Whoops should have been in this forum not general discussion!By way of introduction, I bought my first bay a fortnight ago, it was restored by the MD of a dealership and then he decided T2s werent for him so I picked it up at the classic Anglia auction. Shes a 1972 Crossdresser with a standard 1.6 engine, danbury pop top. I drove her 90miles back from Kings Lynn with no issue at all and since then she starts first time, for the last 2 weeks the engine sounded good and steady, but the other night I drove her to the pub and 1 hr later she wouldnt start. The starter wasnt turning the engine over..then later the engine turns over but still no start. I thought it was the coil. Ended up getting her towed to the garage and they are currently looking at it. They say there is a spark and she runs for 5mins then a sudden stop..their initial thought is that they tend to have cheap chinese carbs fitted and that maybe it. They are going to have a guy who knows about them to have a look. All thoughts please...
carbs ,where's the other one. You need to look at things when it stops ,probably a fuel issue (starvation)rather than the carb.. Nice van...
Beware the so called air cooled experts. Hopefully the garage would have some relevant knowledge. Its going to be a nice van for you, and don't be disappointed it has issues early on. Its all a learning process. As there is a spark, then its more likely to be fuel and suddenly stopping could be the carb float bowl is empty of fuel. I have experienced this myself. Maybe the carb fuel inlet needle valve is the culprit or maybe the fuel pump is not delivering fuel to the carb. Maybe also the fuel filter is bunged up with crud from the tank.. I assume there is new good fuel in the tank. Ultimately, at some point you would be wise to replace all fuel lines and tank breather hose pieces and locate a new fuel filter under the tank outlet and not in the engine bay. Now, you also said the starter wasn't turning over. That's a separate issue and we have all experienced that. If it were me, I would buy a new engine battery and clean up all wiring connections at the starter solenoid and clean up the battery terminals connectors and battery earth to the body and gearbox earth strap connections, corrosion is a common cause.
Welcom to the fold, very nice 'bus' As mgbman above says it is probable 'one' of them at fault. It is quite a learning curve at first but stick with it and dont forget to put together a emergency spares/tools kit to carry at all times. There is a post on here with all these suggested items.
Thanks all...helpful..it has a new battery and fuel lines...am thinking its fuel starv due to crud being pulled in due to the fuel gauge being wrong and running it low my mistake...theres prob only 2 gallons in it right now in the garage even though the fuel gauge says half a tank...would the fuel pump be to blame if it runs for 5mins?
new fuel lines? where is the fuel filter, is it new, any crud in it and is it out of the engine bay. is the carb float bowl clean or cruddy. you say probably 2 gallons in the tank but may be much less than that. you said new battery, is it charged fully? check with a multimeter, and did you clean up all those connections. mentioned it cos you said starter doesn't turn sometimes and that's not a fuel issue. do try to learn and do as much as you can yourself, or garage bills will mount up.
Another other way engines only run for 5 minutes is if the engine stop idle shutoff valve on the carburettor is closed. This can be due to fault or a missing or loose 12 volt feed to the solenoid on the back of the carburettor, hard to see in the photo of the rather tidy engine bay, but I can not see any wires coming to the rear of the carburettor. (some people though modify the shutoff valve if it is faulty so it stays open) While the choke is active the closure of the choke flap ensures that petrol is sucked in by the manifold vacuum. Once the flap opens up when the electrically heated bimetallic strip in the capsule on the right of the carburettor moves the flaps to open (about 5 to 10 mins..), the vacuum drops and the fuel stops being sucked in and the engine stops. The choke is cancelled by the heated bimetallic element. Also if the throttle is opened, the main jet provides fuel, and the choke is cancelled by a vacuum operated lever inside the carburettor. Otherwise it would just flood. The ways you can tell if this fault is present : When you turn the key from stop to run, the solenoid should click on the carburettor. If you hold the throttle open and keep the revs up to 'loud in the engine bay', the engine will continue running indefinitely. Number 2 happens because the shutoff does nothing when the carburettor is drawing fuel off the main jet instead of the idle jet. The main jet only comes into operation when pressing fairly hard on the accelerator. This can manifest as a bus that runs for 100 miles on the motorway and then grinds to a halt as you slow down at the services or leave the motorway. There should be two wires going to the carburettor from the left hand terminal of the ignition coil , the terminal with the big black wire on it. One goes to the flat disc on the right of the carburettor (choke heater) and the other to a cylinder on the rear of the carburettor (idle shutoff solenoid). If either of these is missing , they need to be fitted.
