nova 1.4lux needs urgent help!!!!please

[darrenh1975]

hi guys my mrs has a h reg nova 1.4 lux just b4 xmas the head gasket went so we did that along with exhaust gaskets and valve stem oil seals .We also put new air filter ,plugs, new rotor arm and dizzy cap and a 2nd hand carb as the choke was shot on the original one after all this it ran great up until a week ago when she was going round a roundabout and it just lost power and died .she managed to start it again and it was fine. We had snow on tuesday this week and she didnt want to drive our son to school so i took them and wednesday she was back in the nova.When she got home she said it was running really lumpy and her words it sounded like a chunook helicopter.I took it out today and it seems that its missfiring all the time and when it had warmed up i got to a junction just started to pull out and it died ,no matter how much throttle you give it it just stalls.i got it going and got back home but it is stinking of petrol and still running like pooh any help would be much appreciated as we are getting fed up with it now please please somebody help us.

[craig green]

Could well be carb icing. Novas are known for this esp this time of year. The air being drawn through the carb can be subject to extreme wind chill factor & actually freezes in the carb. Even though the engine is hot etc it can still freeze.

I had it once on my old 1.2, it would drive fine & I did about 50 miles that particular day, but it just would not idle @ junctions etc.

I had no idea it was iced up but it was OK a couple days later & it never did it again.

See what other peeps say, yours could be iced but not necessarily suffering the same symptoms as mine did due to the difference in carbs.

btw; search for carb icing.

[Matt2107]

Maybe the carb needs a clean.

[dannyb]

Maybe the carb needs a clean.

This would be my response too. Is the battery charging and the coil working ok?

[tom reid]

If you can smell petrol, you might want to check the mixture.

[darrenh1975]

thanks for the ideas guys have cleaned the carb out really well another friend said it could be the carb icing up but surely it wouldnt be running on 3 as soon as i start it i was wondering if the coil could be on its way out how can i test it.also the smell of petrol is only after its cut out and you have to give it full throttle to get it to even atempt to start again

[craig green]

Fuel leak? from a hose?

[darrenh1975]

no there are no fuel pipe leaks checked them how can i test the coil to see if its failing. As it seams tobe running on 3 from start up could it be the coil not putting a big enuff current to the dizzy then by the time it gets to the plugs there is not a big enuff spark ????

[dannyb]

The coil is held on by two bolts with screw fixtures on them, so it is easy to borrow a healthy one from a mate to check if its your coil on the blink. They usually cost about ?15-20 from a motor factors if you dont know anyone with one, or if you live in West Sussex, you can come and have one of my spare ones!!

[darrenh1975]

one thing i have been wondering about is if the leads are in the correct order as when we did the head gasket after that it didnt seem to sound right what is the firing order for a nova 1.4 and on the cap which post is number one i think we got it set that the post nearest the diaphram on top is number 1 is this right(hence it sounds like a chinook helicopter) this is the last thing i can think off and my mrs has lost all faith in it now and wants something else but ide rather try to sort it out

[Adam]

Top right lead is number one.
It goes 1-3-4-2 in a Anti clockwise direction on the cap.

[darrenh1975]

ok ive checked the leads on the dizzy cap they are all in the right order so any other geusses why its running on 3 when we start it and when its driven

[Adam]

Dodgy leads?
plugs?

[darrenh1975]

all the leads are in the correct order but still seams to be running on 3 any other ideas all leads look fine dont think they are that old