Club 80-90 Forums

Hi Guys,
I am still having a few problems with my 1.9DG

Story so far,
I have replaced the coil, leads, cap, rotor, vac advance,and the fuel filter, filter in the spiggot is clean. Carb has been cleaned out.

I didn't know what to set the timing to but found 12 degrees before (set with the advance disconnected) and it ran well but would go for a few days fine, then wouldn't tick over at all for a few days. When taking my foot off it died immediatly. But then suddenly would be ok again for another few days. After taking advice from here I set it to 4 degrees before and it runs well but is lifeless. It starts runs and pulls off fine, but has no real power, it will get up to speed but will be down to less than 40mph on hills. If I put my foot right down it will accelerate but not quickly.
I checked the servo vac pipe and advance pipe. both OK. There are two diaghrams on the carb one at the front and one at the back. the rear one I can hear something move and there are no leaks when I suck it. The front one I can hear a click but can suck air slightly through it. I guess there is a leak but it is small. I dont know if its significant. What does it do. I have attached a picture.
I was wondering about setting the timing to 6 or 8 degrees to see what effect that makes.
Any ideas.

depends what you mean by front and rear.

On your pic the rear disc ( front of vehicle) is the second choke, it opens once by vacuum the throttle is sufficiently open, if it's broke you will be driving on one barrel.

the one at the front of your pic ( rear of vehicle is the choke pull down, won't affect it when hot.

that's an early DG 2E3 carb so probably quite high mileage could be it has a number of minor faults, you could try a good clean out and a rebuild kit , Brickwerks sell them.

Also I wonder if you are just expecting too much from an 80 Horse engine in a heavy van, it's not going to be like any modern car, my DG has hit as little as 30 up some long hills

is that clear hose really fuel hose?

itchyfeet wrote:
is that clear hose really fuel hose?

as suggested, start with a good clean with some carb cleaner, intermittent problems with fuel usually come down to a blocked filter.... there should be 2, one down at the front of the van near the fuel tank ( plastic see through ) I bet its not very see through ?? change that for a few pounds, the other is hiding inside the carb , take of the white garden hose that is the fuel pipe and use a self tapper screw , rotate clockwise gently until you feel it bite, then pull out the cone filter.... it has a very fine mess. Give that a good clean.

next check your accelerator jet is working.With the engine of ( saves eyebrow wear n tear if it back fires ) open up the throttle fully.... yoi should get a nice squirt of unleaded... if not remove the jet and clean.

I am unsure what the timing is.. someone will tell you.

^^^^ he already said that the fuel filter has been changed and the filter in the spigot is clean

Well worth checking the accelerator pump though and did we mention that fuel hose looks like its not fuel hose

Timing should be 5 deg btdc at 900 rpm dizzy vac disconnected

When you push the accelerator to the floor does it fully open the carb to the stop? My van didn't, it was a lot nicer to drive after, don't expect to win any races though!

itchyfeet wrote:^^^^ he already said that the fuel filter has been changed and the filter in the spigot is clean

Well worth checking the accelerator pump though and did we mention that fuel hose looks like its not fuel hose

The fuel in the hose pipe looks very dirty... or maybe its just the pipe... but it looks a nasty brown colour, the tank may be rusting away nicely and adding rust to the unleaded


Worth checking the timing on the accelerator pump too, but on a serious note, if that isnt proper fuel pipe then get it changed... some people have lost vans this year due to engine bay fires.

My guess is the brown tint to the pipe is the pvc disolving

bloggs wrote: After taking advice from here I set it to 4 degrees before and it runs well but is lifeless. It starts runs and pulls off fine, but has no real power, it will get up to speed but will be down to less than 40mph on hills. If I put my foot right down it will accelerate but not quickly.
.

Sounds about right..
spec timing is already on the crankshaft pully @ 5deg BTDC.

Your DG probably has ony 60 horses by now...
Don't expect too much from them

kevtherev wrote:

bloggs wrote: After taking advice from here I set it to 4 degrees before and it runs well but is lifeless. It starts runs and pulls off fine, but has no real power, it will get up to speed but will be down to less than 40mph on hills. If I put my foot right down it will accelerate but not quickly.
.

Your DG probably has ony 60 horses by now...
Don't expect too much from them

mine pulls well, I can feel the second choke open and a noticable increase in urgency.. ( relalative ) it never struggles to increase MPH , I would keep looking for the cause of the lethargy Go back to basics and re check everything.

Hi Guys,
thanks for the good advice.
Sorry about not being clear of front and rear with the diaphrams. The expalnation was good thank you.

The van and engine has only done 49k miles. I don't know where the fuel pipe came from, my dad had the van from new and must have changed it somewhere along the line. He isn't known for spending when he can avoid it. I will change it today!

kevtherev wrote:spec timing is already on the crankshaft pully @ 5deg BTDC.

Do you mean the pully notch is at 5 degrees so I just align it with the block, I set the timing assuming it was at TDC.

The accelerator pump does give a good squirt,
Its a bit confusing, because It will pull for a second when I put my foot down, presumably because of the accelerator pump, but that would imply fuel starvation, however it did pull much better when I had the timing set to 12 degrees before.
I know its never going to have a lot of umph, but it was a lot more lively when I had the timing set to 12 degrees. I'll try it at 5 and see if it improves.

Yes set the v notch to the casting line on the block.
BTW does pull better when it's cold, say for the first 5 mins?

You could have a little air leak leaning the fuel out.

Thanks kevtherev,
Before I saw your reply I changed the timing from the 4degrees I had, which when I checked was more like 3, to 5 degrees, and it ran much better. 50mph and pulling up the same hill I am usually down to 40.
I will try aligning the notch to the casting and see what that does. It could be that my timing light is not accurate. Its a gunson one with an adjustable timing angle, You have to assume its calibrated and not moved!!