hi guys Been in here for ages but only lurking, not posting but need the tlb's advice. 71 crossover, standard 1600 with points. Setting back to Skipton from a few days in Northumberland this morning, engine stalls (never missed a beat in 4 years) and wouldn't start. Traced (I think) to a stuck fuel cut off (no noise when ignition on and wire touched to it. Oil at this point was fine- I'd just topped up to go home) opened choke manually to let some air through and started. Drove 10 miles ish and making an odd tapp/knock sound from rhs of engine bay. Thought tappets may be loose but only limited tools. Popped rocker covers off. All looked ok but no gauges to set. Drove a few miles to a1 to get phone signal and called breakdown (not here yet!) popped rocker cover off again. Thin oil poured out so closed again. Oil may have gone up ever so slightly but negligible amount and dosent smell of petrol but does appear thin. I've got my first wedding booking for this year next sat so pretty worried (I restored van over 2.5 years - weddings should hopefully get me some cash back! ) Any suggestions anyone? Could the stuck open fuel cut off cause the oil to thin so much to cause the knock? If it's that thin,, why is it only tapping/knocking once per engine rotation. No loss of power, engine not hot. Thanks in advance Tom, child, and an annoyed wife!
Unlikely, as the solenoid's not actually a fuel cutoff - it just shuts off the idle circuit in the carb. If it's not working though, your engine won't idle. Try unscrewing it and stuffing a bit of chewing gum over the hole (seriously).
Thanks snotty! An odd suggestion but I will give it a go! Breakdown trucks nearly here. Il update after he has had a look. Engine idling and pulling fine, just dosent sound like the kind of noise I want to do 150 miles with.
Update- breakdown bloke suggesting tappets- no gauges to check so on big yellow taxi home (save a tank of fuel I suppose)! As far as I can think it's got to be that or piston ring or something stupid like the fan weight but def from rhs of engine. Very little power to drive up onto recovery truck, apparently loads of smoke out of the exhaust when it drove up but I was ragging it. Will get home (eventually- got to get one truck to scotch corner and another home), set tappets. (Find tdc first as no marks) and see what happens after that. Just hope I can get it sorted for next weekends wedding booking! Thanks Tom, child and even more annoyed wife.
Normal operating temperature oil is thinner than cold oil. Loss of power can be the rocker arm nuts coming undone reducing power gently over a couple of miles. It can also simply be flooding , the usual cause being crud stirred up in the system, even bits of rubber released by connecting new pipes downstream of the fuel filter , this blocks the fuel metering valve in the carb. Stopping it from shutting off so it chugs to a flooded halt as you slow from a fast run , with lots of black smoke when you finally start it. Added to this the new shiny fuel pump almost certainly pushes a bit too much pressure to make the flooding worse. 34PICT-3 Carb service kits have new needle valves. Look for black bits in the float chamber as they will be rubber. Get rid of them and clean out the carb as it may then switch from too rich to too lean as the dirt migrates to the jets and that can be more fatal as the engine runs lean and hotter.
It's a bit late now, but if the cut off solenoid packs up, you can just snap the plunger bit of the end and screw it back in to get you home. As said, oil is pretty thin when warmed up, so that's probably a red herring. Agree that checking valve gaps should be first port of call.
Thanks mikedjames. I think your right with the oil and it was just me having a panic with it appearing thin as breakdown guy couldn't smell petrol in it either. It was leaking some petrol from the spindle bush on the carbs when pumping it a few times but only a bit and the wife's beetle has done that for years if pumped without it running. Home-tappets- hope. That's my Plan
Morning tlb This mornings update- Reset valve clearances, number 2 was well out with one a bit tight and the other very loose. Set them all. Turned over by hand a few times and couldn't feel anything "wrong" so fired up. No more tapping noise!! Missing to start with and loads of smoke, that cleared out and running ok. Too early for a test drive so cleaned up spark plugs and re set breaker gap in the dizzy. Hard to start when cold (smoky and rough) but when warm ran really well, drove and idled fine. Letting it cool and will give it another go. I'm hoping as suggested above that crud has got into the carb so that will get a clean out and a new fuel filter. This mornings question suggested by my "phone a friend" (my dad) is what if I have bent one of the pushrods, then adjusted the clearances to compensate? Will this work for a while and then just snap? Is it easy enough to take them out to check? Anyone had experience of this before? Thanks for all your help so far
Engine out,head off job on a 1600 I'm afraid, sounds possible valve problem rather than pushrod is my guess but same job. I'd run it for a bit see how it goes.
