Hi All, Hello to you all, my van is Rocky, a 1975 Devon Eurovette which is in excellent condition with a newly reconditioned 1600 engine (3000miles). We have recently driven approx 800 miles through france without a problem at all. He ran perfectly all the time. I got a reasonable 22mpg on the trip. This weekend we went out for a little run and he was very hesitant when we started off. I checked the plugs and they were very sooty (not surprising with the inefficiency of these engines) and he ran fine once warm. I am thinking that the problem might be to do with the auto choke mechanism. What is the normal symptoms when the auto choke starts to fail? It almost feels like it's running on three when it happens. Ignition is electronic and timed correctly. Could these symptoms be the auto choke? Any advice welcome!
I get the same symptoms with three cylinders firing at first - and four after about 500m of driving. This is with a new carburettor. I did have autochoke failure with the 34PICT-3 - the rivet loosened inside the choke heater connecting the resistance wire to the tag and the connection was bad. A quick bang with a centre punch and it worked well again. Also leaving the wire off completely sometimes didnt help. I now have a new carburettor with a working electric choke and kept the problem from before .. I asked SGS Aircooled to check this problem out and basically it seems the sooty plugs dont work well until the engine warms up. Try fitting new plugs - if its like mine it will run beautifully for a couple of starts and go back to its old tricks again with the soot buildup. Once it is warm the engine runs fine and takes the bus up to 75mph on the flat.
It may well be the choke not coming off after a few minutes - the engine will feel constipated & flubbery as the mixture's far too rich. Sooty plugs aren't normal - should be nice light brown. Have a read up on the auto choke - plenty of posts on here & elsewhere.
Many thanks to both of you for the info. It sounds like I am on the right lines re investigating the auto choke. I will do some more research!
