1.0 Cutting out

[Leeboo]

Ok this is maybe a similar thread to Novalad's recent one, but involves a different engine etc.

My 1.0 ohv has been going flawlessly for ages but tonight, while I was spinning about town, it suddenly took notions of cutting out after a while, even whilst driving, e.g. changing gear, it would give a chug/and die or just cut out smoothly. Also, pulled up at someones house to let them out, and she cut out whilst trying to idle.

The car is still very easy to start and runs fine when its not cutting out.

Any ideas? Thanks in advance.

[meritlover]

fuel starvation, blocked filter, blocked main jet, fuel pump fault, carb icing

vacuum advance stuck, timing out,


have a nice sunday

[burgo]

check your contact breaker (points) gaps and condition. better still renew it anyway as they only cost a couple of quid, whilst your there do the condensor aswell

[Leeboo]

Thanks guys, I have came to the conclusion that it was the K&N in wet conditions as its ok with the airbox on.

I have had an excellent sunday so far meritlover.

[Leeboo]

:( Turns out the airbox didn't sort this problem.

The car is doing this again, it just chugs and cuts out, I have to start it again with the clutch in whilst on the road, using throttle. It just hesitiates really really badly and dies. I thought I'd ran out of petrol in town today, luckily I had a petrol can in the boot, got some petrol, poured it in, and hey presto the car dies again.

Burgo I will order the points tomorrow. I replaced them about 2500-3000 miles ago to cure starting problems.

How do I carry out the checks that meritlover has kindly stated?

Thanks.

[General Baxter]

with the rain we have at the moment, and where the dissy is on the 1L, i say dry it out lol

[Leeboo]

Cheers for the quick reply, just take off the cap and dry it out yea?

[General Baxter]

yeah just try it lol

[Leeboo]

I'll try anything lol thanks

[Leeboo]

I've tried what Baxter said. Started the car up, it was fine at first, but took it for a drive, and now it can't even go 1 mile out the road until it dies again. It just lets off and I have no throttle response at all. I had to stop, and I eventually got it started when the throttle decided to work. Should the throttle cable going to the carb be slack when the car is turned off/no throttle engaged? I haven't a clue.

Any advice is welcome. Its a daily drive so I will try anything to sort the problem.

Thanks.

[burgo]

throttle cable is usually slack yes but that will make no difference to the engine not running properly

[Leeboo]

Thanks Burgo, thats one thought cleared up!

She just loses all throttle! Thats only how I can describe it. Then after a while it decides to engage again. :confused:

[Leeboo]

Could this problem be what meritlover suggested? A faulty fuel pump? Only working intermittantly? As the problem has got worse since when it started.

[burgo]

check it. you need to get a jar or something to catch the fuel. then take the fuel feed pipe of the carb and start it to see if you get a consistent and strong flow of fuel. there will be enough fuel in the carb to do this

[Leeboo]

Thanks alot, that might be the problem!

I will check later when I get home, and report news!

[coombsey]

my 1.0 did this changed points condensor plugs leads and cap turndout the diaphram in the carbhas worndrove brilliant whenit wantedand did what the had explained other times changed carb was brilliant after

[burgo]

my 1.0 did this changed points condensor plugs leads and cap turndout the diaphram in the carbhas worndrove brilliant whenit wantedand did what the had explained other times changed carb was brilliant afteri assume you dont check your posts before you post them?

[Leeboo]

Burgo I never checked the fuel pump yet, because the car runs and revs perfectly on the driveway. That would mean I have a constant flow of petrol? The car only seems to die on the road mostly. Is this still worth checking?? Thanks again.

[burgo]

Burgo I never checked the fuel pump yet, because the car runs and revs perfectly on the driveway. That would mean I have a constant flow of petrol? The car only seems to die on the road mostly. Is this still worth checking?? Thanks again.yes but sitting on the drive it requires hardly any fuel compared to when its under load

[Leeboo]

So you mean that I could still tell if it has a constant flow or not whilst it idleing? It could still be lumpy? Sorry if I sound like a noob.

[burgo]

its more of how strong the flow is. as if its warn out or the diaphragm is buggered then it wont pump enough

[Leeboo]

Ok sorry to keep you going but what is a diaphragm? Is that inside the fuel pump? So if there isn't a strong flow, I could start off by replacing the pump? :)

[burgo]

yes the diaphragm is the part that pumps the fuel within the pump. check it and see what you think and then decide if you need a new pump or not

[Leeboo]

Thanks you've been a wealth of knowledge! lol :thumb:

[burgo]

Thanks you've been a wealth of knowledge! lol :thumb:its not fixed yet lol

[Leeboo]

:wtf: Sssh.

Oh just had a thought too:

The car dies after driving a short distance (few hundred yards), this might mean that the the car is driving on whatever fuel has gathered in the carb before driving off, and once that runs out, it dies? Pointing at a weak flow?

Not looking at it til the morning so still thinking of insane ideas.

[burgo]

:wtf: Sssh.

Oh just had a thought too:

The car dies after driving a short distance (few hundred yards), this might mean that the the car is driving on whatever fuel has gathered in the carb before driving off, and once that runs out, it dies? Pointing at a weak flow?

