Mi16 Killing Distributors.

[ada205 2]

Hi everyone, hope one of you guys can help with my problem.

 

I'd better start at the beginning... just over a year ago my gti, which is an Mi16 on carb's develpoed a fault with the engine cutting out once warm, though if driven very carefully at very low revs you could just about avoid cutting out, but give it the slightest toe and get it a tadge warm and it'd cut out. Once cut out, would not start for around 10 minutes. Replaced ignition amp & coil with no luck, only thing left was dizzy. Tried cap and arm first just in case with no luck, so dizzy was replaced with a recon, and this cured the fault...

Then last weekend the fault returned! After some enthusiastic driving, the car missfired with a jolt and loud backfire, and died. Ten minutes later, it started first flick, and got me home with two more cut outs! I cant be 100% it's the dizzy again, as haven't done any checks yet, but the symptoms are exactly as before, and I'm sure theres a tapping noise coming from either the dizzy or the adaptor.

Only other thing worth mentioning is when the engine dies, if you keep coasting in gear, only indication the engines stopped is lack of rev counter. Nothing else changes on the dash, with no oil or battery lights coming on untill i dip the clutch.

Was just wondering if anyone else has had problems with 8v dizzy's on Mi's or any idea whats going on? Could it be the adapter? Should i buy a new dizzy instead of recons? Theres a pic of the type of adaptor i'm using if you click my sig for the Mi below, it's a bit distant tho.

 

Appreciate any advive or thoughts on what's goin on. Adrian.

Edited May 2, 2006 by ada205

[d-9 0]

Anthonys old mi16 killed lots of dizzy caps, both mi16 and 8v, eventually changed everything before he sold it to me, I changed the altenator and its seemed fine since, thou ive only done about 50miles in it so its kinda hard to say.

[ada205 2]

Thanks for ya thoughts mate.

To be fair, the recon dizzy was spotless when i got it, and came with brand new cap, arm and the lead that i think plugs to the ignition amp, but who knows whats actually been done inside on a recon? The car only does about 3000 miles a year, and most of the time is treated with kid glooves. At this rate, god knows what the life span of a dizzy on the car would be if i tracked it each weekend!

[davemar 16]

This is a coindincence.

 

I was only a week ago when my engine started to occasionally misfire, then suddenly really badly misfire and cut-out. It was barely driveable, but I managed to stutter to my garage. I looked at the distributor and noticed the little oval shaped piece of metal on the side of it had gone. I also noticed lots of metal dust around the hole. So I removed the distributor and it seems that the internals had completely let go. I took the thing apart today and it was full of swarf and dust, clearly something had shredded. Never having taken one apart before, I'm not sure what it should look like, so not sure what has died in it.

 

I fitted a spare distributor I had lying around, and that seems to work OKish. But in the past couple of days the car sometimes doesn't want to start. I'm wondering whether this spare one is also a bit flakey. It runs not too badly, but still feels a little 'missy' at lower revs.

[Martin@PRD 0]

Known this for years with my mi and a couple of customers, basically it how the dizzy adaptor is fitted, the offset cam shaft boss sometimes isnt fitted on correctly, but some times the aluminium body has been machined incorrectly, place a washer between the dizzy and the adaptor this should stop the pressure on the dizzy spindle what courses the fault

[ada205 2]

Known this for years with my mi and a couple of customers, basically it how the dizzy adaptor is fitted, the offset cam shaft boss sometimes isnt fitted on correctly, but some times the aluminium body has been machined incorrectly, place a washer between the dizzy and the adaptor this should stop the pressure on the dizzy spindle what courses the fault

Cheers mate, much appreciated. That sounds bang on. Seemed strange that I've never owned anything other than gti's all my life, and never had a dizzy problem other than one with a knackered lead many years ago, then this car starts killing them on average every 3000 miles.

I'll try what you advise mate, and if i have any more problems, I'll replace the adapter and no doubt be pestering around this great forum to seek advice on where's best to buy one from, as I'm now thinking not all dizzy adapters are created equal!

 

Thanks all for you comments and replies. Adrian.

[ada205 2]

Hi all.

 

Just to let anyone who maybe having similar problems, this what was found when i removed the dizzy.

 

Basically, Matin@prd was spot on. First thing spoted when the dizzy was removed was metal filings ans some bigger chuncks of metal left in the bottom of the adapter, which are pictured below.....

[inferno 1]

u get used to this, i always use to carry a spare dizzy cap as knowhere stocked them and i could never get them the same day

Edited May 12, 2006 by inferno

[ada205 2]

Right, second time lucky! Here are the pics that should have been in the previous post, which i cocked up!

 

This is the first pic, showing bits of shredded metal that once were part of a dizzy!

 

This pic shows some of the bigger bits more clearly.

 

Finally, heres a side by side shot of the destroyed dizzy and a good one. It's hard to see in the pic, but if you look close you can see that the spindle on the old dizzy, which is the one on the right, is shorter than the one on the left!

 

The base of the spindle was completely melted, and smelt like it'd been getting seriously hot. There was metal filings all over the place, including in the main body of the dizzy.

 

I did as Martin advised, and all is now good, with the car feeling seriously quick. Actually wondering if the timing was slighly out before, as now feels definately quicker than before the old dizzys death. Could only space out around 1mm, as oil seal was'nt fitting fully home if spaced any further out, so only time will tell if this is enough, or if it's gonna keep killing disributors, in which case i'll have to buy another adapter.

 

Thanks everyone for your advice, especially Martin. Cheers mate.

 

 

u get used to this, i always use to carry a spare dizzy cap as knowhere stocked them and i could never get them the same day

You jumped the gun a bit there mate, as i cocked up my post. My problem was at the other end of the dizzy, though funny you should say about the cap, as mine was only a few months old, and was looking pretty chewed up, so i might do as you do and start carrying a spare...Come to think of it, i might as well just carry a spare complete dizzy along with 8mm and 11mm spanners!!