Club 80-90 Forums

finally Fitted the right distributor today for my 1988 DG engine after having been told by the AA man that the faulty distributor that was originally fitted was the reason for the van only firing on 3 cylinders and not starting properly.

so after fitting the new distributor and set up the timing as per the haynes manual, all seemed to be well ticking over nicely. took it for a drive up the road however and there is a complete lack of power over about 20 mph - i drove it for about 1/2mile then pulled over and the engine was smoking a bit from overheating.

checked the coolant and this was a low (forgot to check it before after having sat for a couple of months) so i filled it up and left it to cool down.

tried the van again later but the same thing happened - no power and overheating.

would all of this be down to poor ignition timing? why would it be overheating if the coolant if full?

i had a quick checkover of the coolant pipes but couldn't see any damage or holes.

bit mystified as had no problems like this before using the old distributor?

dplum wrote: (forgot to check it before after having sat for a couple of months)

i drove it for about 1/2mile then pulled over and the engine was smoking a bit from overheating.

No mystery there I'm afraid. Sticky burnt oil deposits in barrels preventing the pistons from moving freely is more likely the problem.

Go back and check you have set it correctly.. and that nothing else is amiss..

If you had running issues before then a systematic aproach is needed to verify each part is working and set correctly..

The carb has prob got dirt in it and a jet is blocked.. this would also give missfires etc.. and how did the AA man determine it was the wrong distributor??

have you bled it?

toomanytoys wrote:Go back and check you have set it correctly.. and that nothing else is amiss..

If you had running issues before then a systematic aproach is needed to verify each part is working and set correctly..

The carb has prob got dirt in it and a jet is blocked.. this would also give missfires etc.. and how did the AA man determine it was the wrong distributor??

Yes thats the plan - perhaps the timing wasn't right in the first place so i'll check it again - would this cause overheating?

The AA man didn't say it was the wrong distributor, just that the connector from the control unit was broken so it needed a distributor replacement. It was only when i started to look into replacing it I realised it was the wrong distributor for the engine anyway (CU 2.0l rather than DG 1.9l which is what i have) so thats what i replaced it with.

thanks

docklad wrote:have you bled it?

no i haven't bled it, i just topped it up a bit as per the haynes manual. I was thinking about the fact it may need bleeding if there is a problem with the pipes/radiator etc. but would it need bleeding if it has only been topped up?

its a bit confusing as to which of the 2 factors (i.e. low coolant / new distributor and possible timing issues) is causing the lack of power and overheating - or could it be a combination of both which just happen to be occurring at the same time?

timing will cause lack of power, and overheating.

how did you time it?

how empty was the cooling system?

Mocki wrote:timing will cause lack of power, and overheating.

how did you time it?

how empty was the cooling system?

timed it with strobe light. first time i've done it but followed the haynes manual by removing and blocking the vacuum pipe and aiming the gun at the v-shaped timing notch on the inside edge of the pulley

top up tank was below minimum

question is, how full was the header tank?

the header tank is is the one in side the engine bay, on the lhs as you look in..... it should be full to the brim.
if it is not full to the brim the red flashing light of warningness will flash in the temp gauge.

the top up tank should be to the max mark only when the engine is cold. - the header tank should be full all the time, but if you check it when the engine is hot you should never remove the cap of the header tank without first releasing the pressure .

if the header tank level is below the level of the outlet pipes, you should bleed the system to be on the safe side if you have been running the engine with it this low.

the timing would need to be quite a long way out to cause over heating to the extent you describe, and i think the engine would be struggling to run at this degree of error.

Mocki wrote:
if the header tank level is below the level of the outlet pipes, you should bleed the system to be on the safe side if you have been running the engine with it this low.

How easy is it to bleed the system? do you need any special tools?

with regards to the low coolant warning light, it never came on. I checked the 2 sensor prongs on the underside of the expansion tank cap and they seem fine with no gunk or limescale. Is there any other sensor which needs to be checked, or is there a check needed in the dash?
thanks

dplum wrote:

Mocki wrote:
if the header tank level is below the level of the outlet pipes, you should bleed the system to be on the safe side if you have been running the engine with it this low.

How easy is it to bleed the system? do you need any special tools?

with regards to the low coolant warning light, it never came on. I checked the 2 sensor prongs on the underside of the expansion tank cap and they seem fine with no gunk or limescale. Is there any other sensor which needs to be checked, or is there a check needed in the dash?
thanks

Does it flash when you start up? Mine doesn't, never has....so I use the temp indicator......and check levels regularly. Would love to get it working....just can't work out how.
Em
xx

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he knows the fault finding on the flashing led of waterness.......

Mine was like this when I got it,no matter how precise I was with the timing it ran like a pig.Wasnt till I checked the engine number and found someone had sneaked a DF in