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I'm stalling in the rain

Posted: 03 Sep 2015, 09:26
by jameshamilton
So, have taken the van on our first long trip and have had our first breakdown. After a morning of torrential rain in N France we set of for Calais & the van kept stalling when stationary / at lights etc

Kept going for an hour or so, but then it started raining again and I lost all power and rolled to stop. I thought about calling the RAC, but the chances of getting a breakdown service who will actually do anything in France on a Sunday are slim to zero, so waited 30 mins, took the dizzy cap off, gave it & the points a liberal spray of WD40, fired it up and all was fine. I put it down to water from the awning running into the air intake on the nearside and vowed to be more careful setting that up next time

Jump forwards two weeks and I took the van out last night for a drive. Again, it had been raining heavily for about an hour before I set off and the same thing (minus the total loss of power) happened. No awning this time, so something else is happening

Does anyone have any idea why the idle speed would drop so low after it's been raining? It's fine when it's dry. The idle stabilisation unit has been by-passed at some point in the past. Could that be it?

Thanks in advance for your (superior) wisdom

James

----
1980 2.0l petrol air cooled Westie Joker

Re: I'm stalling in the rain

Posted: 03 Sep 2015, 11:16
by marlinowner
I had similar due to water getting into fuel tank.

Re: I'm stalling in the rain

Posted: 03 Sep 2015, 11:33
by itchyfeet
marlinowner wrote:I had similar due to water getting into fuel tank.


more likely getting into electrics if it dried out with some WD40 in 30mins.

do Aircooled have the same splashguards underneath as watercooled and if so are they fitted?

Re: I'm stalling in the rain

Posted: 03 Sep 2015, 12:25
by jameshamilton
This is happening from a standing start... So I'm guessing water is getting in somewhere

Also, there appears to be quite a lot of air in the fuel lines. Is that normal?