Help needed.

andrew

andrew

0
Hi, i have just got back from the beautiful days festival. I encountered a few problems on the way and on the way back. Firstly the van was fine all the way down the M5, the problems started when I came off the motorway. I was travelling down small lanes and the van cut out twice, i bumped as I was going along. When I reached the festival there was a queue for about a mile long. As soon as I hit the traffic my van started playing up, she kept cutting out. Both the lights came on on the dashboard. When I tried to start her again she was very hot and wouldn't start, but I'm not sure if she was flooded. After the festival where I saw bonnie it all started again, I checked everything before I left this morning. I had travelled about 5 miles from the festival when I stopped for fuel. I put a little bit of red ex in and filled her up. I left the forecourt and entered a slight hill in traffic. I pulled forward and cut out straight away, I tried to re start but it was like she was hot and flooded. I tried her an hour later and she started first time.
Has anyone got any ideas. Could it be overheating? Or is she running to rich?

Thanks.
 
Could be the common snakeskin or fuel evaporation but while running less likely to be evaporation. When we had intermittent cutting out it was an ht lead shorting on the rocker cover so maybe check those (in the dark). I think sometimes the coil can fault when engine bay hot. I am sure someone who knows what they are talking about will point you in the right direction soon.
 
Best to check the leads at night in the dark with the engine running. If they're shorting you'll see the sparks in the engine bay.
 
It could well be snakeskin and yes check the leads and connections on the coil as well and make sure the points haven't closed up. If all that looks fine the first thing I'd change would be the condenser in the distributer, has it recently been changed? there's a lot of crap modern ones out there at the moment and they tend to fail quickly, if you have an old one then try that and see if it works. If not then it's a matter of changing things one at a time to see if you can isolate it.
 
Cheers Panky, the condenser hasn't been changed for a few years. Will Martin have one? Would snakesin be caused by running the fuel low? This is something I never do. I checked all the leads before I went away, they all seemed in good order. Once again I haven't checked the points for a while.
 
When you check the points look for any signs of burning on the contacts, that's a sure sign the condenser is at fault and yes I'm pretty sure Martin will have points and condenser. Debris in the fuel lines can be caused by running low on fuel but not always the case as snakeskin seems to affect the carb no matter how much fuel you have in.
 
How will I tell if it's snakeskin? Can you run me through the procedure of checking the points and the distributor? I'll have a go myself. There you go I hadn't asked a question for a while.
 
If you have an in-line filter take it out and see if you can see anything inside, snakeskin is little flecks of paint that has broken down off the inside of the tank and been sucked through. If you don't have a filter then the fuel pump could be blocked so you will need to take the top off to check.
Give me a few minutes and I'll put together a tutorial for the points and condenser.
 
OK with pics and all.

A distributer - it's quite awkward to get in to check the points with it still on the engine, I usually take it off to set the points. All you need to do take the cap off by flicking the clips off, take off the wire on the side and take the one bolt (arrowed) out, it should then just pull out. Make sure you take note of where the rotor arm is pointing as the dizzy shaft will only fit in one way.



This is an old spare I carry but hopefully yours is a bit cleaner inside.
This is the condenser, it's held in by the little screw arrowed. The wire is connected to the points on the other side.



You can see here, with the rotor are removed, that the heel of the points is on the flat side of the spindle and the points are closed.



Here it shows the heel of the points on the high spot on the spindle and there's a gap in the points, this is what you need to check with a .015" feeler gauge. It should slide into the gap neatly.

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To set the gap slacken off the locking screw that holds the points down just enough to be able to move the points by placing a screwdriver in this slot and twisting it gently. Twisting one way will close the points, twisting the other way will open them. If they are not badly pitted or worn then just rub some emery between then to clean the surfaces and check the gap.



If you need to replace the points this nut needs to be taken off along with the locking screw on the points and the one on the condenser. Be sure to take note of the connections and plastic spacer as it's essential it goes back properly.

 
Thanks Panky, to start with where will the in line filter be? And where will I find the fuel pump. My vans not back until Thursday now so I'll have to wait, it was fine on the Motorway but started to play up on the smaller roads.
 
andrew said:
Thanks Panky, to start with where will the in line filter be? And where will I find the fuel pump. My vans not back until Thursday now so I'll have to wait, it was fine on the Motorway but started to play up on the smaller roads.
Click to expand...

Remember when you put new clips on the fuel pipe a little while ago, the pump is down on the right hand side of the engine just behind the oil filter. The fuel filter, if there is one, is usually fitted in the pipe just before the pump.
Ah sorry I missed the bit about being OK on the M way, was it just cutting out when the engine was idling or as you were actually driving? I wonder if the tick-over just needs turning up a bit
 
the majority of the cutting out was when it was idling, but it did cut out twice when I was in second coming down a hill.
 
Yes it is, look where the accelerator cable is attached to the carb and you will see a screw that pushes against the throttle stop. As you turn it in it will move the stop and increase the tick over revs. I'll post up a diagram later.
 
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