MGB & GT Forum

79 MGB.. intermittent stall at idle. Car runs fine on the road. Last night it stalled as I pulled into the driveway. Would not restart. Checked getting fuel, but not spark. battery was weak so put on charger.. started right up few hours later. New dizzy , points, coil with in last 6 months. Took to Orielly alternator not putting out what it should. Left car running when at Orielly's but when came out it had stalled. Cranked awhile then started. Ordered the alternator but not sure this is the issue? Carbs were rebuilt about 2 months ago by MG mechanic who used to work at deal ship for MG's plug look as they should so not running rich or lean. I did notice I had no dash lights last night dimmer has gone ordered new one.

On our cars white wires are switched by the ignition switch and are not fused. Green wires on our cars are switched by the ignition switch and fused.

I suggest you run a temporary jumper wire from a white or green wire to the + side of your ignition coil. If the problem goes away, then you have an intermittent power supply to the ignition coil. Your car originally was equipped with electronic ignition, so you might want to take note of how the wiring has been changed to accommodate your points distributor which, by the way, is a very good thing to have instead of the OE electronic setup. Also, take note if the tachometer immediately drops to zero when the engine stalls.

As an alternative, you could rig up a test light or volt meter, running a wire from your coil + terminal to a test light or volt meter inside the cockpit of your car in order to monitor the power supply to your coil. This will help determine if your problem lies in the power feed to your coil...

Finally, you might try playing with the choke to see if selective application of choke makes the problem go away, which would then indicate a fuel supply problem.

Dick

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Errabundi Saepe, Semper Certi
(Often wrong, but always certain)

Any chance your fuel/carb is getting hot?

Did you have the battery tested also? RAY

When the engine is warm and stalls, try holding the gas pedal to the floor while trying to restart (don't pump it)

Pumping the gas pedal should make no difference when starting the engine. SU and Stromberg carbs have no accelerator pumps. RAY



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2017-01-16 04:51 PM by RAY 67 TOURER.

HI there,

My car stalled a few months ago.

It would crank over, fire up & cut out.

Bad Contact at the back of the Ignition Switch.

All the Contacts thoroughly cleaned, no further problem.

Ross H.

Any day above the ground is a great day, especially "Driving Miss B".

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Any day above the ground is a great day, especially "Driving Miss B".