Daihatsu Midget II - Engine troubles

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Thu 26 Feb 2015 17:56
Daihatsu Midget II - Engine troubles - Midget Man

Hello all I'm a newbie, please don't hate me! I do have a quirky vehicle though so hopefully that'll make up for it.

My little Daihatsu Midget II has a strange problem. I can drive it around for hours and it's fine but if I drive it even for a short time then don't use it for a few hours, when I go back to use it again the engine cuts out repeatedly. Generally it'll cut out between 2 and 6 times in around an hours duration, then be OK again... Any ideas? Occasionally it'll have the problem when first using it in the morning but to a lesser extent. It may be worth noting that my alternator doesn't work and I'm charging the battery nightly.

Any potential cause or things to look for would be much appreciated!

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Thu 26 Feb 2015 18:42
Daihatsu Midget II - Engine troubles - madf

Change the alternator first and ask again.

Lots of reasons to fail if voltage drop is too much .. the ECU won't like it.

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Thu 26 Feb 2015 19:29
Daihatsu Midget II - Engine troubles - Midget Man

Thank you for your reply. I don't believe it has an ECU. It's a very basic 659cc 4 speed straight 3 Japanese import from the 90's. Also, as it's not easy or cheap to get an alternator I'm trying to avoid it unless that's what is causing the issue.

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Thu 26 Feb 2015 21:23
Daihatsu Midget II - Engine troubles - mss1tw

New battery then?

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Thu 26 Feb 2015 21:43
Daihatsu Midget II - Engine troubles - Midget Man

I replaced the battery in June.

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Thu 26 Feb 2015 22:38
Daihatsu Midget II - Engine troubles - mss1tw

I replaced the battery in June.

Assuming the missing alternator is having no effect...Does it cut onto less cylinders first or just die?

Sounds like it could be a duff sensor as it's EFI.

Edited by mss1tw on 26/02/2015 at 22:41

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Thu 26 Feb 2015 22:49
Daihatsu Midget II - Engine troubles - Midget Man

No, it doesn't feel like it's running on 2. The power dips at first which I can usually bring back by dropping it down a gear and increasing the revs but only for a minute or so before it inevitably cuts out.

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Thu 26 Feb 2015 19:16
Daihatsu Midget II - Engine troubles - mss1tw

I had to Google it, and someone has edited the wikipedia article!

sco.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daihatsu_Midget

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Thu 26 Feb 2015 19:40
Daihatsu Midget II - Engine troubles - Midget Man

The article you seen is on Scottish Wikipedia... (sco.wikipedia) which as a Scot myself makes perfect sense. However, this may help non-jocks:

www.carfolio.com/specifications/models/car/?car=29...4

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Thu 26 Feb 2015 21:18
Daihatsu Midget II - Engine troubles - Midget Man

The cutting out 2 to 6 times over an hour isn't an hour's worth of driving, it's mainly made up of waiting for it to start again...

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Fri 27 Feb 2015 11:02
Daihatsu Midget II - Engine troubles - dieselnut

The information above shows the engine having EFI & a Cat so it must have an ECU.

As madf above says, the ECU may be giving problems trying to work off a much reduced voltage as the battery runs down.

So I would get the alternator repaired first, there are lots of places that will repair your old alternator if you Google alternator repairs.

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Fri 27 Feb 2015 15:51
Daihatsu Midget II - Engine troubles - Midget Man

It definitely doesn't have a Cat but may have an ECU I guess. I didn't realise I could repair the alternator rather than replace so yes I will try that first! Thanks to everyone that has commented and I will be in touch when it's repaired with results! THANKS!

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Sat 28 Feb 2015 13:35
Daihatsu Midget II - Engine troubles - dieselnut

I don't know if this engine might be based on a motorcycle engine, but if so, they usually use a totally different type of alternator set-up than a normal car engine.

On most of their bike engines the alternator rotor is a permanent magnet type bolted onto the end of the crank with a 3 phase stator bolted to the crankcase. They have a separate Regulator/ Rectifier unit usually mounted close to the battery. These Regulator/ Rectifier units are a common failure point but don't usually take the stator with them when they go faulty.

You will have to have a good look to see what is fitted on this engine.

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Sat 28 Feb 2015 14:39
Daihatsu Midget II - Engine troubles - Railroad.
If you do have a seperate alternator and voltage regulator such as those commonly found on motorcycles then they are very easy to check out with a multimeter. Post back if you need to and I'll tell you how to do it.
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Sat 28 Feb 2015 16:08
Daihatsu Midget II - Engine troubles - Midget Man

If it helps the Alternator is a Denso 27060-87211 or 100211-4621.

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Sat 28 Feb 2015 16:28
Daihatsu Midget II - Engine troubles - dieselnut

That is a car type alternator, so you can remove it & take locally for repair.

Alternatively if you put the above No's into an eBay search there are replacements available for around £100 including post, but from either Germany or the States.

I would check out rebuild costs locally first.

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Wed 4 Mar 2015 19:27
Daihatsu Midget II - Engine troubles - Midget Man

I don't know if it's related but I had the engine problem today and to get me somewhere safer I done the usual drop a gear and increase the revs before the engine died but for some reason when I done it there was a horrible kind of cabbage smell? I just wonder if it's got something to do with it? Unusually, the car then started easily first time and was ok after that.

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Wed 4 Mar 2015 22:44
Daihatsu Midget II - Engine troubles - mss1tw

I don't know if it's related but I had the engine problem today and to get me somewhere safer I done the usual drop a gear and increase the revs before the engine died but for some reason when I done it there was a horrible kind of cabbage smell? I just wonder if it's got something to do with it? Unusually, the car then started easily first time and was ok after that.

If it has a catalytic convertor that might explain the smell. I guess it could be collapsing and blocking the exhaust, and then falling back into place when it cuts out

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Fri 6 Mar 2015 17:30
Daihatsu Midget II - Engine troubles - Midget Man

It doesn't have a cat.

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Sun 29 Mar 2015 17:44
Daihatsu Midget II - Engine troubles - Midget Man

*UPDATE*

I imported a new alternator from the US but unfortunately it hasn't fixed the issue. It's nice I don't have to keep charging the battery though! I'm now using the vehicle pretty much every day so becoming used to it's troubles and on some days know exactly when it's going to break down right down to the street it will happen... Maybe it's just haunted.

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Fri 3 Apr 2015 18:05
Daihatsu Midget II - Engine troubles - John F

Apologies if this is no help, but we once had a car (1983 Passat GL5) which very occasionally cut out - then would restart after about 10 - 20mins. It took ages to diagnose because most of the time it was OK but it was eventually found to be a faulty hall sender in the depths of the distributor. Has yours got a hall sender?

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Fri 3 Apr 2015 20:50
Daihatsu Midget II - Engine troubles - Midget Man

Apologies if this is no help, but we once had a car (1983 Passat GL5) which very occasionally cut out - then would restart after about 10 - 20mins. It took ages to diagnose because most of the time it was OK but it was eventually found to be a faulty hall sender in the depths of the distributor. Has yours got a hall sender?

Thank you for taking the time to reply to my post. I have no idea if it has a hall sensor... or what one of those might be for that matter. I think I'm going to have to give in with my delusions of self fix and trust it to a mechanic (after I have saved up for a few months) as it's braking down every day now.

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