1990 countach engine problem

Later Countach's had problems with the ignition box (Lt. rear corner of engine bay). Unfortunately you will need to have the car in a failed condition to properly diagnose.

 

All CT's from the LP5000s on with the MM box can suffer such a problem, you will remark it will get worse and worse till the ignition box/coil fails completely.

Watch out for a replacement.

 

MSD

 

Not sure where you are but a "dealer" might be the last place I'd bring a 22 year old car.

Just sayin'

 

If you are DIY guy, have someone sit in the car when it fails, take out any of the spark plug wires and put a screwdriver in there touching the engine block. Have them start the car and see it has spark. If there is no spark, that means you are not getting power from the coil/box.

 

A dealer will be more confused than you are. ElectroMotive ignition, MSD, or Raymonds box. The old MM is the "original" way to go but is crap.

 

That car is older than some of the so called dealer techs. Todays "dealer techs" cant fix nothing unless they can plug something into it and even then..... Your best bet (if your not a DIYer) is find a good independent shop.

 

Eurospares in England has it listed for about $2300.

Paying someone like me to convert it to MSD would be around half that amount. If the MSD fails later (everything breaks eventually), a replacement is available locally for a few hundred.

Save the old Marelli unit for resale with the car. They're junk and I wouldn't waste money on a new one.

 

Do you still supply your ignition units Raymond?

 

Marco,

its a very easy to fix problem, do it yourself. Just open te trunklid on the rear, on the left side you open up the panel, then you find the ignitionbox, it use to get way to hot in there so i would open it and leave it open for ever so the heat can get out easy. The real problem is the fuses are between coper and this coper was so hot that the fuse is not tight enough between the coper anymore. Take out the fuses, bend the coper a little so the fuses will be tight in between the coper again, clean the contacts and off you go with your unbreakable countach! Safe yourself 3 hours inspection, bringing to the dealer and picking up at the dealer and who knows what they all do on the car what is not nessesary to touch or open up.. 1000% this is the problem, had it myself a few times.

 

20 minutes and its fixed! good luck!

BR

Marcel

 

Marcel you are a fountain of wisdom.

Please remind me, how many Countachs have you had?

There simply is no substitute for long-term hands-on experience.

 

thanks for that Joe, i owned "only" 6 countachs, you sell that number weekly This problem is a known problem from the anniversario, actually its a fuse box with some other electronic equipment. I drove in total about 26.000 fast km's with that anniversario and this was the only "problem" i had! great drivers, bullitproof engine! With a QV i had a ignitionboxproblem, i replaced it by Raymonds prepared MSD system, perfect and just very easy to bolt in without any modifications and always possible to swap back to original.

 

I had also heard that the ignition wires were not dense enough to deal with the intense heat and create too much resistance. Getting heavier, more efficient ignition wires, plug wires etc is said to fix it.

 

Dear Marcel:

At least you are not a Johnny-Come-Lately who thinks he knows it all. Because, you actually DO know it all!!

I will share a funny story: a long time ago I was driving Mario Andretti's Countach Annivesario, which at the time was mint & pristine. Like you, he has been around the cars forever and even changes his own oil! Anyway, I was with a passenger on a nice long clear road when the opportunity came up for us to pass several slower-moving cars up ahead. I wasted to show this Ferrari-guy passenger what a Countach can do. So, I blipped the throttle, dropped down into 2nd, glanced at my passenger and confidently uttered those immortal words: "Now watch this!". I swung out to pass & floored it. What I got was a lifetime's supply of - nothing. Car died on me at that exact moment and completely embarrassed me as I coasted to a stop on the hard shoulder. Passenger could not stop laughing!! Anyway, I got out, opened the rear panel, jiggled the fuses, came back in, started right up, and off we went, passenger still laughing all the way home, making some wise-cracks about "so that's why gloves come in every Lamborghini toolkit huh?"....

 

Hi Marco,

the fuses are in the upper box, but your problem has nothing to do with fuses, when it restart when colling down it's a typical MM problem.

To answer jollygoods question, yes I still sell my boxes which is in the end a MSD unit with special mounting plate, wiring and instructions to make it plug and play.

 

hahahaha, really funny!! but eh.. you ever seen DIRTY gloves in a countach toolkit??! ;-) The passenger was laughing all the way home but i bet he owns a Lamborghini nowdays!

 

Funny you should say that, besides the Ferraris, he owns 3 Lamborghinis now. Its like an illness....

 

I can't remember exact anymore because its some years ago but i do remember when the box is open you have to take out whats inside, very easy to do, i think they are on the back. When i had the problem it was also like this, i left the car for about 5 minutes and then it started again. What Raymond says is also true, if its not the fuse its the ignition but I think its the fuses Lets see or Joe is right, do i know everything yes or no LOL

 

hahaha, yes it is, now its your turn to lauch!