Awaiting yellow taxi - again!

I can't believe this is happening again. I've just done over 1000 miles on my new engine and my van has started playing up. I'm not getting full power. Not sure if it's the points or what but tbh I'm not in a position to check. Even if I could I couldn't reset the timing myself. Grrr. I'm
Nowhere near home (I've come off the m5 near gloucester) and am supposed to be going to a car show tomorrow near Birmingham. Best I can hope for now is to be home by 2. I was gonna lay up at a services until morning then go to this show. Looks like another disaster! Hopefully AA man won't be too long, though at this time I don't expect there'll be many around.

 

Should be a few about as your not far from Busfest (Malvern), would have thought there would be a fleet of them there. Hope you get sorted mate!! Hope its summat simple (and cheap!)

 

It better had be. I've spent enough on this heap this last month! I suspect something in the ignition system but I'm not good enough to be sure.

 

Bad news mate hope you get sorted on the spot.

 

Points? Bin that load of old rubbish and go electronic.
Hope its nothing too bad, maybe the aa man will get you on your way?

 

Haha. Just checked on my AA tracker ap and the patrol is heading down the M5 from Malvern. Looks like @Dicky was right!

I was told points were better than electronic ignition but am willing to be sold on the idea. They're a pain in the ass on a type 4 engine. You can't see them to adjust properly.

 

Go electronic, but carry a spare set of points & condensors just in case.

 

If your looking at swapping your ignition then get an ignition system of a type 3 (25) 2 litre - its factory and its electronic, and its reliable. Been running that set up for 10 years or so. But then again originally I had the rest of the engine in there too! It never budges!! You need the dissy, coil and ignition unit.

 

FFS .sorry to her neptune blue
Hope its a simple fix

 

How did you get on @Neptuneblue ??

 

were you going via france?

 

What fuel pump have you. Got

 

...and a spare carb, transaxle, o/s/f cab door, windscreen, pound of sausages etc

 

Only just been able to update, for some reason couldn't connect to late bay on my phone earlier. What a night!

First AA man turned up about 30 mins after call and after much faffing decided the misfire I was experiencing was likely due to a fouled plug - he cleaned it (after we had dropped it through the tinware) and replaces and - to be fair - it did run better so I ploughed on but eventually I realised the problem was back with a vengeance . Re-called AA (by this time it was well past 4am). Second mechanic arrived (from an associated garage) and messes about - I lead him to my theory about the points being wrongly set (earlier guy had decided that wasn't the case as the misfire was specific to one cylinder). So second guy attends to points - after deciding my battery lead was loose and did some bizarre fix to the connection which in actual fact wasn't a problem at all! Anyway his adjustment (albeit rough) to the points got me going - though I now need to have the timing completely checked etc. and replace the points. I have eventually made it home - albeit I spent the day at a very nice classic car show at Himley Hall, Staffs with some mates. Some really fab cars there, but very few VW's - that said several nice campers in the parking area. The journey back was a bit scary as I wasn't sure the AA man's fix would be enough but it was.

I've thought quite a bit about what to do. Mine is a Type 4 2litre (CU) engine and the dizzy is in a very awkward position to actually see the points. This alone makes me think an electronic ignition system would be a huge benefit. Getting a T25 set up also makes sense as the engine is really a T25 unit. I'm not sure I have the confidence to actually fit a distributor though - but nothing ventured etc.... My coil is new, does it have to be different to the one I have?

I have no idea tbh...

 

Get a dissy and if your bus is running well enough why not come to techenders. Dissy will get fitted and timed if thats what ye want to do. and best of all no-one will actually do it for you but you will get told exactly how to do it and get bailed out when you cock it up! just a thought.

 

Unfortunately I will be working that weekend I would have done that I think. I'll manage one way or another I guess. I'm quite interested in one of those kits you put in a standard dizzy instead of points. However as both AA men recommended I replace dizzy cam and rotor arm plus points which are now prob shagged as were closed! then I am half way to buying a whole thing... I need some sleep to mull over what to do next. I want to learn how to set the timing properly too so I ned to get a strobe / dwell meter I guess. I'm determined not to keep paying garages.

 

What were the symptoms btw.

 

Basically it started as underpowered on hills then what I would call rough running but not at idle. That seemed to get much worse last night, noticeable when coming to slow down and the power just dropped and it sounded like firing on 3 cylinders and even ran rough at idle. My instinct said it was ignition related, I had had a similar issue once before and the mechanic sorted that by checking the points. The same thing had happened as this time, the points had closed.

It seems that there are some issues in having contact breaker points that could be eliminated by an electronic system. There are those though that for various reasons don't like the electronic ignition systems on these engines. I don't know .

 

Blimey, what a nightmare for you. Hope you get it all sorted quickly and as painless as possible.

 

People who don't like EE may have had one fail. I've never heard of this myself unless you plug it in the wrong way and I suspect a few have done just that then covered their embarressment by dissing the unit. Cheap as chip, never worry about your timing again, one less thing to fiddle with. Win, win.