Sounds like fuel as all the folks above are saying ^^^ its fuel. The starter thing is separate again as said before. I got a great little test for fuel so that you can start to isolate the problem. Is it before or after the fuel pump ? Take the rotor arm out and put the cap back on. Take the fuel pipe off from the carb. Pop it into a clean 1.5 or 2 litre water bottle about an inch or so and lay it on its side. Hold the pipe into the end of the bottle and shout out "Now Darling Now! " Then your glamorous assistant will crank your motor for the agreed five seconds or until it hurts. Watch carefully through your ecstasy as your pump delivers its little vinegar stroke and if you've been a good boy, it should hit the bottom of the bottle (repeat bottle) If it is just a little jizzy drizzly spurt that trickles in an inch or so then we have an indicator. If it's hitting the bottom then all is good and your pump is indeed pumping a good and solid supply towards your receptacle or carby. If it's not satisfying this little test then the issue is the fuel pump itself or a blockage either in the tank or the pipe from the tank that is doing the damage and restricting your flow. Ozziedog,,,,,,,,,,nobody likes being restricted now do they
Thanks guys...The problem persists but in different form now... So the original problem was the float in the carb bowl was stuck...Thats been sorted but now..it starts first time and ticks over pretty steady but there is no guts in it at all on the drive..it only goes 10mph.. The guy at the garage says Mpi carbs are crap..I saw the carb on the bench and its literally like brand new..I watched the chap take the jets and valve out all spotless...and the float chamber was full of fuel so there's fuel getting in there any ideas peeps? Thanksssssssssss
He may be right . Doesn't really matter how clean it is inside, more a matter of whether EMPI drilled all the passageways in the right places... Has it got right jets in? Ignition timing ok? If you've got points, are they closing up? The engine runs, so you're almost there...
If it drove 90 miles back fine I doubt the carb is at fault Definitely not a problem with the passages not being drilled correctly. I ran one of the new style empi carbs before my bus came of the road and apart from a dodgy o ring on the adjuster screws it was faultless Points gap and timing are a good start along with a compression check
It could be something as simple as the carb sucking in air from one of the little intake pipes that suck in air and should be blocked off. When it's running carefully feel around the carb and if you feel suction block it off with your finger see if it keeps running then remove your finger see if the engine stops running or faulters if it does that's your problem and the answer block the tube with a little fuel pipe section with a bolt in the end to block it.
Thanks guys..appreciated..agreed..it was running like a dream before.. 90 miles didn't miss a beat..and several shorter runs.. what's weird is that when the garage gave it back the other day it was rough lacking in power first mile then ran fine..plenty of go..then took it out later that eve..and it had no power. The next morn was the same no power then after 10mins ran fine.. I was thinking it was something to do with the choke.. as it had power then none..am thinking it's not a compression issue as the power issue would be present all the time..no? They have not checked air supply..maybe the filters clogged up..maybe not.. Points are all clean and new and it runs ok standing..if it was timing or points would There are two blocked off tubes.. they are having another go at it tmz..I really want it back now...in my garage...may take time but am confident I could get to the bottom of it..I will get my head around these engines!!!!!
Interesting read on another fellas thread re the heat risers from inlet manifold being potentially blocked..I wonder if this is my problem..there is condensation on my carb and feels cold to touch even after it's been running for half hour... And loads of excess fuel going through the system on the gas meter..was 4000+ unused fuel going out the back door!!
