2.25 Kangaroo in Low

I have similar in low gears. If you put it in first gear (low box or high) and just ease up the clutch without throttle does it run along nicely? It shouldn't need any throttle at all in those gears to just run along. Mine is quite smooth like that.

Both Series motors I've had were like that - they bounce around at the best of times and low speed fine control isn't all that easy, especially if you've got slack in the transmission (haven't they all?) and (like mine) the carb is a bit buggered.

She did before but now she seems to need power or she'll stall and with the power on she'll jump. Was lovely ploding along the track not having to use any feet. I'll check again on the way home, make sure I'm not being silly after not driving her for a while.

Thinking about what you say, maybe she does just need some tuning to put some power back in to the low end. Could be it is me trying not to let her stall which then starts the surge, then I take off to slow down and without realising set up a cycle.

Time to read up on how to tune then :)

I'm pretty sure this won't be the root cause, but is the idle speed set right? 650 rpm from memory.

You could try it with various stages of choke and see if it suddenly comes good - more choke richens the mixture and ups the idle speed.

Also check silly things like the vacuum advance pipe falling off and the like.

'Course, it could be a warm climate, RHD export model that's found it's way home!

Richard

Ahhh, that has put a name to what I think it may be. Just before I picked her up from the garage I know they were fiddling around with idle/mixture/something in that area, so maybe it needs a bit of fine tuning as she has recently had a tendancy to suddenly die off. Wouldn't know the what the RPM is though. Have found a idjuts guide to setting mixture/idle and from the instructions and warnings it seems a sensible possiblity and sounds like what the garage were doing. Seems like a good place to start. Ta very much. Damn winter evenings stopping play :(

|| I am a very proud, new owner of a '72 Lightweight, petrol 24v. || Huzzah. Only problem is I'm just learning how much car stuff I don't || know, so I will apologise once in advance for the flood to come :) || || She's just back from the fixers after an interesting electrical saga, || and she was timed. Only problem now is that if I try going off road || (unmade track, nothing major) in low box she kangaroos. It's as if || power needs to build up, pushes through and then needs to build || again. Ends up I have to go into high 2nd and hold on for dear life || as we have to go along at about 10mph. On the road once she's going || seems fine and very smooth. Before the problem I could leave in 2nd || or 3rd Low and let her chug along merrily with no throttle. || || Is this just a tuning problem, something to start saving for or || something simple like the doohicky in the flange drive needs plugging || in? It could be that she is actually running properly, and wasn't || before, but would be nice to know it's my fault and lack of knowledge || :) || || Cheers in advance

OK on-road, rough off-road. ... Hmmm ... If you're new to LRs, it's easy to confuse kangaroo petrol/carb settings with a plain old bouncy right foot. If you don't brace your throttle foot somehow, you hit a bump, foot pushes throttle down, vehicle jerks forward, foot bounces off pedal, vehicle stops, foot goes down again. Kind of thing. Doesn't happen on-road because the bumps aren't as big or violent. If you've never driven an off-road vehicle before, it can take some getting used to.

Maybe not, but thought I'd mention.

If I recall right, the later versions had some changes to the system and were set with a higher idle speed. I can't recall the target speed for my lightweight, but it's from late in the production and needed to be set up at the higher speed. They easily could have been trying to set the idle speed too low.

Check the throttle return spring.

Same prob in traffic with my 300Tdi Disco, upping the idle fixed it. TonyB

I'm pretty sure mine is a late SIIa so that could be it. Silly question, is there any way to tell what the RPM is, or is it all purely by ear and trial and error till she stops stalling at idle?

As an update found she was just ok going along in low 3rd, lights dimmed so the power wasn't all there, but kept going. Any lower though and there was no power with out pressing the throttle.

Will introduce properly once i have some pictures :)

aftermarket revcounters are cheap enough and readily available - even at H/Fords

Ahhhhh, secret knowledge such as this H/fords is invaluable ;) Many thanks!

Whereabouts in the world are you? Like never being more than 8 feet from a rat in London, I suspect you are never more than 10 miles from a Land Rover enthusiast with a timing light / rev counter....

The comparison is startling :)

Thank you for conjuring images of whiskered L/R bods scurrying around in dark corners muttering about dwell angles in a conspirational manner.

I think this is part of the problem, and I think upping the idle will fix it. I think I was panicing a bit as it wasn't doing this before going into the garage. But now I am armed with the knowledge that needs idle adjusting, I have a heavy clumsy foot, need a rev counter/engine analyser box (ta Tim), and have a vague feeling I need traps and cheese. The weekend looks like it could be interesting :)

Ta everyone, I shall update if I get to fiddle at the weekend.

Idle speed is easy - you need a screwdriver with a smallish straight blade. You can see where the throttle mechanism is attached to the carburettor - waggle it around and you'll see that there is a screw at the bottom of the mechanism that stops it fully closing. Wind the screw in and the stop moves, increasing the idle speed.

To be honest, you can do it by ear and having it a bit high is no major drama. To be spot on you need the meter, but don't worry too much about having a fiddle.

On or around Thu, 14 Dec 2006 12:38:14 -0000, "William Tasso" enlightened us thusly:

a properly set up 2¼ will idle at about 250 rpm if you turn it down that low, the heavy engine, lowish compression and heavy flywheel make it nigh unstoppable. I remember playing with my (previous) series II once I'd put a decent carb on it, and finding that you could damn' nigh slow it down 'til you could count the individual bangs.

In practical terms, though, you want something between 600 and 800 for convenience, it's not that critical. If it tends to stall, check the mixture and then the ignition - iffy points gap can make 'em erratic, for example as can a badly worn dizzy. wear in the carb is another common "feature"

On or around Thu, 14 Dec 2006 16:18:21 +0000, Tim Hobbs enlightened us thusly:

there's no such thing as spot on for an old 2¼ engine though.

Might not be one of those needing a higher idle speed, and it's odd that it's more likely to stall in the lower gear. There's one of the standard carbs that's prone to several problems.

As for RPM, I have a multimeter I bought at Machine Mart, which can measure engine RPM--connects to one of the coil terminals. Ear and trial and error is OK, if you do the job a lot, but this is a useful extra to have, and there's all the other electrical fiddling to think of