Popping and weak engine...

[Becandjoe]

Hello all,

We have an issue with our 1979 T25 Devon (1.9 petrol engine, right hand drive) that we are flummoxed by and we'd be so grateful for some advice.

Started a few months ago when the engine seemed to be misfiring and loosing power. At that time we couldn't tell what part of the engine was making the noise, but it seemed to come from the exhaust (although in hindsight, I think it must have been the carbueretta).

The engine misbehaved for about 20 minutes while I was trying to find a garage (on a bank holiday), but after parking for 10 minutes to find one on GPS, the problem seemed to go away completely. I then drove for 3 hours to a festival, and another 3 hours on the return. No further problems.

About a month later, after a few short journeys (all running fine), we tried to take the van up to Norfolk. 10 minutes into our trip the engine began to misbehave as it had done previously.Thinking it might just go away as it had before, we kept driving for a while until tragedy struck.On the motorway the engine suddenly started losing power, misfiring like crazy, and then to finish it off, started over revving like crazy, without me even putting my foot on the gas peddle. So we pulled over and called the RAC. What they found was that the carbueretta gasket on the right side of the engine had blown, along with a section of rubber on the fuel supply line.

So we replaced the gasket paper and the rubber elbow. We also found that the butterfly bit on that carbueretta was slightly warped, which meant it would get stuck from time to time, so we flatted it out and replaced that too. This obviously made things better, but hasn't seemed to get rid of the main issue, which is that after about 5 minutes of okay driving (noisy, but okay), the engine starts losing power, lurching, and misfiring on the left carbueretta (that's not the one that had blown or had any work done on it).

Since then we've had the electrics cleaned a little, replaced the points and condenser and rotor arm bits, but still that main problem comes back after 5 minutes of driving. I'm guessing it's something to do with heating up, but I really couldn't say more than that…

Does this story sound familiar to anyone and can you offer any leads/ideas what to try next?

Quite new to van owning so we'd be grateful for any help!

Bec and Joe

[dave lfc]

hi make sure your fuel filters are not blocked up,there is one just behind the drivers side front wheel under the van and if you are using a pierburgh carb there is one in there.had these kind of issues myself a couple of times and its usually been the fuel filters and they have always been really dirty and affect the running of the van,hope this helps,cheers dave

[Becandjoe]

Thanks Dave, will give that a go tomorrow. Really hope it's something nice and simple!

[jason k]

What engine? Aircooled or water cooled?

[Becandjoe]

Hi Jason
It's air cooled
Cheers
Bec