I'm no mechanic, so plz bear with me. I have had my car to official places but they haven't been able to sort it out. I drive an 1400 Uno Beat (Pacer i think) carb. model. (1996). It runs perfectly smooth when starting up. I have no hassles whatsoever when on the open road and with higher revolutions. However, if I drive around in town, giving it time to warm up a bit more (nothing excessive, just the normal), it starts misfiring, then starts getting worse, and if it does this well enough (allowing revs to drop low enough) its cuts out. In short: I can start up cold, drive for 30km, enter the town, drive-stop-drive-stop, find it starting to struggle, and eventually it just dies. It will struggle to start after this (almost as if flooded) and then when I get it going -> i got to make use of the choke / or keep the revs slightly higher to keep it from doing the same.
I have changed the petrolpump,petrol filter, plugs, distributor cap and rotar. I have had the carbureator cleaned. I m kinda stumped. He only oither thing I can think of is the coil acting up or perhaps a gasket. any ideas?

change your ignition module on distributor.

I've been told this can be due to a sticky jet in the carburettor, as they wear they get tiny grooves in them which then inhibit the smooth movement of the jet - something like that anyway!
Sometimes it's just easier to replace the carb. There's so many things it could be.
Good luck, we had a metro doing the same thing and in the end sold it for spares as we'd have ended up replacing the whole engine, even garages aren't really interested in touching these problems.

M@nticore said:

change your ignition module on distributor.

Click to expand...

:yeahthat:

many thanks for the replies. will try the ignition unit and post back with the results.

regards
d

I would also suggest the spark plug leads... sometimes, faulty leads cause a misfire only under certain loads... leads frequently break down with heat. If you can get them cheap enough (e.g. under R300?) it would be worth trying a set to see if there's any improvement.

Otherwise, yes, I feel the finned ignition module is a frequently-blamed culprit and rightly-so, it's always a good idea to have a spare of these components (and also the coil, plug lead or two, etc.) to swap for fault finding

-Alex

hi, i just want to make sure before I go ahead and buy this thing. I think Ive found the "finned ignition module". Its on the side of the distributor, fastens with 3 screws and its about 40x40. It seems like a small heatsink for some or other thing. Is this what you guys are referring to? Not that I don't trust you guys, but I surely hope there's something inside this little bugger (like an IC or such), cause it costs around R250-00 to replace
anyway, thanks for the replies again, just want to make sure I got the right thing

oh and btw, its seems as though I'll have to cut and re-link the wires? correct or no?

dve83 said:

hi, i just want to make sure before I go ahead and buy this thing. I think Ive found the "finned ignition module". Its on the side of the distributor, fastens with 3 screws and its about 40x40. It seems like a small heatsink for some or other thing. Is this what you guys are referring to? Not that I don't trust you guys, but I surely hope there's something inside this little bugger (like an IC or such), cause it costs around R250-00 to replace
anyway, thanks for the replies again, just want to make sure I got the right thing

oh and btw, its seems as though I'll have to cut and re-link the wires? correct or no?

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What you described is the ignition module, and yes, it looks like a heat sink. You shouldn't have to cut the wires. There should be a plug you disconnect that goes to the coil, and I think you have to unscrew some wires from inside the distributor (I forget, but you definitely don't need to cut anything). It's just a remove and replace job.

Can you not try and find a second hand module in a scrapyard? It's a bit of a gamble, but much cheaper than buying a new one :idea:

hi yes, I noticed the plug on the one end of the wire, but havent tried looking inside the distributor on the other end I'll check. thanks. on the second hand issue: a browsed through the forum and found that quite a few people have had the same problem, so seeing as though these little components tend to give hassles, id rather not go second hand. I'm kind of willing to spend the money on the car seeing as though we've had the car since it had 13000k's on it (that was 1998) and its running like a dream except for this small issue. I'd love to get it fixed and as long as I'm paying for the right thing Im willing to try it.

Well, good luck and hopefully all will be fine again with the replacement module! But do bear in mind that sometimes the only way to locate a problem is to substitute parts until the problem goes away, so there is no guarantee that this is the problem.

Thing is, distributors and modules can be picked up so cheaply from scrapyards that I always felt is was worth the risk for a tenner to substitute the whole distributor over. I've also got lucky in the past and managed to buy a brand new distributor complete with module, cap and rotor arm for 8 pounds off Ebay! I also managed to find a brand new ignition module on Ebay that I bought for 99p (that's my spare )

Funny that many people have had problems with them as in 60K miles of Uno driving I've never had one fail on me. I do have spare distributors though, and I bought the new distributor off Ebay simply because it was so cheap and fitted it to my Uno just for the sake of it. Looks nicer than the grubby original.

Hope you get your sorted

"for 99p" - wow!
"so there is no guarantee that this is the problem" - perfectly understood

ive basically already done the basic service ad replaced a few other things already. This seems like the only logical thing left (except maybe for the ignition coil). This little motor has served me so well in the past 8-9 years - hopefully this will sort it out. cheers for the help. I'll post back with results.

hey again, well I've manage to replace the module (and yes, you were right 1986Uno45S, no cutting required, I didn't notice it at first, but the module had a two piece male-female plug. just unplug and presto.) I've taken it for a drive and haven't had a hassle just yet. lets hope it solved the problem. anyways just wanted to say thanks for the help everyone.

Glad to be of help and to keep another Uno on the road

:worship: cheers again - went driving with it constantly this weekend, and lookin' steady.
not counting my chickens yet tho, I'll keep an eye out for any hickups.
heres my little green dragon:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v289/dve83/DSCN0383.jpg

Wow! That is a nice clean Uno! And you've had the door pillars blacked out too! And a great colour! Pleased to see a Uno like that still on the road

Of course, at just ten years old, it's half the age of your Uno, Chas!

Very nice dve83, you look after your little green dragon very well

Reminds me of when I was in Durban on the coast - saw one just like it... or almost like it, it had some rust in a door bottom! (I only remember it because it was one of very few rusty Unos that I saw; inland South Africa has a great climate for avoiding rust, not such a great climate for avoiding hay fever - I didn't know just how bad hay fever could be until I was in Pretoria!)

-Alex

your module is busted!!

BertusH said:

your module is busted!!

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His was, nearly six years ago

-Alex