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Stalled on the Harbour Bridge - A Reflective Essay
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Author:  Mike [ Tue Oct 04, 2005 9:33 pm ]
Post subject:  Stalled on the Harbour Bridge - A Reflective Essay
well actualy on the Ramp to the Harb. tunnel right as you exit the toll boots with 3 friends in the car. The car has been frettering and misfiring under acceleration for a few days now and I was suspecting the alternator was not producing enough juice - just was too busy to check it.

So sitting on the bridge I could start the car but not rev it very high and there was no power, then it would just die after awhile. So I jump out of the car, pop the bonnet, check all the connections - Fine. Check the dizzy clamp - fine. So Check the petrol (even though she doesnt sound like its starved of petrol) - fine. I know that at this stage I should have checked for low tension current to the coil and then spark - but I knew that the car could start and I knew that it could run for a little while so the coil didnt seem at fault and the fact that I was surrounded by heavy trafic and maitenance workers who want to tow my arse out of there discouraged me from testing the spark against the head studs for example. I did take out the plugs and they seemed just fine and totaly dry. I also tested the battery - veyr healthy 13v.

So I was totaly pissed off as there seemed to be no reason, bar fuel pump failure, for this to happen (and I already knew that there was petrol to the carb). Then it hits me - the dizzy has moved before, what if the clamp seems tight but some movement is still possible. I try it and after fairly little effort the dizzy does move. I'm extatic, jump in the car, try to start it - nothing. Damn, turn the dizzy the other way (even though from memory it shouln't have been there, start it - booya. Slight misfiring but still good power. So I drive off, get over the bridge, drive my mates to the city and park on the side of the road trying to get the dizzy to the best position. Now its behaving really weirdly - i twist it right its bad, I twist it left worst, twist it back right it wouldnt start, twist it left - its almoust fine. So 20 minutes pass and I decide to just get home and then sort it today (as it was already 1 am by then). So i drive off, the car doesnt misfire in top gear cruising so I'm doing 90 on Anzac Parade (city to Botany) then a cop is coming towards me so I slow down sharply pass him and then realise that I cant keep the revs up - luckily 6 servos on 2km stretch of road so I have enough cold motion to park at one.

Spent the next hour trying to get her going and it doesnt make any sense - I could either get bad running or no starting at all, but it seems totaly random and impossible to adjust by turning the dizzy (ie I turn it left seems better, a bit more left is crap, a bit more is better) but it must be the dizzy I thought coz turning it on the bridge and in the city did help. So then I cant start it at all - so I check the plugs - theyre still fine, then swap them for colder ones - nothing. Then finaly it dawns on me to test the spark (which I didnt do earlier coz the car did start). I shove a plug into the coil lead and use a wire at the solenoid to turn it over (obviously only remembered to take it out of first at the last moment) - no spark. Ok test the coil - nothing. Damn, fiddle with the the wire trying to find a loose connection - test it again just to be sure - now there is current running to the coil. So I check a bit more - find its the crimp to the dizzy (whoever sold me a dizzy 1 year ago used an old crimping and has taped the whole thing together and it has come loose. I've since replaced the dizzy with a Dr. Mini variant (thanks Doc.) but never replaced the whole crimping job - my fault really - you must always recheck and replace everything).

So luckily I had some fork crimpings with me (ran out of eye crimps) and within 4 minutes I was mobile again. (it was 2am by then).

Nice - just keeps you on your toes and reminds me that classic car ownership is about daily maitenance, not just trying to convince ladies that the using the mini back seat is a fun experience not an insult to their glamorous, elevenhundred dollar jimmy choo shoe wearing self.
Author:  awdmoke [ Tue Oct 04, 2005 10:01 pm ]
Post subject: 
Ahhh, at least it wasn't raining :D
Author:  Stuwey [ Tue Oct 04, 2005 10:13 pm ]
Post subject: 
Did anyone stop to render some assistance? Whenever my van used to die (regular intervals) and end up pushing it home, no-one would ever stop and yell 'Need a hand, buddy?' Shits me that everyone is so in a hurry not to spare two seconds for a stranger who is quite obviously stranded. :evil:
Author:  drmini in aust [ Tue Oct 04, 2005 11:04 pm ]
Post subject: 
Crimps just don't last on the coil connections, vibration kills them. The old squeeze and then solder ones are better. Or do what I did- mount that coil on the inner guard, it keeps it drier there too! :wink:

<edited> I misread Mike's original post... :oops:
Author:  h0nk [ Wed Oct 05, 2005 6:19 am ]
Post subject: 
Stuwey_LS wrote:
Did anyone stop to render some assistance? Whenever my van used to die (regular intervals) and end up pushing it home, no-one would ever stop and yell 'Need a hand, buddy?' Shits me that everyone is so in a hurry not to spare two seconds for a stranger who is quite obviously stranded. :evil:


When my minis parked on the street outside my house, and I'm just working on it.. I get people pulling up all the time asking if I need a hand (thinking I've broken down).. Maybe cause I'm a friendly looking person :roll: :D
Author:  gafmo [ Wed Oct 05, 2005 6:51 am ]
Post subject: 
Ow Mike not again.. :wink: good to see she all worked out for you
Author:  Mike [ Wed Oct 05, 2005 11:45 am ]
Post subject: 
Oh but it is a certain filling of satisfaction (granted mixed with buckets of frustration by the time it hit 2am) knowing that wherever, whenever you brake down, you can get going again on your own - a year and a half ago I would have had no idea. Oh and my mates think I'm an automotive superman of sorts.

And noone stoped to help - I dont think its legal to stop at the tolls to the tunnel, but thankfully no one did the "park behind me and sink your palm in the horn" thing - coz from previous experience a large percentage of the driving public thinks that if I'm standing next to a car with an open bonnet scratching my head, their horn will magicaly remove me from their way.
Oh and some drunken kids stoped to tell me how "fu##en cool" my car was and how much they liked it. I'm a sucker for flattery :)
Author:  nermil [ Wed Oct 05, 2005 1:29 pm ]
Post subject: 
is the harbour bridge made out of some metal that gives off a certain radiation that kills minis? isnt this two or three people this year who have come to a halt on it?
Author:  68matic [ Wed Oct 05, 2005 2:47 pm ]
Post subject: 
Mike wrote:
I'm a sucker for flattery :)

:lol: we all are eh
Author:  Spaceboy [ Wed Oct 05, 2005 3:12 pm ]
Post subject: 
good ol' timing, its a dark art at the best of times :twisted:
i leave that to the professionals/wizards.

i've stopped plenty of times to help people with jump starts etc..
usually i've stopped more times to help in my mini than people have helped me in the mini.
Author:  drmini in aust [ Wed Oct 05, 2005 5:18 pm ]
Post subject: 
Mike's Mini relationship with the harbour bridge is not a happy one. A while back his 3-4 gearbox selector fork had a hissy fit there, somehow he then managed to find 3rd gear AND 2nd.. so it was going nowhere without a towtruck...
Not his problem really, it was mine.... :oops: but all good now!!
Author:  IwannaMini [ Wed Oct 05, 2005 5:27 pm ]
Post subject: 
Mike... shoulda called.. I live round the corner from there and you could have borrowed one of my Minis till you got yourself right again...

:D

I hope its all good now though... still breaking down reminds me of one most important thing... i can at least push a Mini up the road... not a chance if I owned a V8 ford or something..!!! :wink:
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