Camping holiday help

Sandra

Sandra

New Member
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I've been travelling to the south of France and it's been great fun, except for all the times we've been standing on the side of the road, because the engine coughs or hiccups a few times and then shuts down. Sometimes we get it started right away but most of the time we just let it cool for an hour and then we can drive again. But today we let it cool and the issues started emerging not half an hour later (it's all hills here maybe that's why). I've been reading now and think it could be vapour lock (is it possible to smell fuel then?). Hope to get 150 kms further so we arrive at our final destination and I can take it to a garage maybe, or get the things to fix it myself, instead of calling AA and possibly be towed back to Holland.
 
hmm could be a number of things...coil, condenser or fuel. I'd think it isn't vaporisation if the frequency is increasing.

first thing is check is the fuel line aren't blocked with snakeskin, after a while of sitting the fuel can seep past the blockage and it runs again ...if you Don't have a transparent fuel filter you can detach the line from the fuel pump and blow down it to check its clear.. Should be easy to blow through to the petrol tank (if no filter us in line). Other way is to check fuel is pumping through to the carb but I'd never remove the fuel pipe while running personally. If you have a mechanical fuel pump then should be able to unscrew the top and check the filter in there too..they can get loads of bits of crap in there. Good luck
 
Is the carburettor flooding? What condition is the fuel line in? Can you see the fuel filter to see if there's any nasties in there?
 
It could be fuel vaporisation but that usually happens when trying to re-start after a long run or if stuck in a traffic queue for a while, but as has been suggested check filters and the fuel pump for debris. A good get me out of trouble is to pour a bit of water over the carb and fuel pump to cool it down a bit, wont cure it but could get you back on the move.
Another possible cause is the condenser in the distributer breaking down or a faulty coil. But check for simple things like loose connections on the coil and distributer. Good luck and keep us informed:)
 
Classic symptoms of snakeskin in your fuel filter(s), as Jim says, especially if your Commer has an original tank. Mine has a small filter hidden inside the carb entrance too.
 
image.jpeg Thanks for all the quick replies! I have two extra small filters installed and there's just a small amount of debris in the first one. Ofcourse this doesnt really say anything about the other (it is transparent!) filter that's been there for probably much longer, but I couldn't see much there either (can anyone explain the snakeskin concept? Does it come from older pipes?). As I got less and less hopeful (we weren't stuck in the easiest places) I called the AA anyway to see what they could do.. They first told us to drive another 200 km to a town where they were able to help, but by now the van was having starting issues as well and kept shutting down the engine after 10 mins or at stops, so instead we were sent to a garage where we'll go in the morning. The aa were quite hesitant as the garage is may not be that likely to deal with older vans, but I'm happy he's Dutch (in France!) which will help with communication and I've got all the British tools so we might be ok. Managed to drive a few minutes to a campsite and hope everything will turn out fine tomorrow. I realized the image I included was on private so I'll post it again :)
 
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Snake skin is the lining of the petrol tank breaking down, it breaks off into slivers and flakes and blocks the filters, pipes and fuel pump too:( If you can disconnect the pipe on the inlet to the pump and blow back into the tank, it could clear something that might be stuck in the pipe - a bicycle pump is a handy thing to have for that job. Also try getting rid of the old filter and just use the one you know is OK.
 
Helpful thanks. Will see what we can do tomorrow. Blowing it back into the tank would be a fine short term solution if this really is the problem!
 
Love the picture it looks so peaceful.. Where are you??
Also the Citroen Hy van is super cool I also have one of these, what a pair of beauties.. ;)
 
The two pictures look like a spot the ball competition, or maybe spot the difference!

Good luck with it, just teething problems.
 
jagger said:
Love the picture it looks so peaceful.. Where are you??
Also the Citroen Hy van is super cool I also have one of these, what a pair of beauties.. ;)
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We were in the Ardennes for one night, just before the Belgian/French border. When we drove around on the campsite to find a spot we noticed this HY, it housed a Dutch family including two toddlers :). And hey what a golden combination! A Citroen HY used to be my dream van until I came across the Commer ;)
 
Looks lovely:cool: But who's the plonker sticking their head out of the door and just spoiling the whole image:rolleyes:;)
 
Sandra said:
We were in the Ardennes for one night, just before the Belgian/French border. When we drove around on the campsite to find a spot we noticed this HY, it housed a Dutch family including two toddlers :). And hey what a golden combination! A Citroen HY used to be my dream van until I came across the Commer ;)
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I've always wanted to go to the Ardennes, maybe a trip for the future. Great pictures, glad your getting things sorted.:)
 
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Part of the fuel line/cable was very dry and cracked, so might have been the same on the inside and caused problems. New cable was installed, as well as a new and bigger filter, and the number of rotations (I have no idea if I'm translating this correctly, I think of my English as quite sufficient but car lingo is something else haha) was cranked up a bit (supposedly this would also help as we are +1000 m high and this might give the van a bit more power?). Drove for a while and it seems quite fine but just now it started to feel a bit grumpy and I put it on the side of the road to cool (it had spit out a bit of cooling water). Reading up on engine knowledge now ;) and driving on in a little while as the temperature outside is starting to drop :)
 
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