[Mini] Help with no start on my Mini

[Richard Porter]

On 22 Aug 2012 Patrick Opsahl  wrote:

> I have a mid 70's Countryman that I drove into the garage last month.  I put
> in a fresh battery and tried to start it today, no go.  Tried priming it,
> nothing.  Pulled a plug wire and placed it close to an engine ground, no
> spark.  Checked voltage going to coil.  With the key on and key on
> cranking, I get 12 volts at both the negative and positive terminals -
> is this correct?

You should get alternately 12v and 0v at the -ve terminal as you crank 
the engine. If you are getting 12v all the time then the points are 
not closing, so you are getting no spark. The first thing is to set 
the points to 0.015" and check the wiring between the points and the 
coil including the link inside the distributor. If they are badly 
eroded then change the points and condenser. Better still fit an 
electronic replacement like Lumenition or the Pertronics Ignitor.

> Pulled the distributor cap, turned the motor to have points open.  Checked
> resistance from ground to open side of points, shorted?

If the points are closed or shorted to ground then you should get 0v 
at the coil -ve terminal.

> Is my condensor shorted?  How do I check to see if my condenser is bad?
> I have a digital multi meter (DMM) for checking.

Fit a new one and see if it makes a difference. A fault may not show 
up using a multimeter, though obviously if there's a dead short then 
it's definitely bad (but then you'd get 0v at the coil all the time).

> Is my coil bad?  In all of my troubleshooting I noticed the positive and
> negative wires were backwards on my coil.  White wire goes to negative and
> white and black wire goes to positive.

That's the wrong way round, assuming it's a negative earth car. The 
white wire is +12v from the ignition switch and goes to the coil +ve 
terminal. The white and black wire goes between the dizzy and coil -ve 
Check it for continuity - old wires close to the engine can harden and 
break. Connecting the coil the wrong way round only reverses the 
polarity of the spark but shouldn't stop it working.

Sort out the points first. If they are not working there is no reason 
to suspect the coil.