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dying after 25 min

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Sparkey

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I have a tr4a that runs great for about 25 min. and then out of the blue it dies at the intersection. It's happened 3 times this summer and all days have been hot days and it's always been about 25 min. After 15 min it will start again.
 
I've had this issue in the past on two of my cars. The first was a 65 Spitfire. It turned out that some particles had broken loose in the gas tank and while running they would settle at the bottom and stop the flow of gas, after it set for awhile enought gas seeped throught to run for awhile. I had to flush out the tank which took care of the problem. The other issue was on my TR6. I filled the gas tank too full and got fuel in the vaccum line which cut off the air to the tank. After blowing out the vaccum line that cured that problem. It's also possible that your coil is breaking down, after it sets awhile and cools down it will work again until it gets too hot. Good luck.
 
My first thought was coil. I'd try swapping that out first. Also may be time to replace the points and condenser (If you still use them) or possibly the ignition module if you converted to solid state.
 
Thanks to both of you! I'll try your suggestions and hopefully I'll soon be on the road with confidence again.
 
Along the lines of what Terry's talking about, opening the gas cap will tell you if it's a gas tank vent problem. But usually if it is a problem with the gas tank vent the engine will sputter before it dies. Actually what's happening is the carbs are running out of gas, so you get a little warning something is about to happen.
If the engine just suddenly dies without warning, I'd be suspicious of something ignition related,,such as the coil, mentioned by Banjo.
 
Sparkey said:
I have a tr4a that runs great for about 25 min. and then out of the blue it dies at the intersection. It's happened 3 times this summer and all days have been hot days and it's always been about 25 min. After 15 min it will start again.
Click to expand...

I think you may have an intermittent open or short in your ignition coil. This is a common failure mode for coils. It is caused by the small change in dimension when the coil heats up, moving the fine wires and either opening the circuit or shorting to the core. When the coil cools, the coil appears to be OK. What exacerbates this problem, is the location where Triumph mounted the ignition coil on TR's, on the engine block. Many TR enthusiasts have relocated the coil to the left side inner wing, and have enjoyed much longer ignition coil life.

You should be able to verify this diagnosis by temporarily mounting a second coil on the wing and the next time the engine cuts out switch coils. If it is the coil the car should start up instantly on the spare coil.

T
 
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