Hi guys,

I am new hew here and have been reading archived threads for the last 3 years since I have owned my TP Elite, the EFI model. Great car and WAS going strong until lately.

I have electrical issues. Started with a bit of like a miss while driving and an odd stall when I slowed down or stopped. Now it just suddenly stalled and wont start and run. Will start but after about 20 secs will stop.

I have checked the fuel relay under the glove box and seems like new. I don't have test equipment and have done visuals. Its dual relayed one for pump and the other for power. I see the pump one sparks turning the key and the other relay contact closes when on and stays closed until the key is turned off. Is this normal.???

The other thing too is after cranking the motor trying to fire it up, suddenly I don't for some reason have power and lose all my dashlights everything and no crank noise of startup. Completely dead. I can leave it for a few minutes and then the lights show up again as power is seemed to be restored.
Just as thought the ignition switch is faulty and not passing on the power to the other areas hence no lights or noises.

I have checked all the other relays and fuses that I can find and are all ok. Swapped relays to see if ones faulty but to no avail. Battery is good, no problems. Ignition switch is the only thing that comes to mind to be the cause of my problems as it is from there that it controls power to the rest of the car. The fuelpump relay does not do this or am I barking up the wrong tree.??? Something is getting hot and closes everything in the electrical dept down and works again after cooling off in a few minutes.

Hope its not the pump relay as being that Repco don't have any nor do Mitsi in Australia. I can get one ordered from Japan, 5/6 weeks later and a nice $209, OUCH. None of the wreckers here in Perth have one and also tried about 10 yards interstate but to no avail if I need one.

Anyone else have similar issues and help me please to get on track and sort this out. Have got the ignition swich out and wires seem ok but cant get into the guts of where the contacts are when it turns inside the plastic shroud piece. Don't want to buy any parts until further discussion here. Only a pensioner and on a budget. Auto electricians and their prices, are woeful.

3 years ago I came to Perth from Brisbane, did the Auto trans at Bogabilla on the border and after that a trouble free ride over, never missed a beat. Averaged about 11kms to the litre across, not bad. Great sturdy beast, bit harsh around town getting about 6/7 kms only.

Special thanks to MAGNABUFF and all your posting specifics you have put here on how to work on things. I have replaced the distributer, coil and brakes only since I have owned her. Easy to work on not like the complicated cars out now.

If someone could give me a few hints here I would be very appreciative. THANKS.

check the fusable link from the battery . i had the same issue with mine

Thanks magnaman,

Where can I find them.? Not visible if its not the ones in the boxes under the dash near the ignition switch or the one near the battery. The fuses in these 2 boxes are all ok, not broken, are there any hidden away.??

If its a fuse how would you intermittently have power and no power from the battery to the ignition switch.? That's why Im thinking it has to be the main ignition switch giving the problem and not giving power to anything else, dash lights, interior and all externals are lost for a few minutes, but suddenly come one again.

its the black wire from the pos side of the battery with two white connectors . connector corrode

Thanks mate, I have seen them. They are half hidden under the air filter and just looked like connectors not fuseable links.

Will check them.

2nd THANKS.

Cleaned up all the connectors.

Behind the battery and the air filter shroud piece in the front, on that wall is a bank of 5 relays. The 1st one is a little 12v, its unplugged and in the harness is a big white wire. Can anyone tell me what this one is for.. Need to fix before trying to start again.

THANKS

Is it possible to get MAGNA BUFFs number, so I can have a good chat to him.

Indebted if I can get it.

Many THANKS.

how many wire,s are on that end of the fuse-able link ? should be a small green and thick white wire

Hi magnaman,

Yes there is a thick WHITE and thin GREEN wire, its unplugged for some reason and also the big 2nd relay is but I see that there are about 4 chopped wires in this one. Ive had it 3 yrs now and 1st time Ive seen these relays.

If these 2 relays have been unplugged all the time since Ive had it and its been running fine except for my latest concern, maybe no need to replug the front little relay again unless its something important if you can tell me.

Thanks for your help.

i know one is the etac( alarm system) . ill send old magna a fb message see if he can get oline. this is my sleep time lol
ill pick up my owner manual tonight and have a look though it at work . let you know in the morning

Willeys,
Can I suggest you get yrself a digital voltmeter. I have several but for your problem I would suggest a small 'DIGITECH' which I got from Jaycar. It dont do everything but its better for diagnosing problems than checking circuit conditions with a wet finger.
After you confirm or otherwise the electronic subassemblies, post your comments here for a sanity check. These modules on the TP are quite simple units with heaps of discrete electronic components and are easily repaired.
Is the Fuel control relay a K8T51371?

the electronics in our old magnas are mostly Japanese and seem almost bullet proof. there is however a few little things that get to them, the biggest being corrosion on the distributor plug. this is the black plug with 4 wires that goes onto the aluminium housing. take it off and clean the contacts. this could very well be your misfiring issue. if not it could be plug leads ect. the ignition transistors also go from time to time. ide be willing to bet if your main issue is either a faulty ignition switch, dodgy connection on the back of one of the fues boxes or indeed the efi relay next to the ecu. from memory the whole of the efi and dash are powered through this efi relay, however they are a good quality part and ive never heard of them causing issues before. my suggestion would be go and buy a $5 test light from repco or kmart or where ever and test to see if the efi relay has power. it should have constant power and at least one ignition dependent source on it. it should also have earth. you can test earth by hooking the clamp up to a constant 12v, ie the battrey. apart from that check the connections in all the fuse boxes for tightness, corrosion ect.

if you need any parts between me and magna man we would have about 10 magnas worth of electronics in our sheds. i think i have a spare auto efi relay. dont have an ignition switch tho. it is important that you get an auto ef relay as they seem to be different from the manual as the auto have a lockout. this is in my experience anyway, may not be the case.

so as far as i understand the dash cuts out aswell? its a shame i have my ford with me at the moment or ide go investigate what it could be.

these magnas are very good cars, i drove one as a daily driver for 4 years until last thursday when i bought a ba fairmont ghia and i spent more in the first 3 days on the ford fixing misfires and the like then i did on the magna in 4 years. i wont get rid of the magna becuase i need a car i can trust if the ford breaks down.

if you pm me your number ill give you a call and discuss the issue. always seems easier over the phone.

regards,
jay