Bob_Rich

Hi One of the posts suggested the old style tacho (assume it is a smiths type triggered by inductive pick up in series with the coil) could break the ignitor module. I find this hard to believe. Certainly the ignitor may result in the tacho not responding correctly -- but that is usually easy to modify. the Aldon ignitor , I believe, replaces the points in the distributor, and works on a similar principle to the points ( spark generated by current interruption in the coil) except that a transistor is turned off to get the spark and the trigger is by a magnetic pick up. The energy stored in the tacho pick up is small compared to that in the ignition coil so it is hard to see how the tacho could break the Aldon. Not sure this helps much! just suspicious that the tacho was/is not the real source of the problem best of luck Bob

Hi Try and work out which relay is the one for the headlamps. by a process of elimination as you remove each relay some working function will not now work so that should allow the relay for the head light to be determined. Trace the coloured lead from the head light and remove it at the relay end. At the point of removal on the relay connect a spare bulb a 21W tail will do . The live terminal on the bulb to the relay terminal the headlamp lead came off and the earth on the bulb to the earth on the car ( battery -ve). If the switch and relay are working OK then the temporary added bulb should operate correctly with the headlight switch OK. If the added bulb does not work correctly with the switch then the fault is in the switch + relay wiring or connections. FInd the lead that works the relay from the switch and discconnect it and use the 21W tail bulb trick here again if the switch is OK the 21W bulb will operate as the headlamps should. If all works OK then transfer bulb to the lead you removed from the relay. It should not light since the other end of the lead should be a headlamp and not a source of power. If the bulb lights then you have an odd shorting lead fault in the loom and you may have to carefully open it up to see where the problem is . Hope this (makes sense!!) and gives you something to go on. I have known loom to get damaged and short between functions producing odd effects rather than fuse failure or burn outs. Best of luck!! Bob

Hi Steel/iron on to brass with outside exposure is a risky dissimilar metal corrosion cell about 0.5V where 0.3V is the maximum recommended and brass is a much weaker metal than steel think I would stick with steel ones. hopes this helps but feel it might not! best of luck bob

Hi gauges can sometimes be quite a bit off. real problem I find is if they suddenly change. I find a good way to see if things are about right is to use the self adhesive one time irreversible temperature labels. RS do these (and so do others such as CPC and Farnell) the RS 285-936 cover the range 65C to 93C. I stick them on the engine close to the where the sensor is ( they stick nicely on the thermostat housing of a twink or cross flow). would give some idea as to what is going on hope this helps best of luck Bob

hope I got at least a 2.1!! and U do 2 best of luck bob

Hi You said U get 3.5 to 4V across the coil. Do you mean across the coil terminals? If U have an electronic ignition module , Like the Lucas unit that delivers a constant energy with a low resistance coil such a voltage would be OK. For a conventional coil across the coil will read less than the battery voltage (when cranking) because of the dwell period. I agree with the other post that the battery voltage should stay up at around 9 to 10V at the battery terminals when cranking and around 8 to 9V at the coil +ve or SW terminal to the chassis ground when cranking. If all is in order a spark of around 8 to 10mm from a sharp point to the engine block should be normal with a ignition system in good order. need a bit more info on the ignition system to give further advise Hope this helps best of luck regards Bob

hi you commented that "> 0.5 amp drainage on the battery with FIA switch on, reduces to 0.0 amps with FIA switch off." Assuming it is wired OK which I guess it was as the problem I think you said has just appeared. I would suspect the alternator. If you disconnect the alternator then switch the FIA switch on but the ignition off then if current demand drops ( just a few mA if you have an imobiliser) then it is probably the alternator or the wiring to it . Only other possibility is the dump resistor on the FIA switch staying connected to the battery--this would run it down. I guess checking if it is warm would give a clue. this wopuld be an FIA switch fault I would sort the charging circuit first as running battery below 1.7V/cell (10.2V for battery ) off load then permenant damage to the battery can result though it does required prolonged exposure to the problem generally the result is that the battery life is reduced hope this helps best of luck Bob

HI Sounds an odd one if in some way the engine running is allowing the alternator or maybe the fan to produce enough power to keep the engine system going going try switching off the engine with side lights and full headlights on. If this kills it quicker then it is some form of regeneration. Has this suddenly started or has it allways been the same?? Hope this helps best of luck Bob

when the wiper motor is in position if the furthest rotor box from the motor will reach its cut out then it is possible to strip down the assembly and modify or replace the outer tube to move it closer to the nearest hole. I am assuming that the general system is like the one on my 1969 seven which lookes like a old mini unit. On some there is sometimes enough free outer pipe on the end of the far rotor box to extend its position. basically need pipe cutter and maybe a flaring tool Best of Luck Bob

How old is the car?? OBDII should apply to all cars, in Europe, after 2001 petrol and 2004 diesel but there may be some models made before the changeover but sold after. Depending upon the car the OBDII may work on earlier cars. I have the Gendan ELM327 and it seems to connect to my 1999 fiesta zetec OK ( I am told Ford were early adopters). Rover were one of the last to change and if anyone following this post can find s reader for a Elise 2000K series with rover ECU would like to know. I have found Genden very helpful and they may be able to give some pointers try www.gendan.co.uk Hope this helps Bob

HI I think Redline at Caterham would be able to help on both counts. Not too far from you. Always found them very helpful and seem to have a good stock of bits related to crossflow sevens links to Redlines site is on the home page of seven club hope this helps best of luck Bob

Should not be a problem above around -25C but the AH capacity may well be down to around half and internal resistance a bit higher so hence cranking/starting problems at low temperatures. As other threads confirm charging will keep battery charged and thus acid concentration high as well as put in a little heat. Dont think a real problem in most of the UK. Post from Finland/Norway /Sweden would be interesting on this subject hope this helps Bob

