Club 80-90 Forums

Hi,I've got a 1985 1.9 watercooled Caravelle(called Scoobie) with a D.G engine. I've given it a full service,new dissy cap,rotor arm,spark plugs & HT leads. Engine flush,new oil & oil filter. Replaced fuel filter. It starts and runs on the choke lovely and will tick over all day without a hickup. The problem is it seems to have a miss fire on acceleration and when pulling up hill. I've done the timing with a timing light & am running out of ideas.The mixture seems right because the spark plugs are a nice colour. I haven't changed the air filter but it is clean & looks quite new. We went to the lakes last week and to be honest I didn't feel very confident about it ,but Scoobie got us there and back. Can anyone give me a clue as where to go to now.Thanks Don

Sounds like either a coil breaking down or a bad coil lead (even though it is new) Do you still have the old one ... presumably that wasn't doing the same ?

Ian.

If you have replaced all the obvious bits as you have indicated, and you are happy that the timing/dizzy/vac advance is working as it should,,,,,,,,

I'd be checking the compressions or even better having a cylinder leakage test carried out to be sure it isn't something else.

Regards

Fritz,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

Could be vacuum unit on carb if it is a flat-spot - intermittent - changing throttle position type thing. Check all small bore pipes around carb-manifold, and Vacuum pull down unit?

did it do it before you changed everything?

could be as simple as a duff plug.......... just coz its new dont mean its good..........

also look at vac pipe leakage.........

I put the old plugs back in just to make sure. Problem is just the same. I've checked the pipe to the distributor from the carb,that seems ok. Choke seems to be going off ok. I'll try putting the old coil lead back on. To be honest it seems to be getting worse every time I try something new.One bit of good news is I've just changed the speedo cable and it works like a dream.Thanks for all your replies, Don

whats the fuel filter like???
and the state of the filler neck rubber???
you could be gitting crud in the fuel........

hey Mocki... remember in cornwall I was having a misfire on acceleration, worse on hills ... but ok when scooting along?

that was the coil..or rather it was arcing around the King lead post, to the coil body.

there was a bit of debris in the lead socket... cleaned it out thoroughly.. worked fine

water in the fuel tank will do that too though

I've replaced the fuel filter,tried the old coil lead back on. I f anything I think it is getting worse. How would I go about checking that the coil is working ok.

UC, how was it running before you did the 'Self service' ?

If the problem has surfaced since you 'touched' the engine you are simply going to have to go through what you have done to rectify the hic-up.


Regards,

Fritz,,,,,,,,,,,

The problem hasn't surfaced since I touched it but it has certainly got worse I am going to have the weekend off then have another go next week. By the way it is drinking petrol like it is going out of fashion.

OK then, I had to ask the question......

If we go back to your opening post you said:::::

The mixture seems right because the spark plugs are a nice colour.

Personally I'd be looking in this area (if all else fails) only because I have yet to get a 'plug reading' from an engine using unleaded fuel....

Regards

Fritz,,,,,,,,,,,,

Yup, i wiouldn't go reading anything into the plug colours unless they were very, very different, all snow white or all jet black

It's missing, so plug colours aren't going to tell you why. But get it connected up to an ignition diagnostics machine and you'll know in minutes if any of the plug, leads, dizzy or coil are iffy!
Then you can focus on carburretion if all OK sparks-wise...

Sounds a bit like fuel starvation.. but you really should be able to tell if its all cylinders (whole engine) or just one or two, the former more likely to be fuel than much else.

But don't keep guessing - find a small garage with a guy that's shit hot on diagnostics of old motors and he'll have it connected up and ignition system checked in what, 1/2 hour... will also tell you what the comparative cylinder pressures are too, I expect Then move on...

Thanks HarryMann

kevtherev wrote:hey Mocki... remember in cornwall I was having a misfire on acceleration, worse on hills ... but ok when scooting along?

that was the coil..or rather it was arcing around the King lead post, to the coil body.

there was a bit of debris in the lead socket... cleaned it out thoroughly.. worked fine

water in the fuel tank will do that too though

yes, going on from this....... when you got the new leads, did they match the cap and coil?
there is a difference between late and early, later ones have poins in the centre of the holes on the cap and coil, and the leads have corrisponding holes in the centre connectors, early ones have no pins, and connect around the outside of the lead connector, not in the centre of it........ the two types do fit each other, but dont work well...... you end up, like the rev said with arcing where the sparks are jumping the gap......and it shows up under pressure so to speak......worth a check, specially if the operative that served you when you bought the new bits was younger than the van..............