Yet another electrical - possibly ignition challenge. Looki

[ronfrohock]

I have a 1982 Spider 2000.
I have owned the car for about 18 years and it's great.
It's been completely rebuilt over the years and up until recently, the past two years, it's been completely reliable.

Problem:
The car starts and drives normal most of the time, however, while driving the car it randomly cuts out for an instant, almost like flipping a switch on and off, just for an instant. It does not sputter or ramble on. It just cuts out like blinking your eyes.

There seems to be no rhyme or reason. It always happens under acceleration. It does not happen when the car is at idle. It does not seem to be fuel related as agin, it doesn't sputter.

I have replaced the wires, cap, rotor, fuel filter, vacuum advance, plugs, etc. I had the fuel injectors removed and professionally cleaned and recalibrated.

The fuel pump is recently new. The ignition switch is recently new.

I also had the distributor removed and evaluated. I was told it is fine.

I understand this is a hard thing to diagnose. Does anyone in the collective Fiat Spider.com brain trust have any suggestions based on most common problems based on the symptoms?

I could sure use some help here.....

[4uall]

I had a very similar issue one night and it ended up being the connector to the sensor in the T. It was old and became loose. I think the acceleration would make it vibrate more thus creating the loss of connection. Just my 2 cents


Bosch connector (damaged) for temp sensor by itzebtze, on Flickr

[ronfrohock]

I'll look at this tonight. I think its ok thou.....
Thanks
- Ron

[ronfrohock]

The connector looks good to me. Any more ideas?
I could sure use some help here..
- Ron

[RRoller123]

Check all the grounds involved with the FI system?

[ronfrohock]

I will do this tomorrow night. I just came up from the garage and had a solid look around.
It's really frustrating. I can drive the car for a couple of day's without issue, then BAM, all of a sudden it will act up. This is my third year with this problem.
Seems to me that it is not fuel and it's electrical.
I'm surprised that this is a unique problem. It's been my experiance that all cars suffer from the same problems at around the same time or mileage.
Thanks for your help.

[digitech]

I would replace the ignition control module and then possibly the coil.

[dmwhiteoak]

I would check the ground and power supply to the ignition system. This is where I see your problem coming from. Be it electronic or points ign. Been there, done that

[RRoller123]

Maybe try and wiggle the ignition key while running at idle in the garage and see if there is a fault there?

[maytag]

check the wire feeding the coil. Mine had an intermittent when I bought the car. it took a while to find, but there it was. Crimped-on a new end and fixed.

[124JOE]

i had similar problems when i switched my batt ends from top to side posts
it was a loose ground on the batt
also i had bare wires at the dist that i taped up

[GeorgeT]

I had a very similar issue in my '82 that was finally traced to a bad Double Relay. Inital symptoms were exactly like yours and slowly got worse; only after it failed completely was I able to diagnose it.

[marty3d]

I colorized a wiring schematic when searching for a problem on my car, perhaps it can help...



If you suspect that the coil is not getting power, you can wire a test light between the +12v side of the coil, through the light, to ground. If the light dims or goes out when you lose power, you have at least identified the circuit/culprit. You can do the same thing for other suspicious circuits...

Don't forget about the safety switch in the air sensor - it maintains power to the relay set which provides power to the fuel pump as long as air is flowing through the sensor. When you accelerate, more air goes through so that switch would at least be involved during acceleration.

[RRoller123]

Like I always have said, lots of friendly, knowledgeable and friendly people here!

[ronfrohock]

This is awesome. I cant wait to get home tonight to start digging in....
Thanks to all.
- Ron Frohock