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my landlord has a k11 micra he uses as a runabout. it broke down the other day and had to be towed back to base. as with everything mechanical that breaks round here, it got deposited outside mine and I was asked to fix it.
the symptoms were random loss of power, misfire then died. coughed a few times when trying to restart but then nothing. also sounds 'funny' when cranking, quite 'wirry', like a noisy starter motor.
my immediate thought was cambelt failure, turns out its a chain (well two cos its a twincam) but they're both still in situ, so I checked the other end, and it turn out the rotor arm had come loose (it bolts onto a shaft with a single screw) and mashed itself up a bit and bashed all the terminals in the dizzy cap up too.
the cap and arm were duly replaced, but it wont start. it coughed, ran for a second or two then died on first attempt, and now just cranks with nothing. ive checked every fuse i can find and they're all fine (inc. the one labelled 'ign' next to the battery, and there doest seem to be a relay for the ignition.
i have no idea how the ignition system on it works, but my thinking is it has the type of coilpack that burns out if the spark has nowhere to go- which it wouldnt have had if the rotor arm wasnt connected. can anyone confirm this, or have any wiring schematic for the dizzy/integral coilpack so I can test it, cos as it stands ive got at least half a dozen wires on the multiplug into it, and no idea what any of them are for.
we don't want to get into randomly replacing components til its fixed, as its expensive and time consuming, and the car just isnt worth it.
my landlord has a k11 micra he uses as a runabout. it broke down the other day and had to be towed back to base. as with everything mechanical that breaks round here, it got deposited outside mine and I was asked to fix it.
the symptoms were random loss of power, misfire then died. coughed a few times when trying to restart but then nothing. also sounds 'funny' when cranking, quite 'wirry', like a noisy starter motor.
my immediate thought was cambelt failure, turns out its a chain (well two cos its a twincam) but they're both still in situ, so I checked the other end, and it turn out the rotor arm had come loose (it bolts onto a shaft with a single screw) and mashed itself up a bit and bashed all the terminals in the dizzy cap up too.
the cap and arm were duly replaced, but it wont start. it coughed, ran for a second or two then died on first attempt, and now just cranks with nothing. ive checked every fuse i can find and they're all fine (inc. the one labelled 'ign' next to the battery, and there doest seem to be a relay for the ignition.
i have no idea how the ignition system on it works, but my thinking is it has the type of coilpack that burns out if the spark has nowhere to go- which it wouldnt have had if the rotor arm wasnt connected. can anyone confirm this, or have any wiring schematic for the dizzy/integral coilpack so I can test it, cos as it stands ive got at least half a dozen wires on the multiplug into it, and no idea what any of them are for.
we don't want to get into randomly replacing components til its fixed, as its expensive and time consuming, and the car just isnt worth it.
