Club 80-90 Forums

Good Morning all,

Bit of a strange one, am wondering if its just me!

Running a 1984 1.9DG, recent battery, leads, plugs, (1month) recon starter and alt in last 12 months.

Running very well overall, however...

Wednesday evening i filled him up with fuel (correct grade) and he then wouldn't start, battery was fine starter was spinning but could get the engine to fire. Tried for a while with no luck then gave up and called for a landy to drag me home. As my tow turned up (maybe 10-15mins after last try) i tried to start again and will a few lumps it fired happily. Off i went assuming i must have been a muppet and flooded it.

3 days later and in central London this time, i fill up, same thing, leave it for 10 mins and i manage to get it to fire.

I haven't had a good look yet but fuel filter looked clear and i have had no other starting problems apart from when refueling.

Thoughts and suggestions gratefully received!

I've got a 2ltr Aircooled and if I have to do a "hot start" I find that putting the accelerator pedal to the floor and turning the key gets its to fire. Obviously take your foot of the pedal straight away before the engine starts to rev.
I guess that either the squirt of petrol from the accelerator pump or the extra air through the open throttle valve is enough to get the engine turning?

Next time it's hot take off the pancake duct on the carb and look in.
you should have an unrestricted view of the throttle butterflies.
the choke flap at the top of the venturi should be vertical.

It will remove the "is it the choke " question

then when it's cold, check it again ... it should have closed leaving a small gap

Cheers,

Will try and check tonight.

The choke didn't seem to be priming properly (i was having to catch it with the throttle after starting until warmed) but since this problem started it seemed to be functioning fine.

Starting from cold requires you to depress the accelerator once or twice slowly.
This sets the fast idle and inject a little fuel into the venturi

with out using the acc the engine should start and should idle at 2000 rpm
once the acc is used it will drop to around 1200

Thats what i had been doing but it didn't seem to be setting the fast idle(so i would then catch and blip throttle), it then started working fine (possibly because i was slower and held the peddle at the bottom for a second when priming), and the first time i had the starting problem after refueling i had primed when the engine wasn't cold, so I assumed I flooded it - never willing to assume it's not my incompetence!

Thanks again

Check your fuel filter.