Club 80-90 Forums

My van is driving like a sack of old spuds. It used to be quite poky, now its struggling up hills etc.

Had a tow back from Bristol to Sheffield last autumn. Initially they thought it was a fuel problem, so my system got a check right through then the RAC realised that the service before id set off was probably to blame. The mechanic had put on wrong plug leads etc when he replaced them for service and this possibly caused malfunction with only two cylinders firing. I also had a hair line crack in my distributor cap the only clue was the carbon as the crack was so fine you couldnt see it. Anyway thought id got it sorted and since Christmas its been cv joints etc so its hardly been on the road for months. Im out and about again, and its really struggling.

Any ideas? Only got 80,000 on the clock original.

jojo

Do a compression check and rule that one out first otherwise you'll be fishing in the dark - backwards.

If it has been laid up for a while it might be worth checking to see if you have a sticking brake.

sendiw wrote:If it has been laid up for a while it might be worth checking to see if you have a sticking brake.

Happened to me last week......front caliper piston and the first sign was 'struggling'. Might also be worth checking the accelerator linkage is adjusted properely and throttle opening fully, vacuum advance working, etc.

I've said it a thousand times, but I'll say it again - I'm no expert BUT.......being laid up for a while, damp can cause a load of problems that you can't see. Distributor cap if the damp gets in, can lose the 'spark' across the inside of the cap to the metalwork instead of firing it down the leads to the plugs. I had a mini years ago that did this .

Just a thought............

1664 wrote:I've said it a thousand times, but I'll say it again - I'm no expert BUT.......being laid up for a while, damp can cause a load of problems that you can't see. Distributor cap if the damp gets in, can lose the 'spark' across the inside of the cap to the metalwork instead of firing it down the leads to the plugs. I had a mini years ago that did this .

Just a thought............

and on top of that modern petrol only lasts a month tops before it starts really degrading. take it for a good run and stick some premium fuel in it to re-invigorate whats in there.

Mmmm.

Had a compression check. Hence how i found out only two cylinders firing.

I think the throttle cable may be a possibility because when i bought the van the bloke had been driving around for months with a mpg of about 12mpg and that was the culprit. Sometimes it feels like the fuel isnt getting through and then boom and i shoot forward with power.

jojorose wrote:Mmmm.

Had a compression check. Hence how i found out only two cylinders firing.

I think the throttle cable may be a possibility because when i bought the van the bloke had been driving around for months with a mpg of about 12mpg and that was the culprit. Sometimes it feels like the fuel isnt getting through and then boom and i shoot forward with power.

throtle cable would not make it run on only 2 cylinders ! even with cable disconected the engine should tick over and be firing on four cylinders

Well im off on a 300 mile round trip so lets hope we get there! Got the rac card and my sleeping bag just in case.

Sorry, but what engine do you have ? I see it has a distributer so it's not a d****l but it could be a DF or Aircooled or anything.

My advice would be to give it a full service, plugs,leads,cap,arm,oil change and all 3 filters, fresh tank of petrol, clean carb chokes with carb sleaner. Service and adjust the brakes or have these done by a professional (Simon Baxter's only up in Huddersfield). This way you'll know everything's as it should be in the engine bay ..... if it's still got issues then you need to dig deeper.

Do you smell petrol at all ? ... i.e. have you got water getting in the tank ?

Ian

It was fine until I had a full service!

The bloke used the wrong leads, the wrong plugs, his excuse being that he didnt have time to order the parts. He did and he knew I was coming and he knew i was doing a trip down south the next day. That service caused us to break down in Derby, because we had had a service they thought it was the fuel system so that had everything done to it in Paignton (great bloke) but though it got us back as far as Bristol the van had to be towed back to sheffield as the cylinders werent all working.

So since September its been a process of elimination, replacement of all the service bits, like i said new distributor cap etc and it was back on the road after a lot of months poking about. Just got rolling and my cv joints went so that was it laid up again.

Anyway made it down to Aylesbury and back, it is definitely running fast but a good run seems to have helped immensely.

As for stinking of petrol, its always stunk, even after my new tank! By way it is an air cooled. 2 lts petrol

jo

mmm mines been running really bad, i know CTs are terrible but im struggling to pull away. Halfords supplied my coil and leads, any one know the correct settings for a ct?

hope halfrauds supplied you the right coil if they supplied the wrong un it'll never run right. theres one for electronic ign and one for points i think and they are vastly different.