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Q & A: '75 MG Midget Stalls Everywhere and Is Running Rough; #3 Cy

Wednesday March 26th, 2003
Q & A, MGA, MGB, MGC, MG T-Type, Midget

John - my daughter just recently (3 months ago) bought a '75 MG Midget.
Not ever having an MG in the family, I surfed the net looking for
technical
data. Luckily I found your site and have used some of your info several
times already, but can not find any info on this particular problem.
About
6 weeks ago it started to stall every where she went and the car was
running rough. I started with checking her timing and found it running at
about 30 degrees BTDC. The Haynes manual recommended 4 ATDC for the 1500
engine. (All the emission controls have been taken off by a previous
owner). Compression is low in #2 cylinder, and we planned on fixing that
this spring. Upon trying to adjust the timing I could not get it past 14
BTDC and at the original setting the car would not idle properly, had to
adjust the idle up just to keep it going. I changed the points and checked
the dwell, 56 degrees, bought a new rotor, distributor cap, wires, plugs
and coil. Finally noticed that she has a 25D distributor and not a 45D.
So I set the static timing at 6 BTDC, and dynamic at about 28 BTDC, but
the
car still was running rough and would not idle properly. Finally traced
it
down to #4 cylinder not getting a spark. Swapped #3 and #4 spark plugs to
see if the trouble would follow, it did. So I put new plugs in and the
problem went away and I finished the timing of the car. Since that time I
keep losing spark on #3, the spark plug does have excessive fouling. I
have tried three different brands of plugs, the latest is suppose to be
running hotter, two sets of wires, and the problem still persists. The
car will run fine for a couple of days, maybe a week and then it starts up
again. My question is where does the problem lie? It is driving me nuts.
I would greatly appreciate an answer. Thanks. Randy



Randy!

There are several reasons the #3 cylinder continues to foul plugs.
The problem might be engine related (bad rings); it might be carburetter
related (mixture too rich); but it probably isn't igni... read more