PUG 205 Ignition problem

Hello all,

I have yet another problem with my 205. The car keeps cutting out as the
spark is shorting from the HT leads to anywhere possible under the bonnet.
So far I have seen the spark (at night) jump from the leads to the throttle
cable, from the top of the Coil lead to the water hose, and between the
leads where they plug onto the distributer cap. I have also seen a spark go
from the small positive terminal on the coil to the main coil (high voltage)
output where the lead plugs on.

This problem gets worse when the weather is damp (obviously the air
conducts better then).

Anyone got any ideas if this is a common problem? Could it be due to a bad
earth somewhere?

It seems to be intermitent.....

Any thoughts/help is much appreciated, thanks

Jon

 

The Haynes manual says the following:

So this is where I would start. Clean everything, especially connections
using WD40 or a similar lubricant. Moisture would be a big problem, not
only in the air, but also when it sticks to dust and dirt.

To me it seems that you also might need to change the the spark plugs
and HT [1] leads. I would recommend to get the Haynes from
http://mitglied.lycos.de/maniacgti/ --> "Reparaturanleitung" (It's in
English.) and to follow the testing procedure.

As far a bad earth is concerned I do not know if this may actually be
the reason. I don't believe this because I think that the engine has
lots of earthing connections and is unlikely to have a bad earth. But
maybe I'm wrong here.


Hope this was helpful although I'm not an expert,
Dirk


[1] I know that the HT leads are what is called "Zündkabel" in German,
but can you tell me what exactly HT stands for?

 

Thanks for your help. HT stands for "High Tension". The description of High
Tension in the dictionary is "A voltage of specified magnitude". I sound
like a loser! but you did ask.

cheers,

jon

 

I'd agree with Dirk Lucas' suggestions, and a bad earth is highly
unlikely on the engine block. Not to mention that 101 other things
earth to the engine block and would also stop working.
If you can see the spark jumping from the leads they are definitely
past it, and this would be the first thing to change.

Andy

 

Thanks for the suggestions, I have replaced the leads and so far the
problem has not re-occured! fingers crossed! however, the occasionally
"engine stall" and then struggle to re-start has happened once since I
replaced the leads.

Thanks again

Jon