OFFS - HELP AGAIN! now she's not firing on all cylinders :-(

[stevewright76]

This is becoming a 'mare.

So we've delayed the ferry, got the clutch sorted at MSC, driven her home NEARLY made it without problems and then she starts running rough as.

Definately not firing on all 4 cylinders - lacks power up hill, feels rough.

Have tried pulling each lead in turn and found number 1 and 2 cylinders had probs. Changed the spark plugs problems persist.

Called Flux Rescue, may as well have called a chocolate teapot for a bloke getting out of SUV with no tools and saying "that's a compresion problem, don't carry those sort of tools you get 20 minutes - she needs a garage".

Shes JUST had a full service and set up at Gasure... Ran fine home from there and earlier on from Barrow then went.

Problematic on both LPG and petrol.

Anyone got any ideas/help/suggestions? Anything practical I can do? Or is this to a garage and if so what sort of scale are we looking at?

Wondering about cancelling ferry and trip altogether and buying a plane ticket at this rate

Steve

[stevewright76]

Additional details:

Spark plug on number 1 cylinder was VERY black.

Number 2 better - light grey..

If it's compression what's the deal??? Or could it just be dissy/leads etc.

PS. 2litre, air cooled, 1982, LPG converted by gasure. Checked 2 weeks ago and given A-ok by Steve...

Changed plugs for NPK B6ES...

Have spares of dissy, leads, more plugs, ignition coil - but if it IS compression how would it have gone

[ermie571]

don't know really - what's condition of dizzy cap and rotor arm like? Any backfiring?

Only ask as my velle was fine , pulled into services, filled up...came out, almighty backfire...running poor. Stopped - whipped off dizzy cap - twas filthy in there...the rotor arm was disintegrating or sommat.

Em
x

[steve8090]

Steve

Replied to your email, phone me tomorrow to make arrangements

[stevewright76]

Haven't changed the dissy or leads or rotor arm yet - will check - was hoping flux rescue bloke could lend a hand/tool / tester / some interest rather than rolling up in an SUV with not a tool or a care and just telling me "we're not a mobile garage"... WELL unimpressed.

Time to rely on myself for a preliminary test, though shall wait till daylight. And then it's gasure and as always many thanks to Steve for being so helpful in a tight spot.

Cheers all

Steve

PS. So... give it to me, if best case is electrics and it's just a lead/rotor/dissy/coil - what's the worst case scenario? Piston Rings? Dead engine? The pessimist given current run of luck* needs some preparation!

* illustration - lost my bank card at weekend, not too worried - still had joint account card and that's the one with the funds and free withdrawals for Europe, so cancelled personal card, no worries at all - only to find bank had canceled joint account card as well! So now have no access to cash in Europe, nor a van to get there Bloody hell I used to trust my luck - where's it gone?

*PPS Hang on - she last did this for getting to my Wedding and Steve talked me through that... what is it with my van and 'big occasions'? She eseem's to get terrible stage fright. My wife is genuinely worried she's jealous or something!

[Mushr00m]

Was it a full service you had(Plugs, Leads, Rotor, Dizzy cap, Oil, Filters etc) or just a service(Oil, Plugs & Filters)?

If it was the latter it's probably just a duff HT lead. Have you tried running the engine in the dark whilst looking in the engine bay for signs of tracing(blue or yellow sparking) on the outside of the leads/suppressor caps?

By the sounds of this Non-Mobile garage he's probably an ice cream van man on warm days because he certainly isn't a mechanic of ANY sort!

I'd say for almost definite it's not a compression problem & judging by one plug having black sooty deposits, the HT lead could be breaking down while the choke is still on as it gets warmer or it could be an iffy injector(doubtful on both petrol & gas).

At worst it''ll be a sensor or something on the gas side which I'm sure Gasure will sort.

Hope this helps(if only to calm your nerves a little)

[steve8090]

Sorry chaps, thanks for all the suggestions but they were nowhere near, it was a vacuum hose that had dissinterated on cylinder 1&2, thus causing no fuel to be sucked into the cylinders, pipes replaced whilst they had a cup of tea, vehicle reset and tuned and the pair of them are well on their way to Harwich for their ferry, happy bunnies

[andisnewsyncro]

Well done Steve, glad they got on their way, been watching this for a while now

[Mushr00m]

All's well that ends well.

This Flux guy got it the most wrong though couldn't have been more wrong in fact, vacuum after all is the opppsite of compression

Well done Steve.

Oh & slightly more than just out of interest Steve80/90, how much would a gas conversion for a DH(I'm pretty sure) 1.9inj Westy be on average?

Cheers in advance

[steve8090]

Same kit as the DJ/MV/SS, £975.00 plus vat

[Mushr00m]

Cheers Steve.

It'll probably be next year though

[stevewright76]

Hi all,

Made it to Norwich fine - great run, she's running REALLY well again

Thanks again to Steve for such a quick fix and getting us on our way. Off to the ferry at 5:30 tomorrow morning.

Steve

PS. Now the van and bikes are all fixed something else HAD to break, and it's me My neck has now locked up with rock-hard muscles and a LOT of pain and I've been prescribed diazepam and co-codamol! Think'tension' is partly to blam and hoping that my muscles will relax as well as me once we reach the continent...

PPS. We've banged in a LONG complaint to Flux Rescue about the cowboy-in-an-SUV who gave such expert roadside 'assistance' - we could have called them out having made it 5 miles away from home but given what I knew of engine and recent services decided to go home, look further an call for assistance rather than a tow, the couldn't-careless bloke who came along led to the tow an then we got charged a shed load for it and told to claim the first 30 miles back. Hoping it will be sorted by Flux rescue, next time will go for the AA.

[stevewright76]

Well we made it across Germany - mostly on 3 cylinders by all accounts and still stuck waiting 5 days as number 1 cylinder had no compression at all when tested and valve's gone. The garage were recommended by volos service centres as their 'chief' has a lot of experience on air cooled engines. But part is taking an age and info is conflicting - took her on monday and assured part overnight, then for Friday then call to my wife at hotel while I was on brewery tour asking if we had original vehicle Reg doc - am guessing it's exhaust valve as inlet valve is easy to get on gsf but my german's non-existent

Anyone got any ideas or help ok part numbers for valves on an 82 2l air cooled?

On the plus side black forest is beautiful and were in a 4* hotel on flux Europe insurance and best of all in van-less state all trains and busses are free with accommodation in the forest as regional tourism promotion (what a great idea!) and there's thousands of km's of awesome forest track bike riding so can't think of much better place to be 'stuck'!

Steve

[camper]

Sorry to read about your engine problems.I had a 2ltr cu engine 1982 T25 of which i sold a while back but run a 1.9 diesel T25 now.The inlet & exhaust valves where damaged on number 1&2 but where easily obtained from a GSFcarparts http://www.gsfcarparts.com/index.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;. 14404 EXHAUST VALVE-33mm T2 2.0 Air Cooled 8/75> 6.00 Cant find the inlet valve but you could inquire

[stevewright76]

Wondering if that's what's causing the probe as that's the part number I found listed for a t2 but description now reads t4a 1.7 > 7/73 if you search for part number 14404 - the inlet valves are there ok (14308)

Any idea if that part number could have changed or if it's just description lacking detail of use on t2 and t25? Will get on to insurance company to chase up if there's any more stalling or excuses as weather looks set to get less good and we've got itchy feet!

Thanks for the help

Steve