MG-Cars.net

Welcome to our resource for MG Car Information.

Recommendations

Parts

TR parts and Triumph parts, TR bits, Triumph Car Spares and accessories are available for TR2, TR3, TR3A, TR4, TR4A, TR5, TR6, TR7, TR8, Spitfire and Stag and other TR models are available from British car spares and parts company LBCarCo.

Triumph TR6 - Ignition Miss

I have a TR6 with a pertroinic ignitor. My car started to miss when I put it under load. The spark plugs look good so I don't think it's a fuel problem. Has anyone had problems with these? Also a seperate problem My car has never shut of with out run on no matter what octane fuel, or where I set the timming. My distributor has 1 vacuum canister on it is it a advance or retard? Does anyone make an electronic distributor for these cars or how else can I fix this problem? Thanks Shawn
Shawn

Shawn, a miss under load could be caused by numerous things, plugs even though they may look good can still be at fault. Plug wires are also a culprit for missing. Of course there is still the rotor and distrib cap that can cause problems. However, the big concern may be in your comment that the car has always ran on. Not good. You could have a cam timing issue or a bad retard unit on the distrib, or the distrib could even be off tooth on the alignment. It makes me wonder if you could supply more information about the engine - rebuild ? If so by who. I have ran across a couple that have had the cam timing off and had been set with the distrib off a tooth to try to compensate. This caused exactly the problem that you have discribed. They would diesel when you shut them off unless you killed it with the clutch. Hopefully, this is not the case for you. Get a good dark night and open the bonnet with the engine running. If you see a light show in the engine compartment, change you plug wires preferably to 7mm or 8mm good quality wires. Check the rotor for oxidation and wear. Same for the distrib cap. With the cap off use a piece of hose connected to the retard unit and suck on the hose while observing the retard unit in the distrib. It should move freely and not bleed down when you stop the end off. If all this checks good you may want to try new plugs preferably Bosch Platinum with the Pertronix ignition. I have only known of one Pertronix unit that actually failed, so they are pretty reliable.
Arnold Newton

Your not telling me what I wanted to hear. I do have to kill it with the clutch. I rebuilt the engine the previous winter. I bought the car as a basket case. The owner I bought it from had the head milled because I had to cut the push rods down to get the rockers set. I don't think the cam is off but it is possible.It ran great for almost two summers. Maybe a month ago it had a simaler problem but it cleared up after driving so I figured it was just loaded up but now it not going away. I don't think the retard unit works properly. It's loose where it attaches to the distributor and when you pull the vaccumm line off sometimes the idel speeds upand sometimes not. As far as electrionic distributors dose anyone sell them? Thanks for the Help. Shawn
Shawn

Apparently you have made several mods to your engine for various reasons that I am not total sure of. As far as an electronic distributor, that is what you have with a pertronix unit installed. There have been frequent discussions on the boards about various distributor modifications, both good and bad. If you join you will have access to the archives and can read all about everyones personal experiences with the various choices. There was also some discussion about some folks removing the retard unit. I personally have not had an issue with the retard unit, so mine is intact. It is obvious that you do in fact have a problem with the retard unit, so you need to replace it or remove it. If you are looking for a bolt in replacement electronic distributor, I do not personally know of an off the shelf replacement for the TR-6, but of course the name of the game with an old car is modification. Maybe one of the other members can help you with a bolt in replacement.
Arnold Newton

What I ment by electronic was electroniclly controlled advance and retard. Thanks for your help Shawn
Shawn

It's only an MSD catalog (and parting with some brass) away from you. They have two different timing control units available.

http://www.msdignition.com/
SteveP

This thread was discussed between 13/08/2004 and 16/08/2004

Triumph TR6 index