Any ideas on this one?

My 3.5 carburetted RRC has developed an aggravating habit.

Under no load it will rev to infinity quite happily, but under load it wil cough and fart and splutter its way down the street and when it's running more or less as it should it starts behaving like it's running against a

200MPH headwind.

Any ideas what might be causing this?

P.

Reply to
Paul S. Brown
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We had something similar on our V8 90 with SU's on. the first time it was a bit of muck in one of the carbs the second time was a droplet of water. Richard

Reply to
Richard

Are both carbs working properly - what carbs are they?

Paul

Reply to
PM

I have no idea if both carbs are working OK and they're a pair of SUs fitted as standard to this age car (1982).

I think I'm going to have a fun time sometime soon taking them apart and giving them a good service.

Given that out of 2 responses both point at the carbs this seems like a way to go...

More as I have it.

Thanks for the response

P.

Reply to
Paul S. Brown

Not so fast Tonto....

When did all this start ? Whats been changed? could be a fuel supply issue and not just a carb one.

Don't forget to check first the points (if it has'em) advance and retard unit , been there done that got the huge bill.

Lee D

Reply to
Lee_D

Had similar problem with our Discovery. Ignition lead or leads had failed.

Reply to
Geoff 93 RRC

Change the fuel filter first! It's easier....

Richard

Reply to
richard.watson

Check ignition system first, 'cause it's easier, especially check the condenser and coil. Look for a clear sharp blue spark at the plugs. Then, clean and/or replace any fuel filters, my 90 has one on the pump in the fuel tank and another after it, if this doesn't cure it and you find any muck in the filters then strip and clean your carbs making sure the float chambers and jets are clean. Finally, some silly things, make sure the tank isn't negative pressurising and the breather is working and that your exhaust is not blocked.

Reply to
Bob Hobden

Maybe a stuck piston. Take the three screws out (carefully so as not to drop any), then lift the top off the carb. Remove the piston - the big roundy thing that's under the cover - it'll have a needle on the end - try not to damage this :-)

Clean the piston, put it back.

You'll probably then find the cause was something completely different, but at least you'll know how to pop the top of a carb when you need to :-)

Reply to
Mother

Not forgeting to hold it all upright so that you don't lose the atf fluid out of the dashpot.

Lee D

Reply to
Lee_D

Pull off the 180 degree elbows that go onto the carbs and you should be able to see the fuel going in and feel the suction. You'll soon see which carb you have to pull apart if it's a single carb issue. (note: I'm not responsible if your pet hamster is sucked in...:)

Regards

William MacLeod

Reply to
William MacLeod

Check every thing from spark to fuel. If you do need parts for the carbs doble check that they are SU because I thought they would be Stromberg for a vehicle of that age. Regards

Reply to
Rudolph Hucker

They have "Solex" on the side of them - what does that make them?

P.

Reply to
Paul S. Brown

One thought I am now having is that I *may* have managed to get water into the fuel tank. I went on SimonKs nice offroading trip to Cannock Chase and as anybody following me would tell you my fuel cap seal is shot. At one point I did take the car wading and I can easily imagine getting water into the tank at that point.

P.

Reply to
Paul S. Brown

If the're what I think they are take the top covers off the carbs (4 screws) and examine the rubber diaphragms for splits.

Paul

Reply to
PM

Now you mention it Dad had similar problems on an ex-police Rangie of 1976 circa... the problem then was the filter in the tank. Given you've had a good old sploosh around any muck in the tank may have been dislodged and found a new home in the end of the filter. Standard practice is to remove this PITA filter, extend the pipe and if necessary refit another in line filter under the bonnet...but to be honest one less filter won't hurt unless you have real big crud in the tanks.

Lee D

Reply to
Lee_D

Ok,

I've now taken it out, put around 1/4 tank of fuel in it and taken it for a hard run.

I'm now leaning towards it being a poor spark as when revved hard (40 in 2nd on a 4 speed manual) enough petrol is getting into the exhause to cause pops and the occasional backfire.

I'll check the plugs later, but I expect to find them sooted up badly or possibly oiled. I've got a Colourtune here I'll try it on and see what I get, but I now have a course of action to follow.

P.

Reply to
Paul S. Brown

Thanks to everybody on this one. Turns out that the carbs (Solex licensed Strombergs) were fine, however my local garage (Redline Services of Aylesbury - recommend them) did replace the points for me, reset the points and reset the timing along with replacing the air heater hose.

The really embarrassing thing about this was that when I replaced the old leads with Luminitions I must have been crosseyed. They tell me that the entire odd numbered cylinder bank was miswired and they're trying to figure out how the hell I got the car to them.

It's running sweet as a nut now - better than at any time since I got it. The Luminitions and Super4s seem to have made some difference after all.

Next trick is to get my backside to the proximity of a heater matrix and replace that.

P.

Reply to
Paul S. Brown

On or around Wed, 18 Feb 2004 01:01:20 +0000, "Paul S. Brown" enlightened us thusly:

oops. bloody easy to do, mind. The classic one is to wire the correct pattern but the wrong way round... even managed that on a 4-cylinder once.

think yerself lucky it's not a V12, now that's a BIG distributor.

Reply to
Austin Shackles

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