Postscipt to Fiesta problem. Having got it all apart it may well be described as a 2 piece cover. However the upper cover is over 90% of the area and fixings. The lower one could be a very small cover around the auxiliary belt pulley. Problem was a more a descriptive one as the Haynes book seems to suggest the cover split in a different place to that which I expected. This combined the having both air con and power steering meant a lot more stuff had to be removed to get the upper cover off. anyway car running again now can start playing with 7 again --much more fun and easier to fix!! Bob

The series 3 engine rubber mounts are available from Redline Components at Caterham Surrey link to Redline is on front page of 7 club website Hope this helps regards Bob

Thanks for confirming my findings --It is a 2 piece one in the book but have got it off now and it is one piece. "Trick" was to support the engine on a jack and remove the drivers side upper engine mounting "linking strut " then loosen the bolts that held the power steering pump ( on the back as car has AC) so it falls back slightly. then also remove the alloy casting that holds the alternator to the block and doubles as the engine mounting support. Undo all the cover bolts then the ONE piece cover comes out!! can now replace leaking water pump Hope this helps someone else -- Happy New year All regards Bob

Anyone out there familar with a September 1999 ford fiesta 1.25 Zetec S Engine. water pump is leaking have new one to fit but cannot get the cam belt cover off! Haynes book and Ford own workshop manual book describes cam belt cover as a 2 piece unit but mine is a single one and have all bolts out but cannot see how to get it off!. Car has an air con so power steering pump is at the rear and the air con pump at the front. Possibly have to remove the power steering pump but cannot see how it is fixed. Anyone got experience of the 1.25 Zetec S in a fiesta. Compared to this s0dding thing my 1969 1650 XF series 3 seven is easier than a Meccano model to fix!!!

getting the charging light light to flash a bit at higher revs than tickover suggests the brushes in the alternator field may just be a bit sticky and not making good contact with the slip rings. with engiune running gently tap the alternator body with a soft mallet and see if the light comes on. Or , with most alternators ,it is easy to remove the end cover and see how the brushes look. Best of Luck Bob

If the problem is on the secondary high voltage side there are a couple of things to try. with a DVM ther is not much U can do on the secondary side. twice (though not on the seven) I have had the rotor arm high voltage brass wiper break down under high voltage through to the distributor body and thus kill the sparks. This failure starts with misfiring getting worse with higher engine loading when more volts are required for the spark. To test sparks I use small neons of the type used in mains indicators (but without the resistors) wired in series with the plugs they flash nice and bright with the spark. with the bonnet of U can drive the car and see if the neons weaken or miss giving a clue. If U R lucky the engine idling in the dark you may see if there is an external high voltage leads or breakdown. generally high voltage bits if they are suspect are best tested by substitution Hope this helps Best of luck Bob

From what U say all other bulbs on that light pod and front circuit seem OK. There are two things that are specific to that lamp only. the actual bulb pin (the solder blob on the lamp) and the actual joints ( in line crimps or bullets) that go the the lamp circuit. suspect one of these has gone high resistance. depending upon your wiring layout there may be more than one joint in the line but the one under/near the rear wing would be the one I would suspect--it gets a lot of road crud. Another possibility is that the wire to that circuit has had a nick in the insulation and damp has got in and it has corroded through and broken the wire and gone open circuit save for a deposit of corrosion material enough to give you a voltage reading. DONT use a current meter on what may be a voltage source ( i.e. the battery). If you probe a circuit for current allways put a load in to limit the current. I usually use a bulb wired in series for that. Hope that helps "dry connections can be a mugger!! best of luck Bob

Sometimes a corroded lead/terminal can go high resistance. It will let enough current through so that a meter will read it as full volts. Possibly only needs a few microamps of current to move the meter over to read virtually full volts. If you can when the meter is on can you then touch a bulb on to the leads as well? if it kills the reading and the bulb does not light then it look like an open circuit lead--but not that open circuit that the meter cannot read it hope this helps best of luck Bob

I have a facet electric pump on my crossflow but is is mounted close to the tank. I have a cut out switch and separate fuse and have also wired it into the antitheft system. I liked the idea that if a carb fire ever occurred you could switch off the pump keep blatting and keep the engine running until the fuel in the carbs was all gone. It also nice for starting as if the car is stood for a while the engine cranking required is a lot less as the carbs can be fully primed with fuel B4 cranking the engine commences Bob R

given some temperature variation and winter is coming and water chances are that it will grow. On the family Ford Fiesta A small chip , well below MOT size, that appeared stable grew to over 18" long in about 1 minute on a cold day when the demister was on. A windscreen installer mate of mine says the real problem is if water gets in generally then they are beyond recovery. hope this helps Bob

when cranking and the voltage is checked at 9.6V is this across the motor? i.e measure from the motor power terminal to the motor frame. This will then include the voltage drop across the earth return to the battery. Depending upon the earthing the actual voltage that the ECU sees may be low enough to prevent getting an adequate timed or amplitude sparking voltage to the plugs. Possible trick would be to use you spare battery to power up the starter motor only so that the volts do not fall on the rest of the car electrics. If it starts OK then it may be the volts drop is going just a tad too low Hope this helps Bob

What is the car? Crossflow/VX/K/? carbs or engine management? After a long stand I have know alternator brushes to stick so that when engine starts battery is not topped up and starting problems get worse as starting does cane the batteries. Certainly a low battery can result in motor going round and not throwing bendix in--assuming it is a bendix starter. Might B able to offer a bit morre advise if more info available best of luck bob

A quick call to redline (01883 346515) should get U the answer regards Bob