Engine dieing after approx 5 miles

[John Blackburn]

My stag has suddenly developed a problem whereby the engine dies after approx 5 miles.It died on a roundabout .It took a while to start it again and after driving the same distance home it immediately died on stopping in my drive.The car drove perfectly on these journeys before dieing.I have a new coil and resistor which I am going to fit today and I will also take the inertia switch out of the equation by connecting the two wires to it.Any other thoughts greatly accepted.

[Goldstar]

Coil is always my first suspect.

Worth checking the electrical connections to the fuel pump as well John. I had similar symptoms which turned out to be a frayed earth wire to the pump.

Did you notice what the dev counter did when you had the issue, did it instantly go to zero or gradually go to zero?

[dasadrew]

had identical problem. was the carb float valve sticking. float chamber was full enough to get me a couple of kilometres.
stopped to check everything and that was enough time for the chamber to refill and off I went for another kilometer or so

correction: it was the float which kept on getting stuck as I hadn't fitted it properly

[gbb483]

I had a similar problem with a Wolseley 6, half way between London and Newcastle - If I pulled the choke out a bit it went for a while, then I had to pull the choke a bit further out. It had an SU carb and pulling the choke draws down a collar around the needle. I guessed it was the fuel pump not working, which was located behind the rear bumper. So I nipped around the back, gave it a good thump with my hand, and had no problems for the rest of the trip.

[John Blackburn]

Just received new coil and resistor.Once fitted will try again.

[flying farmer]

Another possibility is the electronic ignition dying (if you have it fitted). I had one that lasted about 50 miles before it died, it was a failing Lumenition power module. Dodgy 3 pin plugs on the Lumenition modules can also cause problems, though other makes of electronic ignition also suffer problems