Help! In France with rough runner in rain!

[richbeery]

Hi everyone!

A small cry for help, in Southern France in my T25 autosleeper with 1.9 petrol engine.

Got caught in massive thunderstorms on motorway, lost a bit of power and engine started pinking at anything less than full power. Then pulled into services and it immediately stalled, and kept stalling at anything less than mid throttle. Hoped a revving it up may clear it? But no.

Camped up now, and waiting for rain to stop. It starts ok but is running rough, and stalls at idle.

Can anyone offer advice before I attempt an engine check tomorrow please? Wet leads maybe? Got some wd40 ton try. Worried that it could be more serious, that will cause big damage if I press on.

Any ideas greatly appreciated!

Thanks,
Rich
Near Bordeaux

[California Dreamin]

Hi there...the first thing I would do is to cut off the metal shields on the spark plug caps....(you will need some tin snips or side cutting pliers).
These tin covers are for radio suppression only and can be left off without any detriment . They are known to be a major point of 'tracking (shorting the spark to ground at the cylinder head instead of the high voltage correctly jumping the spark plug as it should)
Once removed give the van a run....


Other checks if the above doesn't rectify the fault:

Pop off the dizzy cap and check for fine hairline cracks/rotor arm/carbon bush
look for air leaks/perished vac hoses/suck on the vac advance unit to make sure it isn't holed (should have resistance when sucking the pipe)
Remove the air filter and check that it isn't blocked.
Is the brake pedal effected? a vacuum leak on the brake servo pipe could lead to rough running and a hard pedal.
Check the inline fuel filter isn't blocked.
There is a jet in the side of the carburettor that 'if blocked' effects idle but as you are saying that the van doesn't 'pull' without missing? it is unlikely to be this.
Also..the carb has a small 'gauze' filter built into the fuel inlet which can get blocked (again, unlikely to be the issue as you describe smooth running at full throttle)

Replace spark plugs if all else fails (available from super stores) SUPER U /AUCHEN etc


There is only so much you can do....good luck.



Martin

[NicBeeee]

Ok prior to heavy storm then perhaps water has got into your fuel system, sometimes you can see if there is any water present in your fuel filter, if so could be coming in from your breather tank hoses or other tank connections, these take a hammering in wet weather and always worth renewing if looking old and tatty, if water has got into your tank it will always sit at the bottom, not so conveniently where the fuel outlet is and continue to feed the engine with water until all gone, it will be worse going up hill as the water will settle nearer the fuel outlet, if water is in the tank jack up the front passenger side of vehicle, give it a couple of minutes, disconnect fuel line from tank, catch liquid in a jar and see what you have got, fuel obviously floats to the top if water is present. If water is defo present then you will need to drain from the tank , preferably change fuel filter or try to empty it, and clean out your float chamber in the carb. When happy water is gone disconnect fuel line from carb get someone to crank the engine and catch the fuel into a jar that does not allow any fuel to splash over the engine, I normaly make a hole in the jar lid the size of the fuel line, when jar is half full then reconnect to the carb, thats it. Of course it may be something completely different this is just an avenue that I would be looking at,

Good luck

[California Dreamin]

Yup! ^^^^^^^ definitely a possibility if any of the 'numerous' lengths of hose going to the breather tanks has perished (tanks are under each of the front wheel arches). As NicBeeee has said, jacking up the left front will produce the required angle to direct any water in the tank to the outlet (right side rear of tank and fairly easy to remove pipe).
Breather hose I believe is fairly unusual 5.5mm ID

Martin

[richbeery]

Hi Martin and Nicbee,

Thanks so much for your help, I did get the posts and work on them, then signal went on phone and not been online since!

I tried the plugs, distributor cap and opened the air filter. Got some WD40 around the place, I think it's the vacuum advance, but couldn't find a leak. Water in the fuel, could also be it, but I started her up and revved the engine a to try to clear it. No joy in the morning. I needed to get to Pau to get my friends to a bike ride they were doing so called my breakdown cover (via justkampers), but had I be taken off the autoroute first by the motorway company. The garage we went too barely looked at it and said they couldn't fix it. So had to move on in a hire car. Struggling now to get someone to fix it.

Will see how it goes, been forced out of my hands by the insurance company who are now trying to find a suitable garage.

So thank you so much for your help in this. I really appreciate it. I may well end up doing it myself as the van maybe sent back to uk on a lorry the way it's going!

Rich