The car I have is a 1500, with CSC exhaust, stock carb (not been rejetted), brown wire mod and Lumenition electronic ignition.

Today was the first time I have test ridden the car with the electronic ignition fitted. The car started well then about two miles down the road as I went to pull away it stalled. The car wouldn't fire however the engine was spinning over as it should. I had to call the recovery out however the recovery man said that there was a spark even though it looked weak but possibly no fuel going into the carb as well. Eventually the car started under it's own accord and the recovery man hadn't done anything so he couldn't explain why it had started. This was probably about an hour after I initially broke down. I then decided to drive the car back home (about 2 miles away) and noticed the car did sound like it was lumpy under load going uphill. Once back home and the car was turned off so I could put it in the garage. When I went to restart the car it wouldn't start again. I left the car again for sometime and the car started again really easily however it did seem to start after I had released the ignition key. In the past the car has broken down before and the recovery man said there was dirt in the carb. Since this time the carb has had a rebuild. Can anyone offer any advice as I'm not sure it's ignition or fuel related and I'm nervous about driving the car? Can't understand why it just stops running intermittently.

You've given us two points to eliminate. The first is the ignition - if it is the ignition then it sounds like something is overheating. Either the coil or the amplifier/controller (without knowing which system you have fitted I can't judge what part it is).

The second is dirt in the carb. This comes from three sources.
1) Airbourne dirt (usually picked up during refuelling), it gets in the tank, past the mesh filter that is supposed to catch everything and into the carb. This is why you normally fit a fuel filter!

2) Metal, the fuel tank itself very, very slowly corrodes on the inside leaving flecks of bright metal in the fuel, again these make their way into the carb.

3) Rubber, the fuel pipes themselves degrade with chunks of rubber floating off, these are the most common source since the pipes, inevitably come after the filter as well as before it.

You may well have had your carb cleaned but any of the above can still make their way in despite there being (typically) 3 filters in the system to catch all of it. The other point to remember is that even though the carb has been rebuilt, unless you've had the car running on a dyno there is no guarantee at all that it is correctly set up.

Despite all of the above I would be inclined to work back through all of the changes made since the previous run of the car and given your description the finger currently points at the ignition system...

Jimbro1000 thanks for the reply. I'll try and answer the questions as best as I can.

1) The ignition system I bought was from ebay. It's made by Lumenition and the Lumenition coil was brand new with the ballast resistor however the optics/ distributor and module are used items. As of Sunday this is the first time I had driven the car after fitting it. I did notice that the timing when trying to adjust it with the timing light seems to be jumping all over the place a little bit. Also when revving the car whilst stationary it seems to misfire a little at high rpm. If it was something like the coil could I swap it with the original factory coil temporary?

2) I have a brand new fuel filter and all fuel lines have been replaced.

3)The fact that me and the recovery man was spinning the engine over for a long while and the plugs were dry seems odd. Surely if it was a sign of fuel evaporation then there would still be evidence of some fuel on some of the plugs? Recovery man did pour some fuel down the throat of the carb and nothing happened which points to ignition possibly?

4) Another point is that ever since I've had the car the fuel pressure is reading low on the gauge. I think it's possibly a faulty gauge however you have mentioned in previous posts about cylinders 2 & 3 bridging. Not really come across this so may have to do a compression test.

I look forward to your comments as I really want to use the car for AutoItalia on May 4th however I may have left it too late

The ballast resistor is simply a resistor, nothing clever and they either work or they don't so forget that one.

The coil should be fine but the amplifier/controller for the ignition is another matter. There are two common (not necessarily frequent) problems I've come across with the lumention system, one is the controller failing (as described) and the second is the distributor assembly.

When setting the system up you have to be much more accurate than normal (it shouldn't make any difference but experience says otherwise) so it is critical that the timing should be rock solid. If it isn't there are only two explanations - either the controller is borked or your distributor needs some maintenance or possibly even replacing (a bit extreme given it worked with the points/condensor setup). First things first - make sure the distributor is properly locked down and lubricated internally. If the bob-weights aren't operating smoothly you will get the advance wandering all over the place but this shouldn't happen at all at idle speeds.

The lack of fuel is more worrying - it is easy enough to check though. Just take the air filter off and look straight down the primary barrel. Work the throttle and you should see a big squirt of fuel going down. If not then the carb is running dry. Start the engine (if you can) and watch and you should (if you look closely) see a wash of fuel on the throttle plate (at the bottom), rev the engine and you should see a fuel mist coming from the primary venturi. If any of these are missing then you need to look at the carb again, possibly even the fuel pump. Any original diaphragm pump will be way past its best by now - even maybe so for a replacement. To check just disconnect the fuel pipe from the carb and feed it into a large bottle, turn the engine over and you should see the bottle filling up - just a dribble of fuel or no fuel should answer the question of the pump failure with a positive. If you listen carefully with the pipes refitted and the engine idling there will be the sound of a waterfall behind the passenger seat as excess fuel is fed back into the tank - more pronounced when the tank is low on fuel.

