Club 80-90 Forums

hi everyone. wonder if i can get some advice on a rough idle and stalling problem that just happened last night.
i have a 1.9 water cooled auto trans. drove to and from work with no problems. picked up the wife and on the way home stopped for a train barrier. shut the van off while waiting. after 5 min, restarted when the barrier lifted and it idled rough and stalled. it restarted and and we carried on the 1/2 mile to home. when turning in the drive, reversing and backing up it stalled again, ran really rough, and surged, until i got her parked and it stalled again. tried to restart and it simply would not idle-just stall out.
the van ran ok when i left work(cold start and idled fine), drove 35 miles to wifes work ( no problems good pick up , speed , etc ), stopped waited 20 min. for her. again,it started again and idled fine, ran fine until the barrier about 10 miles later.
i went to look at it today, thinking a loose vaccuum hose or something-all looks ok and seems tight and correct.
started it up and idled fine, until it started to warm up and than idled rough again and stalled.
fuel filter is only 5 months old and looks clear. i had put petrol in that morning,but if it was bad it would have giving me trouble on the way to work.
there was no warning before this, it just happened in an instant.
my neighbour says timing or points...but there where no problems getting up to speed or criusing on the M3. i can only think it's the carb. but would it cause an immeditly fault that quickly?
i would be greatfull for any help
Cheers

Sounds like the idle cut off valve has failed or lost its 12 volt supply. It shuts off the idle mixture when the ignition is turned off so the engine can't "run on"
It is a small metal cylinder screwed into the carb , single wire to it on a spade connector.
http://www.justkampers.com/shop/idle-cu ... 12064.html
With the ignition on there should be 12 volts at the cable connector.
Disconnect & connect the cable, IIRC you can hear the valve opperate with a click.

thanks i'll try that straight away. fingers crossed

A fellow poster here had a similar issue and although the click could be heard the valve was not opening fully
removal and testing would ensure this is properly opening

thanks kev. i think i just read that too. going back out to take it off and test. going to inspect lines again inc. servo pipe rubber and metal. will also run her and spray wd40 to see if any leaks are found

started her up, sprayed wd 40 about, no increase in revs, so no vaccuum leaks. used pliers to squeeze hoses or pull them off , no difference, except the dizzy vaccuum advance hose which stallled it.
took off the idle cut out and tested as suggested-works fine.
i saw someone remove the filter inside the carb...did that -nice and clean
has a hall effect so no points to cleck.
removed vaccuum lines again and blew and or sucked air through tem- could not detaect any air leaks. servo pipe is a hard plastic-did not take it off , but 99.99% sure no leaks there either.
any ideas? i'll keep searching the older posts too.

Are the pre heat hoses in place between the exhaust and air cleaner assembly.
If they are not can cause problems with carb icing in cold weather , not disimilar symptoms to idle valve ?

Ok some more checks

Choke pull down unit diaphragm leak
Distributor diaphragm leak
Brake servo hose porous

Choke pull down... pull off hose from the carb and suck air through the unit, if you can keep sucking then it's buggered
Same with the distributor vac advance diaphragm.
servo hose is the braided type and the rubber under the braiding can become porous

I’m leaning towards vacuum advance defective, or choke flap as Kev mentioned
guessing it’s a 2E3 carb, it’s also an automatic gearbox, is there any difference for carb set up due to auto box? Is it worth checking the selector lever as it should only start in P or N position, not something amiss there is there

bizzare... go back out start her up and also have another look at the hoses, spray wd40 again. all this time she's running and not "hunting". i let it run for about 20 min, and nothing. packed it up , took her for a run-no stalling, surging etc. in fact running how she used to. took her downto get some more petrol ( just in case it had some badd stuff and i would dilute it), ran it up the main road, than through back roads, stopping here an there and not one hiccup???
fingers crossed i guess, but i don't think i did anything special or different that i hadn't already tried.