Tiz's Minis

Don't be a numpty, turn the ignition off when the cars not running!

I broke down the other night. I was coming home from work in the recently serviced red mini. I was feeling quite smug about how well it was running, there was one thing bugging me though. The radio sounded awful, this needed to be sorted or else I'd have to resort to singing to myself. No a pleasant thought!!

I pulled over to look at the radio,after five minutes of re-tuning/ checking connections etc I decided that this was a job for another day. I turned the ignition and nothing, the engine turned over but refused to start. This was similar to the problem I had trying to start the car after the service, I'd put that down to the rain.

OK, lift the bonnet, check the cables etc, try again, nothing. This went on for about another 30 minutes. During this time I was joined by a passing member of the Eastbourne and District Mini Club which was much appreciated. There's only so much you can do at the roadside so I decided to ring the AA to get them to have a look. At this point I was really glad to have a radio even if it did sound a bit crap, the AA man took an hour to get to me and then I had to wait two hours to get a pickup truck to take the car home.

The AA patrolman after going through much of what we'd already done felt the ignition coil, it was way too hot. His diagnosis was the ignition coil had probably burnt out. The final straw for the coil was probably when I'd stopped to check the radio and left the ignition on. He patiently explained that if you stop and the points are closed it completes the circuit and there's current flowing constantly through the coil. Bugger, I know this, well I'd of known this if I'd of though about it, problem is I'd never thought about it. My inexperience playing with cars has bitten me on the backside.

posted by Andy Tyrrell @ 5:22 PM