Had issues with my car hesitating after acceleration back to normal speed driving since i have had it (Bar 70 miles of the journey home from picking it up) Today changed all the plugs leads dizzy etc car is idling fine, let it warm upto temp, no problems, go for a drive, all seems good. after about ten minutes driving car dies. really difficult to restart, then wont rev past about 2k and sounds like tractor. if you try and pull away it just dies, or kangaroos at about ten miles an hour. (Had symptoms yesterday with different ignition items, changed to see if they are the problem)

Engine is 1.6 pinto bored to 2073 with dizzy and rotor arm fitted. car had done 7000 trouble free miles till the day i picked it up. Cleaned all the carb jets, cleaned and ran without fuel filter still no joy. was going to take to a rolling road to get looked at but looks like a trailer job to get there at the minute. Anyone any ideas, or close enough to come and have a gander?? Thanks in advance.

isnt that just running rich? I had the exact same problem with mine, and was told those were symptoms of running rich.

Is the ignition coil OK, and the resistor thing on the side of the dizzy (forgotten what its called) that can cause lots of problems, Points set up OK? Not burnt out, if the resistor thing is knackered I believe this will happen!

Maybe, not thought of that, odd that it should run fine for 70 miles then either like a bag of spanners or not at all, surely the mixture cant change that easily.

Melly, need to change the coil to eliminate that, dizzy and rotor arm seem fine. just a matter of elimination i guess. May try and get it to my mechanic when i get back from my next job away, thats if i can get it to drive that far.

[Edited on 10/11/10 by chrisxr2]

Could it still be the coil breaking down as it gets hot?

Aye maybe, edited post as hadnt read your previous reply properly.

quote:

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Originally posted by melly-g
Could it still be the coil breaking down as it gets hot?

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Is it OK again once its cooled down, untill it's warned up again? Check the valve clearence.

...and that "resistor thing" is the condenser (which is actualy a capacitor)

I'd check the coil first too.
Sounds like a textbook case to me

Start with checking the basicsbeginning with the valve clearances which are normally done cold on a Pinto lump . Can a 1.6 lump be bored to 2.1? Suspect it's probably a 2 lt lump to start with. Does it have electronic ignition , points with or without ballast resistor ? Is the distributor timed correctly? retarded ignition will cause symptoms like yours

Hi
I have worked on and raced many pintos and one thing they often do (which gives the same symptoms as your car) is jump a tooth on the timing pulley. I would check the ignition timing first then coil and condensor as said before.
Good luck
Gary

Thanks everyone. Off to france working for 10 days tommorow, a good list of things to be looking at when i get back.

Rusty, started life as a 1.6, was injection, now carb with dizzy and rotor arm.

[Edited on 10/11/10 by chrisxr2]

I had similar symptoms due to blocked jets in carb !

You can't bore a 1.6 to 2037, surely you have porous bores

keith i have cleaned all the carb jets numerous times, i am fairly sure it isnt that as that was my first thought unless there is some professional way of getting them cleaned. I just used a load of carb cleaner, on all the jets including the idle jet on both carbs, no end of times cleaned. Will do them again along with all other suggestions though.

Hi,
just a thought. I had some similar problems with a golf GTi. Replacing the fuel filter did the trick.

Donny

"Engine is 1.6 pinto bored to 2073"

can you actually bore a 1.6 pinto block that far ???

" car had done 7000 trouble free miles till the day i picked it up"

do you know this for certain?, or is it just what the previous owner told you ?


what colour are your plugs ?, have you done a compression test ?, is your timing correct ?

Ray

if not the coil check you haven't got crap floating about in the tank, if there isn't a filter on the end of the pick up pipe it can partly block it. You could try running on a jerry can if it's difficult to see in the tank

Is there a vent to let air into the fuel tank. Whip the filler cap off next time it happens. If there is a great suck of air on removal add a tank vent.

dusty there is a vent to the fuel tank, no whooshing on cap removal.
Rayward have taken what previous owner said at face value, seemed a genuine guy (Although not returning my messages now) regular on the haynes forum and respected member so no reason not to trust him. Timing and compression to be checked. Plugs removed where all black and sooty.
Donny have cleaned and replaced the fuel filter a couple of times.
Dings not had chance to check tank yet.


Thanks all hopefull get it sorted on my return.

black sooty plugs means running too rich

they should be clean and a light grey or brown colour:
found this pic on google to show you what I mean linky

does the carb have an automatic ckoke ?

[Edited on 11/11/2010 by mcerd1]

Another thing to check - low tension lead from coil to distributor.

My scimitar used to cut out randomly under load on long journeys (always after travelling some 50miles without fault). It would coast to a stop and the engine would then idle ok but splutter on revving or it simply wouldn't start for 5 mins or so. It eventually turned out to be a break in the low tension wire where it crossed from inner wheel arch to engine above the exhaust. I had already replaced the carb, distributor, coil, plugs, leads, fuel tank breather, fuel lines and filter and still not cured it. It was only by chance i knocked the low tension lead whilst the engine was running and it instantly spluttered.

I know how frustrating the tracking down of a problem can be - good luck!

dunno about down there but up here with the current weather situation ( in the past) I have seen carbs icing up inside before. this causes them to over fuel ( almost like running with the choke on.)

mcerd, plugs looked like the top middle picture on the haynes picture. Twin weber 40s with i believe autochoke.

Jimmyjoe bob, that is a good call and another one on the list
Re: iKnow problems are hard to track down i just wish i had done more than 70 miles in the car before i had had one and that was half the journey home (Rest was on a low loader) not actually had a good drive out in the car since i have owned it.

quote:

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Originally posted by chrisxr2
not actually had a good drive out in the car since i have owned it.

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Have you got a fuel pressure regulator? When I changed to an electric fuel pump I had exactly the same problem, until I fitted a regulator

went out and had another look at car earlier, seemed the new dizzy had a bit knocked of two of the terminals, tried a new one went for a run, idleing etc seems ok, car still has original problem.

Giving the beans its fine, slowing back down to normal driving you have to pump the pedal to keep the car going as the revs slowly drop, occasionly springs back to life and off like a scalded cat, also sometimes when coming to a stop just dies. Will go back to original posted problem thread and try to track that problem down as hopefully this one is sorted. (HE SAYS HOPEFULLY) Thanks all you are an exceptionally friendly helpful bunch.

i had similar issues on a pinto. One time was blocked fuel filter, but you say you have tried without. Is there only one?
Another time was failing sierra electronic ingition module, but i guess you dont have that.

As said already, check everything timing wise is OK. Id suspect electrical problem before suspecting fuelling in the early stages. What do plugs look like? is one a different colour?

i also had a similar problem on an old Golf i rebuilt. Fitted 16V engine into Mk1 GTi. Everything was great until a couple of months after having an immobiliser fitted. Tried all sorts to repair it, including chucking money at a golf specialist. In the end it was the immobiliser wiring. The feed wire to fuel pump was too small causing fuel feed starvation. Thicker wire = problem solved.


A neighbour had similar issue to yours with a vintage car. He made a fuel tank. Used sealing compound when fitting pipes and sender etc. Some of the sealant (rubbery stuff) came off in tank and caused partial intermittent blockages.

[Edited on 17/11/10 by DarrenW]