Telstar TX5 died.

bryan88 · 10-10-2011, 09:25 PM

Hi all, my name is Bryan and I am from South Africa. I know it is bad manners to introduce yourself and ask for help in the same post so my apologies for that.
My 94 Tx5 died on me the other day and hasn't run since. It has no spark which it would seem means the ignition module? ( the distributor is turning and a cursory look showed that the cam belt is in place and turning) However, I bought a new module and still no go. It has been modified to take a generic module (not inside the distributor cap) but it was working fine so I don't think that was the problem. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.

Russ · 10-10-2011, 09:31 PM

HI Bryan, Welcome to the AFF

It would help if you give us some more details on the car, it's a Telstar TX5 but what engine 4 or 6 cylinder

bryan88 · 10-10-2011, 09:34 PM

Sorry it's the 2.5l V6. I will try attach a picture of the module, it's mounted on an aluminium bracket that's in turn bolted to the distributor.Photo0477.jpg

Russ · 10-10-2011, 09:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bryan88

sorry it's the 2.5l V6

Mate I had exactly the same car and the exact same problem (although mine did not go completely dead as your's has), has it ever died on you before and then you've been able to start it again after waiting a little while ?

bryan88 · 10-10-2011, 09:50 PM

No, it's never died on me, has had a low rev miss since I bought it though. I'm thinking it could be the alarm/immobiliser/anti-hijack system? Any ideas on ripping all that rubbish out?

Russ · 10-10-2011, 10:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bryan88

No, it's never died on me, has had a low rev miss since I bought it though. I'm thinking it could be the alarm/immobiliser/anti-hijack system? Any ideas on ripping all that rubbish out?

It could be to do with the alarm / immobiliser (was that a standard fit on the car or aftermarket ?) Personally I am guessing the distributor will be your problem, I searched high and low on mine trying to get to the problem of it cutting out randomly, I changed plugs, leads etc.... and all to no avail :( One day by chance I was talking to a mechanic mate of my brother in law who had come across the issue before and said it was a common fault with this model. On the underneath of the distributor internals there is an electronic circuit board which has a silicone coating, apparently over time the silicone dries out from the heat of the engine and cracks develop which allows moisture to get in and causes corrosion which starts eating into the circuitry. It is not a cheap item to replace and at the time approx. 8 years ago it cost me AU$500 for an exchange reconditioned unit. Before you do anything else see if you can source another distributor from somewhere and try that, that would also explain the miss you have been getting

bryan88 · 10-10-2011, 10:22 PM

Thanks Russ. I intend taking the distributor out and and taking it to be tested before I do anything else. It's otherwise been a magic car and it was dead cheap, so it would be a pity for it to end up "free to a loving home". Will let you know how I get on.

Russ · 10-10-2011, 10:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bryan88

Thanks Russ. I intend taking the distributor out and and taking it to be tested before I do anything else. It's otherwise been a magic car and it was dead cheap, so it would be a pity for it to end up "free to a loving home". Will let you know how I get on.

Cheers mate, best of luck with it

Russ · 18-10-2011, 08:24 AM

Any news on the dead Telstar yet

bryan88 · 19-10-2011, 06:10 PM

Nothing yet, have been to busy (lazy) to even start. Think I'm gonna need to set the timing up before I pull the distributor out? So just waiting till I nave a good few hours spare to climb into it. Fortunately (or unfortunately) it's one of a couple of cars and bikes so transport is not an issue, I normally wait until they've ALL packed up before I fix one! :-D

bryan88 · 27-10-2011, 08:15 AM

It's alive! Took the distributor to some guys this morning. Turns out the coil was shot and the module I had bought was wrong, so they replaced that too. Cost me R900 (South African Rands) so all in all not too painful an experience. Regarding the module (see pics), the circuit board obviously packed up previously so here in SA the guys were doing a mod where they ran wires from where the board would have been to a remote module. The guy that fixed mine said he could change mine back to standard but the chip alone is R800 so it is not really a problem to leave it, as it works fine. One problem is that there are about 5 modules that all look the same so unless you really know what you are looking for it's easy to get the wrong one (as I did) and you generally can't return electrical parts. Two pieces of advice that might be helpful, was told that dodgy plug leads are a distributor/coil killer, so always keep an eye on them. And be careful that the alternator is not overcharging as that can also wreck the coil and module. Thanks again Russ for your help.

Russ · 28-10-2011, 10:15 AM

Cheers mate, pleased to hear it's sorted

bryan88 · 08-11-2011, 08:00 PM

Sorry, another question. The guy that did the distributor said I should check the charge rate and it should be around 13.8v. I'm getting 14.4 (with the headlights on bright) do you think that's a cause for concern? Thanks

Russ · 08-12-2011, 02:30 PM

HI Bryan,

Sorry mate I've only just seen your last post, I had a bit of a search regarding the voltage and from what I could find 14.4v maximum output shouldn't be an issue. I would think that if it was causing problems with overcharging then you would probably have issues with fuses blowing, so providing that's not happening I would say it's pretty normal