216 cutting out

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Wed 24 Apr 2002 09:28
216 cutting out - mike harvey
We had a 216 SLi ,1991 in our college workshops yesterday for a service, and attend to intermittant cutting out. Fortunately the cutting out is every minute or so, so it's clear to see. Engine just stops as if ignition is switched off, regardless of revs. Sometimes you get a false alarm, ie cuts for half a second or so then keeps running, others, it just stops regardless. It starts again on the key immediately. I only had about 15 minutes on it yesterday, and established by putting our timing lamp on the HT leads, it is losing sparks, but of course it could be losing fuel too if the main relay is dicky. We have not got a Rover pod for our scanner, and whilst my first thoughts are either ignition amplifier or relay, if anyone (Andrew?) can point me in the right direction to save time I would be very grateful.
Regards
Mike
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Wed 24 Apr 2002 22:36
Re: 216 cutting out - David Davies
Mike
You can check for any fault codes on this car by pulling back the carpet in pasenger footwell and counting the flashes from red LED inside the engine ECU through the small window on the face of the ECU. You will need a list of fault codes which I imagine you have or can get locally.
The cutting out could be caused by amplifier,relay,coil, open circuit spark plug lead,ignition switch or sensors inside the distributor,but only the latter will generate fault codes. In my experience of these cars its nearly always been the amplifier,so if it is the original amp I would renew this first,after checking for obvious mechanical wear (ie rust and metallic particles) inside the distributor.
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Thu 25 Apr 2002 10:44
Re: 216 cutting out - mike harvey
David, thanks very much for the advice. We have a book of the codes, so I will have a go today. My gut reaction was ampilifier, but I hate spending money when it does not cure the fault, even if the money is not mine!
cheers
Mike
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Thu 25 Apr 2002 21:38
Re: 216 cutting out - Andrew Moorey (Tune-Up Ltd.)
Well done David, my thoughts exactly. The amps on these are troublesome, and one of the few I carry in stock!
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Thu 25 Apr 2002 22:22
Re: 216 cutting out - Mike Harvey
Thanks again, we cleaned out the distributor cap today, you would not believe the crud in there! Just because there are no points in there, why are they not cleaned out during service? ( I know the answer of course- it's not on Rover's service schedule) It's staggering what is not serviced during a 'full service', like gearbox oil level on many many makes.
Anyway, the car ran for half an hour without mishap, so we asked our customer to suck it and see.
regards
Mike
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