[tonyinbeds]

Hi,
I had a moment today when I thought the car was dead for good.
I was coming off a roundabout and accelerating from 20 to 30 very gently and the power completely went.
First thought was cambelt, pulled off, cranked over and nothing, it turns but offers nothing. Eventually towed it home and have just removed the rocker cover. The cambelt is still there, have a video should anyone wish to see it.
When I took the rocker off there was a strong smell of petrol.
I need to do the usual plug test next but other possibilities I am thinking is failure in engine management gubbins.
I was wondering if anyone had experienced a similar thing and what the solution was before I start the process of elimination.
Any help gratefully received.

[Kriss707]

Had an issue with my Cabbie starting & dying when I bought it out of Winter hibernation last month, it was the Ignition switch.
Car would fire & die instantly, but would run fine if pressure was applied to the base of the Ignition barrel.
Ignition switch replaced & no issues since

[tonyinbeds]

Cheers

[Paul_1978_yorks]

Have you checked all battery connections at both ends, coil and leads etc?

[220 GSi turbo]

OK, as it is the Honda engine, my chief suspect would be the igniter unit in the distributor. If you do your spark test and have no spark, that is the likely cause.

But also don't rule out the possibility of the cambelt having jumped a couple of teeth.

[StubbornPatriot]

Hi Tony - I've had this happen twice. It was the coil both times. First time I replaced the blown 27 year old coil with a spare 26 year old one. A few months later that blew as well. Fitted a brand new coil and no problems since. 10 minute job and about £25. It's like you've had a complete ignition failure (which - as it happens - you have). They just suddenly give up, without warning or any previous symptoms.

Cheers, Duncan

[tonyinbeds]

Thanks for the information, both reassuring and helpful.
I'll check the spark probably Monday as my mechanic mate is free and if there isn't spark follow the two suggestions, igniter and coil. Otherwise the jumping teeth maybe be it as the belt seemed easy to slide about and I did think maybe the tensioner had failed... (is that possible?)
Anything cambelt related is probably terminal due to repair cost sadly, the others are doable.... fingers crossed.
mucho gracious...

[Mr Teddy Bear]

Don't touch the H.T side while the system is live or the engine is running!

Use a meter for fault finding, I've had my hand smashed onto the raised bonnet after touching a H.T lead on a running D16, it was a most unpleasant experience.

[richard moss]

OK, as it is the Honda engine, my chief suspect would be the igniter unit in the distributor. If you do your spark test and have no spark, that is the likely cause.

That's a good shout - it's the only thing that's ever stopped either of the Honda engined Rovers we've had.

[Plodder]

This rung some bells with me from 23 years ago when the car was 9 years old and had 70K on the clock. Again this is the only time the car has let me down in 25 years apart from a faulty battery.
The car was running fine and then just cut out with no indication and it wouldn't restart.
At the time our mechanic replaced the whole distributor for £200 and the problem has never reoccurred.
I'm guessing at the time he felt it was a more cost effective solution rather than isolating the problem to the igniter or the coil.
I remember the recovery man saying at the time the distributor on the Rovers seemed to fail after 80K miles.
Would be very interested to know what you narrow it down to.