Hi, I have had a few quirky problems since putting my commer back on the road, it is a 1967 and was off the road since 1980 when I replaced everything that was made of rubber or was perishable to get it working and safe. I generally am pretty good with vehicles and I have more than I need but the commer is gaining too many quirky problems...
My first trouble is that there is a tapping noise in the engine when it is under load this noise goes away when the engine revs go up. I thought it might be a water pump or fan touching the cowling so I tried the engine without the belt on for a minute and the noise was still there, any clues? I thought also it might be the timing because I was using super unleaded with castrol lead replacement and octane boost. so I thought mabe there may be too much octane so I used ordinary unleaded and castrol lead replacement without octane boost and the problem is the same so no change with lower octane (not even a noticeable loss in power).
second trouble
when giving it a good hammering up the dual carrage way with speeds up to 65mph for about 1hour, when we slowed down at the round about a vibration started at 47mph and then dissapeared suddenly at 43mph now at the exact same speed it vibrates at 43 and stops at 47 ??? unfortunately this is the normal crusing speed! the vibration is quite fast a bit like those really fine speed ridges at traffic lights and roundabouts. I have an auto box on the camper so I wondered if it was the oil in it but it is fairly new oil. I checked the prop shaft for missing weights but they seem to all be there, the diff has a slight oil leak but nothing to be to concerned over, any clues??
third and final trouble,
the engine just cut out (on the same drive above) we had to pull over and the engine wouldnt start. I tried carb cleaner/easy start in the carb incase it was fuel starvation but it wouldnt start, the carb was very hot being over the exhaust, so I took the dizzy cap off and nothing nasty in there, looked in the rad and topped up about 1/2 inch of water. then tried it and it started no problem and drove the remaining 80 miles home! I have asked a mate who works in a garage and he said is best guess was a balance resistor but he wasnt sure. any ideas?
so in a nutshell it has done 3 trips now. first trip 100mile broke down and I found that the fuel that had sat in the tank for 20 years looked like snake skin and I jet sprayed out the tank and all fuel lines cleaned
second trip 120mile worked seemlessly no problems
third trip, vibration at 43-47 and then broke down, but started 10min later and completed 80 miles, now I am running out of faith that I can get it going if it stops again, first time I got it going by attaching one of the gas heater pipes into the filler neck through the window and into the fuel pump, last breakdown I havent fixed because I still dont know what caused it, and then there are all the rattles and vibrations.
so has anyone had any similar issues with their commer that could spread light on this?
thanks in advance
Ian
My first trouble is that there is a tapping noise in the engine when it is under load this noise goes away when the engine revs go up. I thought it might be a water pump or fan touching the cowling so I tried the engine without the belt on for a minute and the noise was still there, any clues? I thought also it might be the timing because I was using super unleaded with castrol lead replacement and octane boost. so I thought mabe there may be too much octane so I used ordinary unleaded and castrol lead replacement without octane boost and the problem is the same so no change with lower octane (not even a noticeable loss in power).
second trouble
when giving it a good hammering up the dual carrage way with speeds up to 65mph for about 1hour, when we slowed down at the round about a vibration started at 47mph and then dissapeared suddenly at 43mph now at the exact same speed it vibrates at 43 and stops at 47 ??? unfortunately this is the normal crusing speed! the vibration is quite fast a bit like those really fine speed ridges at traffic lights and roundabouts. I have an auto box on the camper so I wondered if it was the oil in it but it is fairly new oil. I checked the prop shaft for missing weights but they seem to all be there, the diff has a slight oil leak but nothing to be to concerned over, any clues??
third and final trouble,
the engine just cut out (on the same drive above) we had to pull over and the engine wouldnt start. I tried carb cleaner/easy start in the carb incase it was fuel starvation but it wouldnt start, the carb was very hot being over the exhaust, so I took the dizzy cap off and nothing nasty in there, looked in the rad and topped up about 1/2 inch of water. then tried it and it started no problem and drove the remaining 80 miles home! I have asked a mate who works in a garage and he said is best guess was a balance resistor but he wasnt sure. any ideas?
so in a nutshell it has done 3 trips now. first trip 100mile broke down and I found that the fuel that had sat in the tank for 20 years looked like snake skin and I jet sprayed out the tank and all fuel lines cleaned
second trip 120mile worked seemlessly no problems
third trip, vibration at 43-47 and then broke down, but started 10min later and completed 80 miles, now I am running out of faith that I can get it going if it stops again, first time I got it going by attaching one of the gas heater pipes into the filler neck through the window and into the fuel pump, last breakdown I havent fixed because I still dont know what caused it, and then there are all the rattles and vibrations.
so has anyone had any similar issues with their commer that could spread light on this?
thanks in advance
Ian
, pankys pretty well covered your questions, i would only add, your engine noise is pinking/pre-ignition possibly caused by carbon deposits. too much octane will not matter or do any harm, just no point as the compression ratio is not high enough to warrant it.