Re: Stag and elect. ign. questions

[Michael Ferguson <fergie@domain.elided>]

Henry Frye wrote:
> 
> Greetings all,
> 
> Here's my problem. I bought my Stag without hearing it run. I knew there
> was a pretty bad meltdown in the wiring harness. The wiring was worked on,
> but it was obvious the previous owner was unable to do anything here.
> 
> I put 12V to the fuel pump, hooked up the disconnected red wire from the
> Lumenition Electronic Ignition module, and the engine fired right up.
> Sounded pretty good too!
> 
> All euphoria ended after a couple of minutes, as the engine just quit.
> Acted as if I turned off the key, as the tach dropped right down and the
> engine spun down to a stop. It died exactly like the ignition key was
> turned cut off. After a few minutes, the car starts right up, runs for
> anything from 3 to 10 seconds, and the same thing happens. The engine stops
> firing, the tach immediately drops, and the engine winds down and stops. I
> verified the coil is getting power as the engine stops firing.
> 
> This is my first Triumph with electronic ignition. This failure mode sounds
> exactly like what my Dodge truck did as it's electronic ignition was dying.
> How robust is the Lumenition electronic system? How do I test it?
> 
> My other thought is the wiring harness. There are lots of melted wires, and
> I have yet to sort things out. What I am thinking is there might be a
> melted wire in the harness that is not totally shorted, but after a few
> minutes of running, the wire heats up, and the short occurs. This elusive
> short somehow kills the engine. This sounds really far fetched to me...
> Comments?
>  - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
>  Henry Frye - thefryes@domain.elided - Connecticut, USA
>  TR3B   TCF1927 L       Driver
>  TR250  CD690 L         Soon to be Driver
>  TR250  CD8096 L        Someday Driver
>  TR250  CD1074 L        For Sale (soon!)
>  Stag MkI               Gonna have to move this up the list...
>  Homepage         http://members.iconn.net/thefryes/

Hi, Henry. Congrats on the PAINTED car! Seems to me that you're not
going ANYWHERE until you get the harness replaced. So, why not do that
first rather than trying to sort out what appears to be an electrical
problem. If it IS wiring-related, you'll have replaced the old harness
and solved the current problem (ouch - no pun intended!). If it's not
related, you'll still have the harness done. Good luck!
-- 
Michael Ferguson
Vernon CT