Club 80-90 Forums

1.9l Petrol 1986 caravelle (water cooled)

Please help to solve this riddle!

After purchasing the Bus, I drove a few miles and the red light and buzzer alarm next to the oil icon went off (seemed to happen at high revs) Also the van lost drive, cut out and would not idle without cutting out.

In an attempt to fix the issue I took it to a garage where they replaced the entire engine (1991, 1.9l petrol)! Rebuilt the carburetor and fitted a new clockset.

Drove it away from the garage and a few miles down the road exactly the same symptoms... red light, buzzer, lost drive, cut out when idling??!

Went back to the garage but no-one can figure out whats wrong!?!?

Please, please help! ... Im thinking with a different engine and different clockset if the buzzer etc is still going off Could it be an ELECTRICAL FAULT?

If so... what electrical fault would activate the redlight and buzzer and also cause the van to cut out??

Im really struggling here as Ive now spent quite a bit of cash at the mechanics and she still doesnt work! If anyones got any ideas I would be extremely grateful as the garage has pretty much given up!

Thankyou so much... really hoping that somewhere here Im gonna find a knight in shining overalls!

Greg

gregwiththegrin@hotmail.com

As the sender swapped over from the old engine, also was the oil cooler swapped?

Hiya armyphill! No I dont think the oil cooler was swapped? Could that cause the engine to cut out?

thanks for your quick response mate

gregwiththegrin wrote:
In an attempt to fix the issue I took it to a garage where they replaced the entire engine (1991, 1.9l petrol)! Rebuilt the carburetor and fitted a new clockset.

Drove it away from the garage and a few miles down the road exactly the same symptoms... red light, buzzer, lost drive, cut out when idling??!

Went back to the garage but no-one can figure out whats wrong!?!?

This is a common fault on the oil pressure warning system.

Read this = https://club8090.co.uk/wiki/Al ... and_causes" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; to help you understand it all. Then put buzzer of doom into the "search" box on here and you will see LOADS of folk have had this issue (and fixed it easily for the most part !!!)

I cannot believe a "garage" changed the engine because of it Did they not have a £30 oil pressure tester !!!!!!!!!!!!!! How much did that miss diagnosis cost you !!!!! Are they going to refund you ?????? !!!! I jolly well hope so !!!!!!

Where is your other engine now !!!!! It is likely fine (and worth 4, 5 or 6 hundred pounds by the way !!)

I just noticed, re built the carb AND fitted a new clock set (you cannot get NEW clock sets by the way )

So how much have you spent so far on all these parts you don't need ? By my reckoning it has got to be in the region of £2,000 with labour

It's just a loose wire or a faulty pressure sender !!

I bet this thread is a wind up from a regular on here

Thanks ghost !

I didnt want to write an essay so just mentioned the current issues but the original engine was replaced also because when they tried to replace the push rod tubes (as it was leaking oil) they discovered a lot of bodging on the original engine.

Apparently, It would have cost me more money for them to recondition the original engine than to fit one I was able to get off a £400 bus which had failed its MOT due to body rust. But the engine was in good nick (1991 engine)

Thanks for the info on the 'Buzzer fo doom'!

Could this be the cause of the van cutting out?

Oh, by the way, if you really have had all this trouble and expense, then I do sympathise greatly.

Ghost... Not a wind up mate... dont make me feel worse than I already do!! Im supposed to be travelling around France with my dog by now!!

The clock set was from the £400 1991 bus which i got for its engine, so basically the 86 caravelle i purchased now has the clock set and engine from the 91.

So far the cost of parts has been £400 for the engine, £60 for a piersburg carb (to make one good one as the original was bad) ... it was all fitted by my uncles garage for mates rates of £600 so ive thrown a grand at it so far (which I wouldnt mind if it was now working and i was in France with a glass of red and a nice chunk off cheese!)

My uncle garage normally do MR2 race cars so they're not expert in campers! They've basically tried but have now give up!

Could this really be a simple solution??? Would the buzzer which i understand indicates low low oil pressure make the engine cuts out. And as this had happened on both engines with both clock sets, does that not mean that something else is amiss?

Thanks for your help on a sunday

As long as you know the oil pressure is OK, (likely it is, as it happened to 2 engines) I would look at fixing the "BOD" issue (well known "issue" with these vans, "BOD" is a common abbreviation of "Buzzer of Doom"). You can temporarily disable the buzzer by earthing the brown wire that goes to the oil pressure sensor that is buried near the water pump. (The other one is between the pushrod tubes on the left hand cylinder) NOTE = one of these "sensors" (they are simple pressure switches) is "normally closed" and opens when the engine starts (iirc that is the one by the pushrod tubes, but perhaps check that in the link I supplied above to our "wiki" knowledge base) The other sensor is "normally open" and the contacts shut when oil pressure is normal (the one by the water pump = again double check that). Also NOTE = iirc, if "experimenting" by earthing the wires from either of the senders, the engine will need to be turned off and re-started to "re-set" the oil pressure warning buzzer (I think that is correct, it's a long while since I last looked at this issue - touches wood!)

