Great to find a website dedicated to these machines! I've inherited my wifes grandfathers car, 90 TP wagon (auto unfortunately) 230Kms

I've had a few running issues lately, but I'm not sure where the problem is.

The car has a sneaky habit of dying suddenly whilst driving. Makes for interesting times when crossing intersections!

My thoughts are that its in the electrics - the engine just stops/stalls. Last time it happened it was a hot day, fuel level was admittedly low. Managed to eventually get it started and run fine again but I didn't do anything so I suspect the problem is still there.

I've looked at the wiring loom on the distributor - it was pretty green so i've cleaned it up with some WD40. Interestingly the tachometer started working again - although it only seems to work when the engine is cold then dies a while later.

I'll pull the dizzy cap off on the weekend for a look, and change the plugs and leads (although they already look ok).

My other thought was either the fuel pump or maybe crank angle sensor.

Any other thoughts?

im guwssing it efi . 4 pin plug on the dizzy check both the male and female ends give them a good clean and use some electrical grease
welcome to amc i love the gen1 wagons

Sounds electrical, with fuel problems you normally get a bit of a splutter or gradual loss of power, with electrics it's much more sudden.

Check the electrical connectors on the ignition coil. Only time I had problems with the tacho in my TP was when the power transistor was on the way out. That only happened when hot too.

As magnaman said the 4 pin plug on the dizzy and also the tps. The wires break and cause all sorts of trouble, with the engine running wiggle the wires if the car stalls replace the plug and clean the male pins. New plug and boot can be purchased from burson. I think part number is BK401.

the crank angle sensor is part of the four pin plug on the dizzy .
if you have fuel problems its most likely the fuel relay behind the clove box
these are the two most common faults on the gen1s
i carry a spare dizzy and fuel relay in my car when i go on long trips

Another new member with a wagon! Makes two of us. My TP Elite wagon also had a very dirty distributor plug,I ended up fitting a new 4 pin connector,all good. I had another weird hot start issue once,it turned out to be a coolant sensor that told the ecu the engine was cold and made for flooding when trying to start hot,but that doesn't sound like your prob. Also check the coil high tension lead to make sure it's ok,a friend had a tn that stopped suddenly with a dodgy connection where it fitted into the cap. Good luck with the fix,they are great old girls!

Another new member with a wagon! Makes two of us. My TP Elite wagon also had a very dirty distributor plug,I ended up fitting a new 4 pin connector,all good. I had another weird hot start issue once,it turned out to be a coolant sensor that told the ecu the engine was cold and made for flooding when trying to start hot,but that doesn't sound like your prob. Also check the coil high tension lead to make sure it's ok,a friend had a tn that stopped suddenly with a dodgy connection where it fitted into the cap. Good luck with the fix,they are great old girls!
i have an elite wagon with sun roof love it wagons rule

i have an elite wagon with sun roof love it wagons rule

Great stuff! I'm giving my old girl a bit of a makeover after years of faithful service.....just had a repaint,all over factory blue colour,I'm building up a TR roller cam engine to go in her as well as new struts etc etc.....more on my stuff later..sorry to hijack the thread.

The car has a sneaky habit of dying suddenly whilst driving
Check the ignition switch.
Alot of people have heaps of keys on their keyrings (expensive exercise on some cars nowadays) and the gentle swaying and bouncing over the years wears the lock and the switch behind it so the contacts lose contact every so often. Wiggle it while the motors running and see if it cuts at all. My TP wagon just flicked over 183,000km. 40k of that in the last 2 years!! Lots life in it yet!! Vee

Hi TW and Well done.
I have a carby TP wagon just clocked over to 290,000 km.
I did have an annoying problem with an intermittent ignition control module which is located in the distributor. This would intermittently fail and the engine would die for a couple of seconds, due to no spark, and then would get going again.
In your case you have EFI and the ignition coil is driven via a separate switching transistor from the ECU. Semiconductor type stuff can show intermittent faults and unfortunately for you, these faults never show up when you have all the test gear attached to the motor. So very often, its a case of try something and see what happens.
Most of the above posts are saying the same thing.
good luck and keep posting.
rumpfy.

Sounds electrical, with fuel problems you normally get a bit of a splutter or gradual loss of power, with electrics it's much more sudden.

Check the electrical connectors on the ignition coil. Only time I had problems with the tacho in my TP was when the power transistor was on the way out. That only happened when hot too.

Apologies for the delay in posting (internet problems at home typical!). And yes its EFI.
Well I had a look last weekend - I put a new set of leads and plugs in - the plugs looked pretty average, so I was happy to have switched them. Leads are always a bit hard to guess, but they've been changed now so it won't be that.
I pulled the dizzy cap - the rotor has made a good groove in the cap points - I've just cleaned it for now (will get a replacement later), and it seems to be running a bit smoother now.
As for the 4-pin wiring plug on the dizzy - the boot has been stripped back and wires exposed - moved them around and the engine started to miss so definitely theres a break in there. Do I need a new plug or can I repair the old one? Are the wires just clamped in or soldered on?

MadMax, I tried looking at the coil pack for the tacho issue, but couldn't see any wiring issues here. Its a funny one - if the day temperature is below 12 degrees, the tacho works fine, otherwise just dead once above or after the car has been running for 20 mins. Means its usually only working on winter days. Power transistor - is that the one coming off the bottom of the coil?

Sounds like you have found your problem.... I'm sure some of the more knowledgeable guys will chime in with part numbers or suppliers,but I do remember buying a new plug assembly and I think soldering the wires,but I think they were crimp on connectors and i soldered them just to be sure...it's was a long time ago. If your living in the south west area of sydney try gemini auto spares in earlwood,really good guys,he would be able to sort you out,but im sure you can get them without too much hassle at many other places.Have a look at the pins in the dissy where the plug goes into,more than likely they will need a good cleanup to remove corrosion and years of gunk. Good to hear you have found a problem,often the troubleshooting is a bigger hassle than actually fixing the prob. Cheers!

i just chanced the dash in my new car to fix the fuel gauge now my taco,s not work
i will try another dash sunday or monday .
if your keen i can send you a dash free
as for the 4 pin plug check the wreckers any tm/tn/tp/tr/ts efi dizzy will do just look for one that looks new
with no signs of corrosion on the pins

Swap the fuel gauge out into the other cluster you had in there first. Common problem. Vee