No spark, conked out

[vixen71]

My 1992 S, 2.9l engine, suddenly conked out the other day whilst overtaking at 70mph - much to my and the overtakees' alarm, needing recovery home, now trying to fix. Engine turns over fine, but no spark. +ve side of coil has voltage, rotor arm etc. looks OK, no fuses blown, was running and starting absolutely fine before the failure and there was no warning at all. I'm pretty useless with car electrics unless they're really simple and don't have an ECU etc, so before I call in a local mobile expert (near Southampton - anybody know a good one?), has anybody had a similar experience and any ideas what might have gone west?

Cheers

[Gerald-TVR]

Have you checked the dreaded yellow connector?

[vixen71]

Tell me more! Looked at lots of connectors, not sure if I found a yellow one.

[Barkychoc]

Under the steering column - half yellow half black.
You need to remove the lower steering column cover.
Separate the 2 connectors and look inside, if its brown and melted on the big thick wire terminal it creates havoc.

There is also a big multi connector on the drivers side of the engine somewhere with loads of wires in that can also I believe give trouble.

[Gerald-TVR]

'Wot he said ^^^^^



This was mine

[vixen71]

Thanks chaps, I will have a look shortly, watch this space!

[vixen71]

No sign of a yellow connector in the steering column area, the immobiliser seems to be connected direct to the ignition switch - soldered connections, perhaps it replaced the connector - what does the yellow connector connect? I have no reason to believe that the immobiliser is at fault as normally it stops the car turning over, but I will attempt to isolate it and try again.

[Gerald-TVR]

Yellow connector just connects the ignition switch to the rest of the wiring, many cars have either had them replaced with something upgraded for just removed with the wires being soldered.

BTW I have the wiring diagram available as a PDF, just let me have your email address via a PM and I will send you a copy.

[Jakko]

Norman, yhm

[vixen71]

Thanks for all your help chaps. Prior to calling in a pro I checked again and found that there is a spark after all, just couldn't see it previously, but my timing strobe flashed when I tried it on one of the leads. So I checked the fuel supply, which was zero. So have spent a backbreaking, finger knackering afternoon underneath removing the fuel pump. It was so easy to refit when the body was off the chassis! Result - the pump was seized, which explains the sudden lack of urge with absolutely no warning. £35 off Ebay, plus a new filter should see me back in action next week. If not I may be asking for advice again. Watch this space.

[stourbridges2tvr]

Same thing happened to me a few weeks ago, luckily I wasn't overtaking at the time!