scott660

Car currently has a misfire from tickover to about 2000rpm, I've tried plugs, plug leads, coils, ecu, sensor lead (so all the expensive stuff!) but cannot sort it. I am thinking of cutting my losses - selling up and spending a bit on the RS2000. I don't have the time or space anymore for both so any serious offer this week might land you a bargain!

Car is White, 1983, revised suspension model, NON-CUSTOM, 94000miles, had £650 respray & £500 engine rebuild 4 years ago.
has had welding underneath - mostly before I bought it 5 years ago. It has been garaged every night during my ownership and the past 3 winters kept off the road. It is a very tidy car with original spoilers, grill, spot lights, wheels (£250 refub) and all other unique RSi parts.

Offers over £1500.

This might sound alot for a RS1600i with a misfire - (it runs fine with a dizzy on it) but i've spent approx £5000 on this car during last 5 years - so sensible offers only please!

Thanks

Scott

Anonymous

Hello mate
Dont give up on it just yet!!!! your probem has got to be with the coils and the leads themselves! The system roughly goes like this- The sensor lead and the ECU just send signals and current to coils respectively, these are always running the same voltage, so if these were knackered the car would constantly misfire.
The twin coils on the 1.6i send stronger electric pulses to the plugs as the engine speed increases, to conteract with increase fuel injection into the combustion chamber, your problem lies here.
The leads on the coils are cr@ppy 80s copper wire which after a few years goes hard and brittle, and if they get disturbed will split inside, thus creating a break in the 'circuit'. At low revs this break is evident as there will be a weak spark at the plug end, too weak to properly ignite the fuel in the combustion chamber, thus we have a misfire.
When you rev up the engine, the engine speed increases, and the coils send a much larger electric pulse to the spark plugs, enough to bridge the break and thus engine is running normal.
What leads have you got on the coils? if theyre original leads they might be shagged, this happened to mine and i 1st had to bodge new XR3i silicon leads on by cutting the ends off that go into the dizzy and trimming the ends down to a 'pencil' shape, then i pushed them in the coils. This will work for a little while but this type of 'bodge' can also fail because the end of the leads get 'burned' eventually because they dont fit right on the little screw that protrudes from within the coil itself. This has also happened to me. The best solution is to get a proper set of leads fitted from magnecor. Theyre about £35 and i got mine done through burton power in essex. If this dosent work it will be down to shagged coil(s). maybe you could borrow some of another RSi which is running properly, and swap over one coils at a time to find which one is dead.
Hope this helps, any question give us a shout here or email me
streetsleeper@amserve.com

Cheers
Gray
P.S. my description of how the ignition system works probrably not precisely accuate, so any corrections will bo appreciated.

Anonymous

Oh by the way its not unknown for new leads to be iffy too! Sending one of my coils back to burtons fornew leads cos one of em has gone bandy.
Cheers
Gray

scott660

Cheers for the great reply,

I have been trying a few things and i think one of the coils is breaking down. The leads are brand new magnecor ones (Cheers Quickie) - plugs are new - i'm on the lookout for 1or2 coils to try - there is a spark at every plug therefore ecu & sensor lead must be working?

So anyone with a spare coil or 2 - give me a shout!

I don't want to run it on a dizzy cause the rest of the car is original.

Any help welcome!

Scott

scott660

How do you check new leads?

Anonymous

If you have new leads fitted and you still have problems it must be down to the coils, as i have said i have had this problem before and tried everything, and it is always down to leads or coils, since you have it running at least confirms the ignition system is working ok!
If you werent too far a way i would be happy to lend you my coils, which i know work 100% try the RS owners club and maybe find someone who has a spare set they defo KNOW to work! and will let you borrow em.
The only way to test new leads is either to check theres a park at the plug end which you have done, but i have found that even if there is a breakdown on the leads itll still omit a spark albeit a weak one. Try another set of leads you know are good. I have a set of bodged XR3 leads which i use as test leads, i know these are ok so if i fit em and it still runs bad its coils.
What you could try is your local rolling road or tuners, they might have a machine like an ocilloscope (a bit like what you get at hospital to check heartbeat) this connects to your ignition system and should show up the pulses of the ignition through the leads, my college used to have one and theyre good at identifying ignition probs!
As i say dont give up on it, it looks ike a nice car and youl always regret selling it over somthing silly, believe me i have come close to floggin mine many times, but when the boody thing works youll love it.
Cheers
Gray

cosevo

definately agree with you about coming close to selling the car when things aren't running right but when it does rood, the smile you get takes all those bad feeling away

It's Czech Mate

Have you checked the position of the sensor relative to the flywheel...???????

Not really worth sellin the car over m8.

Keep us informed and we'll do our best to help!

scott660

Matt,

Did you get my e-mail about the coils?

I'll give another set a try before putting a dizzy on it!

CheeRS

Scott

scott660

You have a PM!

Thanks

Scott

Anonymous

The sensor had only one position dont it, in the bottom of the geabox bellhousing!
Anyway if it was out it would constantly misfire, or it would probrably wouldnt run.
Cheers
Gray

scott660

Cheers Gray,

I'm on the lookout for some coils - but no one it's replying

Going to give another set a go

Scott

Anonymous

If ya drag it down to Kent im quite happy to let you borrow my coils!!
Seriously though Give MattRS1600i a kick up the backside, i heard he had three sets, greedy git!
Cheers
Gray