Problems With 'rolla

[anagantios]

Hi everyone,

Since my last post i've had a few issues with my little 'rolla... Now i'm not entirely sure this autospark knows what the hell he's talking about because the last time he worked on my car and was meant to have adjusted the throttle body and my idle speed, he didn't tighten up my throttle properly and it jammed wide open and nearly blew my engine. Basically the cutting out at low revs has started again, with little to no power when pressing accelerator, or the exact opposite and all the power comes flooding through... He's basically said my ECU is on the way out BUT and it's a big but... When my car cut out infront of the house, popped the bonnet and had a look at everything, wiggled the cables coming from the distributor cap, and the cable leading from there to No.1 spark plug seemed to be loose as when it was wiggled, the engine revs shot back up to normal... This is leading me to think it's the coilpack,distributor cap and rotor arm and not the ECU... Anyone got any ideas? Is it more likely the Dizzy and not the ECU and if it really is a kiss of death for my rolla, is it better to try and fix the ecu or just get a new car?

[oldcodger]

Hi,

Cannot say anything specific about your car and problem, but in general terms with an old car its quiet likely anything in the HT system may be defective, partic if they are the originals and 14 years old.

I would automatically replace the plugs, ht cables, distributor cap and rotor arm, perhaps only replacing the coil pack, if expensive, if those things do not cure your problem.

Its a long time since I did anything to a carb, but again on an old car is there any obvious wear on the butterfly valve bearings ?

[anagantios]

Oldcodger, it has had issues with starting. Sometimes it's a bit slow on the motor so when I've got the money I'm replacing the whole distributor, rotor arm and coilpack, already got it priced up and because I'm doing the work myself no need for a mechanic. I replaced the spark plugs a couple months ago, so they shouldn't need changing any time soon.

Wasn't aware I had carburetors on my model... 4aFe engine 8valve and fairly sure its petrol injection.