Hey guys one of my friends just asked me if I can help. While driving his datto dies and then the battery light comes on. If you swing it again it starts. He has a 1200 sedan. Thanx guys!

well.. my sugestions are that.. you should check fuel breather pipes.. cause if it isnt breathing it creats a very strong vacume.. but it could be the distributor

what is he doing when it dies? my ute died when i had the stereo on and used the turn signal.... found out that the alternator was stuffed!!! hope it helps

get it serviced and tuned, maybe just the idle too low and it stalls.

While he is driving say eg 60kph and it cuts out. He then pulls to the side of the road and starts it again no problem

One common reason for this is: loose wire at distributor. Then one that goes into the distributor from outside.

Thanks guys he joined and is a member now so he will be able to report back to you. He is mila1200

its weird that.. it might be carbs.. he must just try cleaning out those breather pipes that come out the fuel bowls, if they`re blocked it creates a pressure and it stops fuel, but then again my car would work on three cyls, but i gues if they`re both blocked.. it just seems like it would be something fuel related

(inspired by the ideas about breathers) - it's possible something is in the fuel tank and it's clogging up the fuel pickup, it drives for a while, then clogs up. Leave it parked a little while and the vac in the fuel line (created by the mech pump trying to pull more fuel forward eventually dissipates and it unblocks just enough to get it going again.

I had this happen on another brand of car. I bought it cheap, and it had no fuel cap. I kid you not, the previous owner used to fill it and then get the paper towelling from the servo next to the pumps and fold/roll it untill it could be shoved in the filler neck and plug it like a cork . I only know because it was in there when I bought the car. Anyway, identical symtoms, as over time bits and pieces of the paper ended up in the tank and clogged it.

I'm assuming the battery light comes on when the motor stops spinning - i.e. not before that time.

TO test this might be a little tricky, but the way i found it was that when it happened, I jumped out of the car with a screwdriver and pulled the fuel line at the carby, and blew into it (like a breathalyser test!) . It was blocked, then a 'clunk' sound as it finally popped the paper out of the pickup tube, and it then started an ran ok for some time.

Another way you could test for it is to drive until it happens, then quickly remove the air cleaner lid and hand operate the throttle linkage. If it's running the fuel bowl dry it won't be able to pump petrol from the accelerator pump. (*do it a few times, it might pump the first time from the fuel left inside the acc pump sleeve/reervoir)


Given the age of these cars, the possibility that the pickup screen has perished and let some debris in (or maybe bits of the mesh/screen itself) that is clogging it.

Hey guys,

I'm the guy with the cutting out problem. Thanx for the hints! I had the car at one of our mechanics this weekend and just like murphy would allow it, the car was fine. Then it happened again, cutting out while driving,even gave a loud pop from the exhaust. Some times the car wont die completely, the chg light would come on or flicker and the car would like cut out for second and then come back on all in the driving motion. Really weird!

Could the problem possibly lie where the wires connect to the dash and ignition from the coil??