.

257spring · Post by **257spring** » Sat Jul 07, 2012 13:31

Thanks a lot,

I will attempt to do this, I've printing it out.

All the best!
Pete

257spring · Post by **257spring** » Sat Jul 07, 2012 13:55

It's a new coil, just got the multi meter out and now it's not reading anything at the coil. Maybe the Amp's at fault, I might change it over cause there was current there before.

Is there anyone around Nottingham, or is there a diagram to cover this and then I can hand it over to the local guy here who works on bikes.

With the multi meter at fifty DC the needle is showing 6 and a bit, around 28, or 140 depending which line you want to read from.

Also there is no speed limiter, this is driving me nut's

Pete.

257spring · Post by **257spring** » Tue Jul 10, 2012 18:22

Hello,

Changed the starter motor unit today no joy with that.

There is a current at the coil and at the Amp but still no spark!

So what could it be?

It's got to be the distributor?

Is there a trip switch?

regards
pete.

Lotus-e-Clan · Post by **Lotus-e-Clan** » Tue Jul 10, 2012 18:49

You need to explain why you changed the starter ... it has no bearing on lack of spark except perhaps for chassis earth strap or starter relay issues.

257spring · Post by **257spring** » Tue Jul 10, 2012 19:16

It was making a noise also put the multimeter on it and it read nothing

amarshall · Post by **amarshall** » Tue Jul 10, 2012 19:23

Hang on - was the engine turning over properly ? Were there any other symptoms ? (loss of lighting, low voltage readings etc) ?

257spring · Post by **257spring** » Tue Jul 10, 2012 19:31

Yeah it was all working, then I cleaned out the petrol tank (took it out put it back), went to start it and it's dead.
All the lights are working (I think) petrol pump etc.. Don't get it?

KevW · Post by **KevW** » Tue Jul 10, 2012 20:25

Hi Pete, nice to have you on the forum. If you can post the first 7 characters of the chassis number of your Excel it would help enormously in solving your problem.

257spring · Post by **257spring** » Tue Jul 10, 2012 20:53

Ok, will do

Can't get it at the minute, not at the house,
Can't get my head round it and I have to learn this,
as soon as it gets electrical then.... I'm having trouble getting it.

All the best
Pete.

fueltheburn · Post by **fueltheburn** » Tue Jul 10, 2012 21:54

Dont want to sound patronising but have you got enough juice in the battery to turn over the engine for a few seconds without issue.
My favourite reply to all things electrical is always battery first.
Battery on my one last week was showing correct voltage but blatantly at less than 1/4 capacity. Upon further investigation my battery was over 8 years old. It was clearly sulphated up internally. Borrow a friends battery to check it isn't something stupid like voltage shown but not enough power for decent current to run anything. All my guages showed 12volts but not enough to operate anything.
Only way I found this out was because I left the oil pan heater on 2 hours instead of 30-60mins......completely dead. A fully charged battery should power this for at least 7-8 hours and still start the car.
In effect, for the last few months I was lucky my car had enough power to start it and was subsequently running off the alternator

.
Worth noting some of electrical issues have now disappeared!!!
Tachometer now steady, relays not clicking and idle of engine is stronger.

The Lotus Grand Tourers

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