If the fuel is flowing into the carb but not into the engine then either the jets are blocked *or* the needle valve on the float chamber is stuck. Given the carb has just been rebuilt this shouldn't be an issue but don't assume anything. It is just a matter of deduction, I could gratuitously quote some Arthur Conan Doyle at this point but it isn't really necessary...

The worst case in this scenario is that you actually have two faults and not one making diagnosis very tricky. My money is still on the ignition kit - I would be contacting the seller *and* lumention. As a purchase off ebay I doubt you'd get any warranty replacement from lumention but they may be able to offer advice. If it is fault then your ebay seller needs some grief.

As a backup I would try to source a second distributor so you can swap the system back to points and condensor if needed without having to rebuild the one you have. Seriously consider changing the fuel pump for an electric one too if you can, it would eliminate any possible fuelling problems on that side leaving just the carb.

If you are near a proper rolling road that still knows how to work on carbs it might be worth booking the car in for some diagnostics. They will very quickly ascertain where the faults are - at a cost but it might be cheaper than swapping lots of expensive parts around...

I'm going to have a look at the car tonight. So i'll let you know how I get on.

The optical switch came already fitted to the distributor when I bought it through ebay. I will try to take the system (coil and dizzy) off tonight and swap it over with the original coil and dizzy as I still have this. This will then rule out if it's an electrical prob maybe.

I presume if the fuel pump was faulty surely it should be playing up all the time as it's only a diapraghm inside? However the diapragms do perish after a while.

The fuel pressure is pretty pathetic compared with what you expect from a fuel injection system. A small hole in the diaphragm would keep you going at low revs but I would expect it to deteriorate pretty quickly so you're surmise is pretty good.

Well, I tested the ignition system as stated by Lumention from their website and all looks fine. They do mention about the optic switch that can play up with heat from the engine though however I would only be able to check this if the car broke down again.

I did compare the two distributors I have and both have one loose bob weight spring. On both dizzys they seem to have slightly different springs on either side. Just looks like one spring is made out of slightly different diameter wire than the other. Should I replace the springs and where should I buy them from as had a quick look on the net and didn't see anything?

Not sure if this is to do with the actual problem of the car cutting out though!

Since found out that the dizzy advance springs should be- one weak and one stronger to allow a progressive curve! Rang Newtronic which market the optronic ignition system.

That certainly makes sense

I've had another thought re the fuel pump. My fuel filter is connected between the outlet of the pump and the inlet of the carb. I think from the factory the filter was originally fitted between the tank and the inlet of the pump. Therefore at the moment the carb in theory is getting clean fuel but the pump is sucking up dirty fuel and possibly maybe getting blocked/ restricted with dirt (When I broke down the fuel level in the tank was low). I'm very tempted to ditch the mechanical pump in favour for http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Weber-Uni...arts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item51aade7bdc as these electric pumps are a good alternative from the noisy facet ones. Plus they don't need a regulator and are suitable for weber carbs. I think with the ignition system side of things I will put the Lumenition kit back on for the time being, get the pump sorted and take the car for a run. I did see I'm sure on Ebay someone selling a blanking plate for the mechanical fuel pump fixings however can't see it anymore?

Hi, i was having a similar problem at start up,i would turn the car over with the pipe off going to the carb and it would not pump fuel up.i could hear the pump working but no fuel.I am in the middle of fitting a electric pump at the moment.Try this link for wiring

http://postimg.org/image/fpv62o5t9/


As for the blank try here

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Fiat-x1-9...0915099266?pt=UK_Scanners&hash=item2ec7791e82

Shaun, thanks for the links! What pump are you fitting? Seems people usually go for Facet pumps however I'm concerned about the noise from them.

Yes mine is a facet but i have not had it running yet so i do not know what kind of noise it makes

Well I've now had the car running in the garage. After a period of time (possibly 15-20 mins) the car will just cut out and not restart. Car spins over fine however not starting. Fuel is in the carb and definately no spark. Seems it's only doing this when hot. I have previously done the Brown wire mod however the car does seem to start up again after a period of time. After this period of time has lapsed it seems to definately only start when releasing the ignition key. Would this be something to do with the electronic ignition? Why is this only happening when hot? Should I revert back to the original points system ?????