Who remembers their 2.8i Capris?

Hi all,

Bit of a background / long shot type question but a mate is a bit of a Capri fan and has a Brooklands that needs quite a bit of work (but is a runner), a 2.8i that is on the road and another 2.8i that he's currently using for parts (also a runner).

The one he has on the road has 60k on the clock and whilst it drives / runs well it's tick over is a bit lumpy (I think it hunts slightly).

I believe he's changed or checked most the basic stuff (plugs, leads, dizzy cap, rotor and FWIW the fuel pump / filters etc) but the problem persists, so I wondered if anyone has been_there_done_that and knows if there is anything that was a common issue on such setups (may be the exact same setup in other vehicles of course, like the old Granny).

I think he was last looking at the distributor / manifold that sits on top of the air filter but he's not sure how you could test / check it?

Failing anything positive here, is the next step to get the fuel injection / injectors checked over, or are those sort of things pretty bomb proof?

Cheers, T i m

Reply to
T i m
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first would be a good general service including resetting the valve clearances (important since they close up and keep valves open) then check the co, then if it is still doing it then check for air leaks using propane gas or carb cleaner. (my money is on the valve clearances)

Reply to
Mrcheerful

Metering heads have issues as does the throttle body. You can end up with a bit of slop in the spindle on the throttle body and also the Idle screw bleed hole gets blocked. (The big f*ck off knurled screw that's at the front bottom of the throttle body - the little grub screw on the top is a throttle flap adjuster, not for doing the idle speed - DO NOT TOUCH).

Make sure that the flap on the metering head sits flush with the rim. Take off the throttle body and give it a good cleaning out. Whatever you do, don't adjust the grubscrew on the top of it to adjust the idle as it's set at the factory. Chances are though, someone already has.

Lumpy tickover is a common fault on 2.8i's as is a low tickover you can't adjust up. Most people just live with it.

BTW, don't worry about low oil pressure on idle. As long as it's above red, it's fine.

Reply to
Conor

Check very carefully for any air leaks into the plenum or vacuum system. If that doesn't sort it get the fuel pressure checked. If that is wrong it will effect the mixture. You might also check the air temperature sensor which has a minor effect on fuelling. Not sure if it has a TPS - but if it has check the setting.

Do all the common and cheap checks before even considering an expensive fault.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

But if it has been? IIRC, the clearance between butterfly and body (with everything clean) should be less than 0.1mm

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

Check the tappets. If a 2.8i Cologne isn't running well then my way of sorting it would be plugs then tappets. Not much else ever seems to cause issues.

Injection system tends to be utterly bombproof, and it's not something you really want to mess about with. K-jet is a simple system but I've seen quite a few that people have utterly cocked up by not understanding it properly.

Reply to
Pete M

Right, thanks for all the great tips so far lads. I've printed them out and will drop them in on my out later. Kit car is in for it's MOT on Monday so I thought I'd give it a run. The running gear and engine are only 31 years old so there's plenty of life left in it yet!

Now where *did* I get leaded 4* last .... ;-)

Cheers, T i m

Reply to
T i m

Is the correct answer. The air bleed hole for the idle speed screw tends to be a main problem though - it basically gets blocked with crap. Common suggestions are to remove the throttle body and give the whole thing a damned good clean. After all, the youngest ones have 20 years worth of grime, grease and varnish.

Reply to
Conor

I just get my Capris converted to unleaded. Works out a lot cheaper.

Reply to
Conor

Do they run K-jet? There are still plenty of VW specialists who know how to meddle with it.

Reply to
Doki

Just googled. They are K-jet. Stealth racing are the name most often bandied about on ClubGTI for setting up and modifying K-jet on 16V Golfs. I can't see why they wouldn't be able to work on Capri gear. As others have said, the most a DIYer should be doing to K-jet is cleaning it. I've got a PPC article here that explains K-jet in a bit more detail that I could dig out.

Reply to
Doki

Ok, thanks and thanks for all the other additional replies guys.

I dropped off the first batch of printouts when I went out in the kitcar (once I'd un-frozen the clutch that is. First time it's ever done that but I did replace the gearbox a few months back?) anyway ..

