Micra maladies

Sep 28, 2004 4 Replies
F

I've a 1986 1 litre Micra Colette



It regularly cuts out when stopping for a junction or traffic lights.



There is also a misfire under load, for example trying to drive faster than



70mph or driving up a hill. Infact the misfire problem is almost always when going up hill (trying to drive more than 70mph up a slight motorway hill springs to mind as a scenario when it happens).

With the motorway hill scenario, if I ease off the throttle and accellerate a bit slower, it is fine. It is as if the engine is objecting to being asked to burn more fuel?



I adjusted the idle speed screw as it was idling very sowly (assume to get through MOT emissions) and the revs would drop a lot when the brake pedal was pressed (as it would when the headlights or any electrical item was used). This helped a bit with the cutting out but it still does it sometimes. I don't want the engine to race on idle so I'm not inclined to adjust the idle speed any higher.



I replaced the spark plugs recently, the air filter and changed the oil and oil filter. I also sprayed all the leads and the distributor with that waterproof spray.



Hope anyone can help me here. Sticking or leaky valves?



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M

Fuel filter would be a possibility, air leaks another, check the ditributor cap and rotor arm carefully for cracks or burning, likewise the leads. A very slim possibility is damaged exhaust, but very rare. Over tight valve clearances another slim chance. Misfires you can feel individually are usually ignition, whereas going sort of flat and spitting back may be fuel, but that is generalisation.

mrcheerful

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B

A friend of mine with a '88 1-litre Micra had what sounds like exactly the same problem. We changed the HT leads, distributor and rotor arm, only to find it still did it. The thing that solved it was replacing the points.

We also replaced all the little joining tubes on the vacuum lines, as several of them weren't connected properly, which didn't help it idle. I also had to replace the vacuum lines on my mother's '89 Micra, as I don't think ANY of them hadn't split, so it's definitely something else to check too.

Ben.

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F

Thanks for the advice guys!

It really pissed me off this morning. Got so close to work and then stalled and would not start again. It was worse than ever this morning.

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M

is this carb or injection? the injection ones have a fault with the plugs onto the injector housingt-thingy, some cableties stop them moving and cure the fault, which on the one I fixed was stalling and kangarooing, but only sometimes, and almost never at the garage.

mrcheerful

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