There may be a clue in this "cutting out". Not normally associated with a BOD issue but thinking about it, perhaps it is an earthing issue ? A bad earth could stop the ignition system working and might also "trigger" the BOD. I would check and clean up ALL the earths on the "earth crown" which is behind the fuse box and to the left of it. Easy to spot, it looks like a kings crown with lots of brown wires going to it. The fuse box hinges down quite easily.

I would be thinking about this "cutting out". Does it just stop, or does it falter first ? Are there sparks at the plugs just after it cuts out ? What do you need to do to get it going again ?

Okay been having a clear out of T25 parts some listed on the for sale forum.But wrapped ready for postage is a BOD cuircut board which i never used .Think its for a petrol engine if you pm me with your address i will post free of charge for you.Better it goes to some who might need it.

Ah cheers ghost thats certainly given me a direction to start looking at! Thankyou.

As for the cutting out it goes a bit like this.

Drives lovely in 1st, 2nd and 3rd... once i get up speed in 4th and 5th it will be cruising along then will start to cut out, i will pop my foot on the clutch to stop it stalling reduce speed, change down and gingerly lift the clutch praying it will pick up which it generally does then it will settle down and cruise lovely for another 10 miles or so then go again!?

yesterday it did this at low speeds as well, it conked out a couple of times. Started up again and went for a while then conked out again! At the last effort she would not idle in neutral without cutting out?

I know its difficult to gleen much from a written description but any suggestions as to what to try would be gratefully recieved

Thanks again.

Greg

Big shout out to 'camper' who is kindly sending me a BOD Circuit free of charge... really grateful for this and the help from ghosts expertise.. These issues have been going on a month and the summer is slipping away... really want to begin my adventure ASAP!

As a first time buyer of a T25 (or any other campervan) all these issues should have put me off... weirdly however, Ive falling in love! Dont figure! I guess thats why all you peeps are here offeering support

Really happy to have joined your community... Just think how fanatical I will be once ive actually got a working bus!

gregwiththegrin wrote:These issues have been going on a month and the summer is slipping away... really want to begin my adventure ASAP!

Autumn in France is VERY nice, that is when we are going

gregwiththegrin wrote:As a first time buyer of a T25 (or any other campervan) all these issues should have put me off... weirdly however, Ive falling in love! Dont figure! I guess thats why all you peeps are here offeering support Really happy to have joined your community... Just think how fanatical I will be once ive actually got a working bus!

All this is quite "normal", it's why folks LOVE T25's and other just "have" a Renault, Mazda Bongo or whatever "other" camper !

btw, whilst it is very kind of "camper" to send you that BOD circuit, they don't actually fail very often, it is MUCH more likely to be wiring or faulty / wrong senders

Thanks Ghost.. got a mechanic going to work on it on tuesday, I will get him to start with your suggestions and go from there.

will let ya know how we get on!

Enjoy the rest of the weekend... Few more gold medals tonight!

gregwiththegrin wrote:
As for the cutting out it goes a bit like this.

Drives lovely in 1st, 2nd and 3rd... once i get up speed in 4th and 5th it will be cruising along then will start to cut out, i will pop my foot on the clutch to stop it stalling reduce speed, change down and gingerly lift the clutch praying it will pick up which it generally does then it will settle down and cruise lovely for another 10 miles or so then go again!?

yesterday it did this at low speeds as well, it conked out a couple of times. Started up again and went for a while then conked out again! At the last effort she would not idle in neutral without cutting out?

I know its difficult to gleen much from a written description but any suggestions as to what to try would be gratefully recieved

A bit of detective work should help point the right direction.

First to find out if it is fuel related, or sparks related.

Fuel = Certainly sounds like fuel starvation. Get it running from cold. Stop it. Take the fuel pipe off the carb and put it in a plastic pop bottle. Start the engine up again (it will run for a couple of mins off the fuel in the carb). See how vigorous the flow of petrol is into the bottle, it should be a constant healthy stream, almost "squirting it out") Also there is a tiny filter INSIDE the brass fuel inlet pipe that is coming out of the carb body = check that. You get it out with a self tapping screw or sharp bent pointy thing !

Check the fuel filter in the pipe by the tank. You should only have one filter in the fuel line = the one by the tank outlet.

Sparks = (I don't think it is sparks ) = have a healthy new plug in your pocket. Next time it packs up, jump out, take one of the plug leads off and put your spare plug on it. Rest the plug against the metal engine casing. Get someone to crank it over (it might / will fire up on 3 cylinders, so HANDS etc OUT OF THE WAY !) Look at the plug for a good bright blue / white spark. (You can hold the plug against the metal with a VERY DRY cloth but take care, the HT voltage on these vans can be dangerous !- I prefer to "wedge" the plug body underneath a water pipe or similar) Turn off the ignition before doing any more with HT leads or plugs.

Has it only just started to do this or has it slowly got worse over (how much) time ?
I ask because contaminated fuel from a garage (usually water) can (and has) caused symptoms like this.

So has the "ignition amplifier" = black box on left hand bulkhead / inner wing in engine bay, near the bigger black box on the rear bulkhead. They can start to get funny when hot when they are on their way out. Try pointing a hairdryer at it till it is very warm to touch (not melting ) and see if the engine note remains good.