Flat spots and backfiring

[1Hutch]

Hello all,

I'd be grateful of a little advice. My petrol 1.9 t25 holdsworth which had been performing well is starting to struggle a bit. She has developed struggling up hills and trying to cut out in 3rd and 4th gear. The most I hope for is between 20-30 mph when previously it had been 50-60 mph. I've only owned her since April and had her fully serviced and checked over on arrival by a mechanic friend who gave her a clean bill of health (nice clean oil etc), also passed the MOT last week with no advisories.

I'm not very mechanically minded but can read a manual which points towards a blockage in the fuel line or air filter. Before I rip it all out (badly) I'd appreciate any advice anyone can give. Point to note, I let her run out of fuel to see how far I can go on a full tank, so think I may have dragged some detritus from the bottom of the tank. In hindsight not the best idea, so I'm hoping I've not trashed my carburettor.

Many thanks

Hutch

[BOXY]

There should be an in-line filter under the van a few inches away from where the fuel line comes out of the tank. If the filter did its job your carb shouldn't have seen any muck & dirt. A replacement costs a quid from any auto factors and takes a few minutes to fit.

[1Hutch]

Thanks boxy. It's full of junk in the filter so I've been and got the part(£1.48, not bad), and I'll change it in the morning. Hopefully this will do the job.

Many thanks for your time.

[BOXY]

The new filter should have a flow direction arrow on it, just check you fit it the right way. Hopefully it'll be a cheap fix

[hammy44]

and put a couple off tanks of fuel with redex through it to clean the system

[1Hutch]

Thanks for all the help. I changed the fuel and air filter today. The fuel filter was totally brown and stuffed with rubbish and the air filter looked like it needed changing also. I then gave her a run up the big hills at the side of loch ness and she is running better than ever.

Thanks again for all the help.

[BOXY]

It's worth keeping a spare filter in the glove box just in case running low on fuel drags any more muck out of the tank.

[1Hutch]

Good idea, duly noted. I'll grab another from unipart before the weekend trip to Dornoch.

Many thanks

Hutch