F**ked Black Rover 827 SLi - The Mistake Machine

[mercedade]

My 827 had two fun, separate, no-start issues:

• igniter for the coil breaking down (one of these suckers) Rover 827 / IGNITER IGNITION CONTROL MODULE UNIT / E12-310 / E12310 | eBay UK. They do fail erratically and also totally, so good luck eliminating that. The particularly don't like heat and I believe thermal paste might be required
• Rotor arm spinning on the shaft sometimes. So it would cough, run, die, run, die, cough, die, run, run, die etc

[St.Jude]

On 20/04/2026 at 12:56, Mr Pastry said:

I'm sorry.  I do understand your frustration with this thing, which is why I am trying to help.  And it is clearly a struggle doing it on your own when you need 3 pairs of hands.  I may be quite wrong but I am just trying to get back to basics with it.

Hence, does it run with 12 volts applied directly to the coil, yes or no?    I would think also that the ECU might be able to see the crank sensor when the engine is stationary, but a bad contact due to vibration could upset things and not necessarily show a fault.  

 

I’m not frustrated, I have been but right now I’m not. The one thing I don’t want to come across as though is ungrateful to the help.

I haven’t tried putting 12v to the coil. But next time I am out there that will be the first thing I do.

In terms of the ECU, I would imagine that it would display a code if it lost the sensor but again, haven’t considered or checked that.

Right now as I write this I haven’t been out to the car this week as I’m struggling with my ankle. Call it gout, or some other random thing making it fucking painful to walk, I don’t know but yeah. I’ve not been able to go out to it.

However, I had bought the tools as said previously. The fuel pressure, compression, spark plug testers and timing light. They were meant to turn up yesterday, Amazon said they’re delivered. But they haven’t. The fuckers. So I have to wait until tomorrow to get a refund in order to buy the tools again. Monumentally pissed off on that.

That said, I found a NOS ignition switch which I duly bought. So when that comes I will fit it to at least fix the issue I have trying to to start the thing on the key.

[Mr Pastry]

2 minutes ago, St.Jude said:

I’m not frustrated, I have been but right now I’m not. The one thing I don’t want to come across as though is ungrateful to the help.

I haven’t tried putting 12v to the coil. But next time I am out there that will be the first thing I do.

In terms of the ECU, I would imagine that it would display a code if it lost the sensor but again, haven’t considered or checked that.

Right now as I write this I haven’t been out to the car this week as I’m struggling with my ankle. Call it gout, or some other random thing making it fucking painful to walk, I don’t know but yeah. I’ve not been able to go out to it.

However, I had bought the tools as said previously. The fuel pressure, compression, spark plug testers and timing light. They were meant to turn up yesterday, Amazon said they’re delivered. But they haven’t. The fuckers. So I have to wait until tomorrow to get a refund in order to buy the tools again. Monumentally pissed off on that.

That said, I found a NOS ignition switch which I duly bought. So when that comes I will fit it to at least fix the issue I have trying to to start the thing on the key.

You know what,  concentrate on getting your ankle right!  That is far more important than the car.

The point about 12v direct to the coil is that it will bypass the ignition switch, and I do think that as that is known to be faulty on the starter side, there could be an intermittent contact on the ignition side.  So if you've found a new switch, I'd put that on first, and then at least you know that everything is getting power by the correct route. 

[St.Jude]

5 hours ago, Mr Pastry said:

You know what,  concentrate on getting your ankle right!  That is far more important than the car.

The point about 12v direct to the coil is that it will bypass the ignition switch, and I do think that as that is known to be faulty on the starter side, there could be an intermittent contact on the ignition side.  So if you've found a new switch, I'd put that on first, and then at least you know that everything is getting power by the correct route. 

Switch hasn’t turned up yet so I think I’ll be doing the 12v thing first, just due to how the time falls with this.

Also the Amazon package finally turned up. No idea where it’s been, but I’m not gauged up, baby.

[St.Jude]

There is some mad fuckery going on with this wiring. Or it’s normal, I don’t know.

This is the business end of the ignition switch that I bought. Specifically for a Mk1.

