Engine trouble

[booster24]

I hope some one can help. Its a 1985 1.9 dg. A new engine at that. About a month ago I was driving down the motorway and at about 50mph it would momenteraly cut out, I would come off the gas and back on and it was fine. This problem seemed to clear for a week. Its always been a good starter and even though the starter motor was slow (I have now replaced the starter) it was fine. The other day I was pulling out of the petrol station and it backfired and staled, it started up after alot of turning of the motor and drove normal for a while. Yesterday I took her out, nightmare to start and then kept stalling as I was driving, pull over and wait a small time turn it over and it fire up tand rev then die for about 6 times then it would run for a short period and die again, now she wont start at all! I've checked my earth points and cleaned then up, I renewed the small black cdi unit a year ago. I've checked for water in the distributor, checked cables, theres fuel in the inline filter abliet just under half full but theres flow from the fuel tank and out when watched at tick over. Can anyone give me a list of things to check and possible cause. Pleeese.

Pete

[Ian Hulley]

Did you change the fuel filter ? It could be you have either a blockage or water in your tank (leaking breather hoses or rotted top of tank ... do you smell petrol at all ?)

Ian.

[booster24]

I do smell fuel but not a masssive ammount when i've tried to start her but I also have noticed that my fuel economy has been terrible not the 25mg I'm used to, I took off my fuel tank a year ago or so as the fuel sender float fell off, the tank was'nt in great condition (a few rust spots in the usual place were it holds water) but it was'nt bad. I put fresh fuel in from nie on empty on Friday and it did the problem mention so it was fresh fuel £20 worth. I do have a spare fuel filter although this ones only 8 months old.
Cheers
Pete

[ermie571]

hi mate...

Check condtion of dizzy cap - is it cracked.? When was it last renewed?
New rotor arm?
New plugs?
new leads?
Fuel pump running efficiently under load?
Timing?

after that....the AA!!

Good luck

Em
x

[eatcustard]

If you have one on a 1.9, as the pic is from a 2.1i
Is this pipe in OK( see image)

file.jpg

This pipe caused me a little bother as it was not in right,

[booster24]

Looks like I'm busy tonight, thanks for the response from you all. I have a feeling from the posts that fuel could be an issue here, tin of worms I guess.
All the ht leads are a year old, new rotor and dizzy a year ago. How do I test the fuel pump as normaly my fuel ffilter is full and its almost like the engines being starved then leave it a while and she may start but the fact that it would rev then just die repeatedly confuses me and leads me to fuel issues, I hate fuel issue even on motorbikes were I'm ment to be on it.

[booster24]

Also I notice a week or two ago that oil seems to be coming out of the large air intake hose, the air filters clean but theres definite evidence of oil in betwwn the filter and input, I havent taken off the hose yet to have a look, would this cause me these problems, the engines only done about 5k.

[ermie571]

hi mate,

if it were me, I would bung fuel pump in search, get a cuppa and have a read.

But my pretty basic understanding of it is this....

your pump if it is original is on the front of the engine as you are looking at it, near dizzy. This you no doubt know! Tis mechanical, so can wear out. sounds like it could be running well enough to tick over/idle, but not well enough to keep carbs supplied under load.

2 things from reading other posts....manuallly fill the float chamber in the carb and see if it runs
and , remove the hose that goes from pump to carb, crank, and make sure it is pumping well. If you think it is, you COULD run a temp fuel line from a container of clean petrol to pump, and then to carb. If it runs then, and continues to run if you rev the thing manuall, at least you know the problem lies b4 the pump. But be careful, obviously!

Have you cleaned your carb recently....is the jet full of gunk?

Have you checked the air breather hose? From the black plastic chimney to engine.....make sure it hasn't collapsed. Dunno what effect this has, but I know it affects running!


Good luck, and keep posting with updates...then the chaps that really know what they are talking about can give a much better diagnosis!

(oh, and just cos things are only a year old, don't mean they are ok! I havbe had leads and a rotor arm fail in that time!)

Good luck!

Em
x

ps other things you may wish to put into search are:

accelerator pump
choke
idle mixture screw
running lean
running rich


Em
x

pps the piccy above has a blanking plate where my fuel pump is!

Em
x

[booster24]

Nice one EM start work tonight and update tomorrow, your right abot the idle, it idles fine yet fuel seems to tricle into the fuel filter and not flow, so under load there could not be enough pumping done by the pump,we could be on to something here
Cheers for the advice.
Pete

[1664]

I put fresh fuel in from nie on empty

I'm no expert but you may have introduced a load of crap from the bottom of your tank into the fuel line.

and that really is all I know...............

[booster24]

thought about that to , so since you said it I'm also going to change the fuel filter tonight.

Cheeers

[ermie571]

Hi Mate - no problems....its only stuff I have picked up from reading on here!!!

note what 1664 said above....not just fuel filter, but line as well. And if line....then carb!

I was terrified of the carb until I watched Mark take it to bits and cleaned it all out - removing the jet in the process.

As above, a decent sized clean container will eleiminate the fuel line to the carb if you use new clean fuel hose from container to pump!

Good luck again!

Em
x

[Grun]

The mechanical fuel pump Push rod can wear just a wee bit shorter and cause the pump output to reduce enough to give the sort of symptoms you have.

Mike

[Ian Hulley]

The lines shouldn't get any junk in them after the filter, as I said I'd make that your first (also easiest and cheapest) port of call.

Ian

[booster24]

Cheers for the advice, last night I renewed my fuel filter as I always carry a spare. The old one was minging, I think thats because I kept running my tank down to fumes . Fuel flow from the tank to the filter was good as I so no blocked hose to the filter, checked my breather pipes to the expansion tank, all good. Took off the air filter top from the carb and found black gunk around the jets at the top of the carb, no oil in the air inlet pipe from the filter just black deposits which I have cleaned, I did'nt have any carb cleaner (get that tonight) so I just blew what jets I could get to and cleaned the top of the carb(its coming off tonight). It started first time and settled into a good idle with the choke working and then turning its self off when it was warm. I reved it and kept it at reasonable high rpm and saw a healthy jet/spray in the carb. I did notice that the piece of card that sits at the begining of the air inlet to the airfilter was blocking abit of the airflow so I removed that.i also checked the hoses that run to the air filter pipe to the carb. It started first time this morning which was good but I havent taken it for adrive. When I have striped the carb I'll do that, also I used an instant gasket last time I cleaned my carb and put it back on (about 2 years ago) as I havent got a proper one, is this ok. I will also check the fuel pump push rod, if it looks ok is there a way of servicing it i.e grease etc.

Pete