So far he's done / swapped the following (where changed it was from a properly working car).

"coil disi cap and leads throttle housing fuel filter fuel pump distributor/mixture control unit warm up regulator thermotime switch aux air device start valve plugs ignition amp module

the radio and fuel gauge don't work and the ammeter still jumps to full +"

He's not changed the electricall distributor, or checked the ignition (no strobe) or valve timing as yet. Also not sure he's checked for air leaks as yet.

I saw that ammeter thing earlier. You start the car and the ammeter jumps and stays on max (looks like +30A on a +-30A centre zero meter, it's not actually marked with anything) and flashing the headlights will generally make the gauge drop back to 0 + a bit. Turn on the indicators and the meter pulses in sympathy. Turning the engine off and headlights on shows what looks like -10A etc). I think he has already swapped the alternator.

When I popped round he's just come back from a 5 mile test drive and it had stalled once (and sounded no better).

At that point he'd wished he'd just swapped the lumps over!

I've left him with the idea of checking the valve clearances (he didn't seem keen for some reason .. not as easy as on my 1300 Kent apparently ) and anything else mentioned so far that's not on the list above (like checking the co when he can get it in somewhere).

Cheers again, T i m

Reply to
T i m

If the heads are original (not suitable for unleaded) and the car has been used with unleaded without a suitable additive ) for a while (just a few thousand will do it) then the valves will have recessed.

Reply to
Mrcheerful

Hmm, good thought. I use an additive in the kitcar but I thought I understood that a nicely carbonised engine could be ok for a good time without?

Or is it just basic engines (like the Kent) were ok but not this injected 2.8?

I didn't think to ask him if he uses and additive but will now.

Cheers, T i m

Reply to
T i m

The Cologne lump isn't that far removed from being a 6 pot Kent.

Reply to
Pete M

Ah, gotcha. ;-)

I sort of guessed that would be the case with the old Essex lump I had in a Bedford CF Camper (don't ask) and my old 2L Pinto but for some reason I thought the Cologne was a bit 'newer' (so might be already unleaded ready).

And it's funny we have what I believe is basically still the Kent lump (running unleaded) in the Ka (all be it with hardened valve seats n valves etc).

Cheers, T i m

Reply to
T i m

It turns out he's only done about 800 miles on the lump with unleaded but I forgot to ask if he's owned that car since leaded was phased out (I think it's been standing round an in-laws place for some years).

He did ask how much it might cost to have a pair of heads converted (ballpark) as he could take them off the Brooky.

Cheers, T i m

Reply to
T i m

It's difficult to guess how an engine with cast iron heads will react to unleaded. The A series unit as fitted to Minis etc seems to suffer badly whereas the similar Triumph unit doesn't.

Perhaps it's the reason this one isn't running properly. ;-)

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

Jesus! It sounds like me that he needs to speak to a man who knows - you're not talking about paying for a great deal of time to get the setup back to factory settings. I don't know anything about how the Capri is setup, but certainly the injection Golfs have a dizzy, but timing isn't setup just by swinging the distributor, as there's also a computer influencing ignition timing, which means they are often miles out. I suspect 5 minutes with the right know how, a timing gun and a gas analyser would pay dividends.

Reply to
Doki

Just to add a little.

There's an great book - Bosch Fuel Injection & Engine Management by Charles Probst.

It's pretty much an essential read if you want to get to grips with K-jet. (and the other systems)

One thing worth noting is that an old K-jet tends to idle at its best with a slightly rich idle mixture - generally a tiny bit higher than the MOT allows. Set lean at idle and you may experience some hesitations and an uneven idle.

My old Audi has an idle stabilisation valve - I'm not familiar with the Capri. On the Audi when the throttle by-pass passage starts getting clogged the ISV starts working overtime and hunting results. The correct way to set the throttle by-pass screw is by measuring the current though the ISV. (470mA IIRC)

PS, flog it and buy a 3.0S Capri, (like I once had) a tougher engine and a Weber carb:-)

Julian.

Reply to
Julian

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