This is the listing. Of course, not looking before buying means I spunk £17.99 on a part that doesn’t fit. Because when I go to fit it today, this is what comes off…

A small spade connector (red wire) and another block all go in to the wiring harness of what I have. Well bollocks to this, must be Mk2 I need then as this is a cross over period of vehicle (apparently) so.

But The Mk2 has the same number of connectors as the pre-1991 I bought? So fucked if I know what’s going on although I’m half tempted to desolder the black block switch from the new one I have to the one I’ve got, as the wiring colours match up between the two.

Not tried the 12v to the ignition coil as I lack the clips I think I need to do it. I also need to work out what spade connector on the block that goes in the back of it would be 12v to do it. Although again, I put the spark tester thing on after it and it was lighting up although it wasn’t a constant light. It was pulsing to my eyes at least.

Also changed the dizzy cap as the king lead felt loose when I was probing it with the spark tester. The one I replaced it with is old/second hand but the king lead port felt tighter.

Car, again, burst in to life after this. Promptly died when throttle applied. Wouldn’t start again.

Clips to do the 12v starter thing are on their way.

[St.Jude]

So a bit of an update.

I spliced the new ignition barrel thing to the old wiring harness.

 

Not the greatest work but they’ll do.

Battery connected, I cannot find my multimeter probes as I intended to watch the power going to the fuel pump to see if that flickered or not. They’re now coming from Amazon so that was skipped.

Tried it on the key - no good. Even with the new barrel thing on it. Not happy about that.

Went to start it via the relay and it started.

And it ran.

It ran for a good 2 minutes.

I blipped the throttle a few times in that period, didn’t die. This is progress.

I could hear the idle drop as I think it adjusted the choke, didn’t die.

This is wonderful.

What’s that burning smell? It’s not Burning oil or whatever but plastic.

It’s coming from the back of the engine.

Car then sputtered and died. Won’t come back to life again.

So as it ran for that long I had wondered if there was an immobiliser in play which was cutting it off after a few seconds. I think the run time eliminates that permanently.

The smell makes me think either there’s mouse/rat damage to the wiring at the rear. Whether that’s always been the issue fuck knows but I know if there is smoke from a slightly oily engine it shouldn’t smell like that. That’s electrical.

That’s all she wrote today. But it was nice to hear it run. Wife wasn’t happy to hear it run as she could hear it in the kitchen at the back of the house and she put our young lad in the living room to sleep, who I think woke up at the sound of the Rover.

So I am in the doghouse now again.

[St.Jude]

only wire at the back that I can see is this one which goes in to the bulkhead, but also comes up to join the, what I can see as, the wiring to the top dead centre sensor as well as the injectors.

But I can’t see any visible sign of fire either.

[andy18s]

It might be worth adding a new earth lead or 2 from the engine block, just to be safe..

[Dobloseven]

Holy Grail 800 in this month's Practical Classics.2 litre sohc  O Series.Single SU carb.Wow!Even seems to move.

[St.Jude]

5 hours ago, Dobloseven said:

Holy Grail 800 in this month's Practical Classics.2 litre sohc  O Series.Single SU carb.Wow!Even seems to move.

Mine moves.

Just on a trailer.

[MantaGTE85]

9 hours ago, Dobloseven said:

Holy Grail 800 in this month's Practical Classics.2 litre sohc  O Series.Single SU carb.Wow!Even seems to move.

I always liked the XX's. I must remind myself to buy a copy. But before I do, it wouldn't be a certain white ex-HubNut 820 fastback by any chance? Or is there another one?

Anyway G651MHG's last MOT expired in October 2020, but its V5 change was only as recently as last September so it must be still around, hopefully being worked on.

[Dobloseven]

8 hours ago, MantaGTE85 said:

I always liked the XX's. I must remind myself to buy a copy. But before I do, it wouldn't be a certain white ex-HubNut 820 fastback by any chance? Or is there another one?

Anyway G651MHG's last MOT expired in October 2020, but its V5 change was only as recently as last September so it must be still around, hopefully being worked on.

This one is a blue G reg fastback.Seems there's about 200 800s on the road and about 1400 on SORN.We're all rooting for StJude to increase the number by one.Not sure if it's doing his mental health or marriage much good though!