Club 80-90 Forums

Hi
I have been trying to figure out why my engine isn't running right. The problem I have is that when you press the throttle, the engine almost stalls for a second, then fires into life (Making it very annoying at junctions and generally when pulling away/changing gear). Anyway, I am in the middle of changing the dizzy cap and HT leads, to see if that helps, when I saw that there is no pipe on the small outlet of the carb (see BIG yellow arrow on attached picture).
Am I right in assuming this is the vacuum pipe?
That pipe just runs out and down to nothing under the engine... following the small arrow arrow

[img][IMG]http://i1291.photobucket.com/albums/b543/Santa1979/Untitled_zps5246405b.jpg[/img][/img]

I take it I have to connect that pipe to the carb? Can anyone tell me what it is? I think it has something to do with vacuums..??
And don't take the mickey... I am an electrician, not a grease monkey ha!

Santa79 wrote:

Ang on, thinking, looking at pic and writing, back in a mo

Well that pipe arrowed is certainly the oil breather (as per post title). In the pic it looks like it is going where it is supposed to, ie the stub at the top of the breather tower

But you say it is just going to nowhere

Sometimes, if an engine has "back pressure" issues (worn out) folk take that pipe off at the carb (air intake actually) end as it can chuck oil back into the engine. They then just feed it down so that any oil coming out of it drips onto the road (or often into a Coke can or similar).

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There seems to have been a spate of engines with the fault you describe just recently on here

It is often either an accelerator jet not working or a weak spark.

Easy to check the accelerator pump jet = Take that black plastic pancake looking thing off = 3 nuts / studs, (TAKE CARE not to drop anything into the carb !!) Then with the engine off, manually open the top brass "flap" that is in the large inlet hole nearest to you. Whilst holding it open, get an assistant to floor the accelerator as if overtaking. You should see an obvious "squirt" of petrol going down into the throat of the carb.

Let "us" know how you get on and "we" can proceed to the next test.

Hello mate.
I have just been out and changed the dizzy cap and ht leads. That has actually made a world od difference already. One of the old ones was knackered. The engine is now almost working, but that slight stall is still there, be it a bit less now.
I put that brreather pipe onto the carb too and it made no difference so I am not sure whether it needs to be on there at all really. I wasn't sure if the fast idle has been set up wrong, the screw was waaaay undone. I haven't messed with it yet though, since I am not sure what I am doing with that.

I have to go to ikea now (we are moving house and need more boxes!). So I shall be back in a little while after checking out the carb as prescribed!!

(By the way, thanks for your help!!)

I would leave the pipe where it is supposed to go, on the carb top

The pipe is firmly where it should be now!

Right, I have just checked the fuel pump and it is working just fine when mrs santa pressed the pedal...

So now I have found a few more problems...
Firstly, when altering the oil breather hose length to make it fit properly, I found some emulsified oil in the pipe.

Aside from this, when I started the engine, it started to drip coolant onto the floor at a rate of one drip a second, and forward of that, oil was dripping too... Am I right to start to panic about head gaskets/waterjacket seals/new engine..??!

The mess I found in the pipe.

It came from here.

And here is the coolant leak.. Note the water dripping and the oil leaking forward of it (I am in so much trouble for oiling the drive up now!)
I have no idea where it is coming from, but it is dripping from the rear of the engine

On the plus side (I think?!?) - if it's leaking that fast it should be pretty easy to find the source (it's the really slow leaks that are the real b*ggers to track down).
Get under there with a rag and start chasing the leak to its source!!

Well, firstly, a bit of "mayo" in that pipe is not unusual in cold weather, especially if the van has not been on any long trips recently.

The oil and water leaks are likely unrelated to each other. Water leaks from the head to crankcase seals usually drip from well away from the centre line of the motor. Yours looks like its coming from near the centre / rear, in which case it could be a leaking water pump or the metal pipe just to the right of the water pump. Or something else of course Either way it is likely a heck of a lot less worry than if it was the head to crankcase seals You will just have to find that water leak !

Same with the oil leak, you will just have to find where it is coming from. Common suspects for constant drips are the oil pressure sensors, one is right by the water pump (you can barely see that one as it is surrounded by other metal bits, thought fiddly to change, not as hard as it first looks). The other one is behind the tin pushrod cover, between the actual pushrods on the left hand side. Again a bit fiddly and you need to remove two (iirc) of the exhaust pipe flange nuts which are usually heavily corroded and seized. LOTS of heat (good blow torch or lots better, a gentle heat to almost red with a welding torch), and "PlusGas" are your friends there (NOT WD40 ) These sensors seem prone to developing leaks, not from the threads but from a fault developing in the actual body of the thing. Needs finding and sorting because, if it is an oil pressure sensor, I have seen them completely "let go" and squirt out oil at a hell of a rate. You don't want that happening whilst you are driving it, especially as "Murphy's Law" dictates it will do it at midnight, in the pouring rain on a motorway

Thanks for the advice.
I have sourced a new pipe that goes behind the water pump. And I Am going to bite the bullet and replace the water pump seals too... When I can get round to it!

Annoyingly, I have a 150 mile trip to do first (I hope it's going to be ok!)

Never actually seen a seal kit for these, most folk change the whole pump. There was a full "how to" on here but I can't find it now Don't be tempted to put any "sealer" in the system, not good for our coolant systems !

I won't be putting any selant in there... I have read some of the horror stories ha!
I am sure that changing the water pump wouldn't be too difficult... I do have that (really easy to follow) Haynes manual, let's see what it says in there!