The Engine Keeps Dieing When Turning Left

[jeremy 70]

Ok the engine runs fine in a straight line 99% of the time, however when turning left it cuts out nearly 95% of the time. Now if I dip the clutch the strain is obviously taken from the gearbox, and the engine will continue to run however if left in gear with no acceleration but still turning left the engine still cuts out about 50% of the time.

 

I guess it maybe some kind of earthing problem related to the gearbox, so cleaned the connectors, and still no joy, so assume it maybe the wires have corroded somewhere, and when they are under movement from turning left the circut breaks. Out of the three wires to the gearbok earth one is the negative to the battery, one seems to go to the distributor, and the other disapears somewhere under the AFM/inlet manifold.

 

Can anyone tell me if these wires are likely to be the cause of my problems, and where does the one go to that disapears under the AFM/inlet manifold.

 

Also this problem happened a few months back and I just sort of wiggled the wires to the gearbox, and this cured the problem for about one month, so this is also why I think it maybe due to them causing the problem.

 

All help would be greatfully appreciated.

 

Thanks

Edited September 19, 2006 by jeremy

[Craigb 2]

Does it do it when you turn left , or when your indicators are on ?

 

I had an earthing issue once at the nearside rear , that was taking the fuel pump down when the indicators were on !!

[dd_156ar 0]

I had a similar problem last week. My car kept stuttering when turning left but never actually cut out. Turned out to be the ignition amplifier... Small black unit under the coil of my phase 1.5

 

New one has gone in and now all is great in the world again

 

Might be worth a swap with a known good one?

 

Dan

[jeremy 70]

It has nothing to do with the indicators also as this is a phase 2 the ignition amp is on the drivers side innner arch iirc, so cannot see how this would be effected when the gearbox is under load going left.

[cybernck 402 1 Cars]

there's a major earth point on the top of the gearbox!

[proaxis2 0]

I've had a similar problem with Mi track car.

 

However it only started happening recently on track and when coming out of left handers it would splutter a little. I was also using sticky A048's and the tank was fulled to the brim.

 

However all the drive home it was fine, left handers too.

 

I'm going to replace the fuel filter for starters, run some redex through and then maybe look at the Fuel pump.

 

Problem is trying to replicate the problem, as you can't really safely 'give it some' when turning left on the public roads.

 

Adam

[jonah 1]

I don't think it's the earth point on the gearbox that's the problem. I can't think of anything related to ignition / injection that is earthed through the block.

 

More likely a faulty connection between the dizzy and ignition amp that is breaking when the engine moves over to one side. I don't know how that connection is routed on the phase 2, but on earlier cars there is a connector in the lead from the dizzy that could come loose, and the wires going into the side of the dizzy also look quite fragile. I've also seen the plug fall off the ignition amp so that's worth checking!

 

If that all looks ok then here's a way to narrow it down between an ignition or fuelling problem: leave it in gear with clutch out while going round a left hand corner, and watch what the rev counter does when the engine cuts. If it goes into freefall then it's an ignition problem.

[jeremy 70]

Just to help matters when the enginr cuts out, the rev counter needle drops like a lead ballon. I'm sure it is not the coil/leads/dizzy as these have all been replaced. However from what you say Jonah this would still indicate an ignition fault, as opposed to a fuelling problem, also as said previous it is when the engin is under load turning left as if I dip the clutch it will stop the car from stalling.

 

Thanks

[saveloy 8]

Try connecting a jump lead from bottery negative to the gearbox and see how you get on.

Or take the nextt right instead!

[jeremy 70]

Problem solved. Yipeee!!!

 

Thanks to all those who posted a reply. Where the cables to the ingnition amplifier is cable tied to the drivers inner wing had been cut (this was due to me doing the head gasket about 2 years ago) I had not re-tied them back, so over time the wires had chaffed against the inner wing eventually causing them to short. This only happened when gravity plus acceleration whilst turning left was just enough force for the wire to touch the inner wing thus causing the short.

 

Thanks again