Not looking at it til the morning so still thinking of insane ideas.thats what im thinking. it runs on the fuel in the bowl but the pump cant replenish it quick enough.

[Leeboo]

Ok will be checking early in the morning so i can order a new pump if needs be, thanks!!

[Leeboo]

Ok I checked the petrol flow yesterday morning and it was fine, consistent with idle from cam etc. So I was puzzled. I didn't chance the car to work yesterday, but I had a look around the car last night and it started and drove fine, I spun about for a while.

This made me think that everything was fine, so I drove to work this morning (7 or 8 miles), and whala, the car dies about half a mile from work, on a busy 3 lane bridge. It wouldn't start again so i pushed it to a safe place. I walked on to work and went down and towed it up to work later on with my mates astra, turn ignition on to stop steering lock from engaging, and smoke started to rise through the dashboard :eek: . So obviously its and electrical problem. The car was shorting, the below pictures show where the wires have damaged. So I have come to the conclusion that the cause/sign is above the wiper motor, and the tell tale was some wires singing under the dash!

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd139/leeberto/SP_A1546.jpg

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd139/leeberto/SP_A1547.jpg

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd139/leeberto/SP_A1548.jpg

One of the wires was black coated, and the other was coated with clear stuff? And they joined at a certain point?

I will strip the black tape off till I find the end of the damage, and wrap the offending wires throughly and individually in good insulation tape! Its all I can do!

What might have caused this?

Sorry for the essay.

[burgo]

you really need to trace where those wires are going

[Leeboo]

Good god, thats going to be awfully annoying!:(

Does this ever happen as a one off?

[burgo]

thing is you havnt cured why it was smoking? so next time it could be worse.

[Leeboo]

Well the smoke was coming from a different place from the damage, if you know what I mean? It made wires heat up somewhere else.

But you mean I should try to find out why the wires stripped/damaged in the first place?

[burgo]

Well the smoke was coming from a different place from the damage, if you know what I mean? It made wires heat up somewhere else.

But you mean I should try to find out why the wires stripped/damaged in the first place?err yes. smokey wires shouldnt be messed with or you could end up with a chared car

[Leeboo]

Grrrrrrrrrr I will have to trace the wires, only thing for it! Damn!

Cheers again

[meritlover]

if its smoking with the ign on, it could be the ballast resistor in the condenser circuit. if its shorted out or bypassed then with the points closed, the ign will be a dead short burning your condenser points and coil.

[Leeboo]

Good grief, I got lost half way through that mate! I'm not quite as experienced.

It only smokes sometimes, only when the car is really, really hard to start (the engine bites, giving the start up rev and dies straight away). But then at other times it start and drives fine with no smoke. I've disconnected the battery and stripped the black tape off around the area where the wires are damaged.

I was just going to try to trace the dodgy wires to their location and see what the cause is?

Thanks.

[meritlover]

it mus be caused by something on the ign circuit, try disconnecting the alternator wires (remember the thick one is direct to the battery) so disconnect it. then start the car.

when the charging circuit is energising it might be pulling down the voltage to the coil and killing the spark....also pulling enough current to cause smoke.

if it runs fine with it disconnected its the alternator or a bad earth. if not....its something else.

what colour are the burned wires? (and do not be the one that is funny and say black) lol

[Leeboo]

lol Ok thanks.

Well one is black coated (seriously), and the other has a clear coating. These wires are related as they merge (from factory, not just from damage).

Does this help?

[burgo]

:mad: i cant remember where they go. its gonna wind me up. infact i may go and look

[Leeboo]

I got a feeling of excitement as I read the end of your last post Burgo:D .

Carlsberg don't do legends, but.....

[burgo]

ill have to look tomoz. im not aloud out to the garage at the mo

[Leeboo]

Your a saviour cheers mate!

[meritlover]

lol Ok thanks.

Well one is black coated (seriously), and the other has a clear coating. These wires are related as they merge (from factory, not just from damage).

Does this help?

its probably the ign feed to the coil and the alternator charging circuit. but id have to look. it cant be that serious, the 1.0l only needs 2 wires to run.

[Leeboo]

I just took the dash off this evening to get good access at the loom, the clear coated wire is singed/burnt all the way in really. I haven't traced the wire yet but you are most probably right meritlover!

Thanks

[meritlover]

why not disconnect the wiring harnes and power them up straight from the battery. if it runs then the fault is in the wiring on the car side.

[Leeboo]

As usual, I don't understand lol sorry. I'm a bit of a noob with actual electrics!

You mean disconnect the loom? Where?

Power off the battery????

Your instructions are probabaly clear to someone who has experience but unfortunately I'm not that person :p .

Just seeing what I can do before I get my friend/mechanic to look at it!

Thanks

[meritlover]

theres only a single black multi plug that powers the engine. one pin for the starter solenoid, one for the ign and the alternator. the thick one is for the battery charging and starter circuit.

by disconnecting the plug and running a core from the + of the battery post to the pins (first the starter and ign together, then removing the starter wire). it will start and run.

however since you are unsure, and you have burned wiring anyway, you would be aswell leaving it for the mechanic.

[Leeboo]

Ah ok well yeah I'm not 100% sure so when he comes round to help me with it, I will suggest what you have said!

Thanks a million mate!