2 Door running rough

[ElliotCC]

Had a bad experience at local specialist, Roverworks, on my 78 2 door. They did a total carby overhaul (10 hours labour) and welded a new rear cross member.

During the welding they removed the old tank, as you would, then reinstalled it on completion of the welding. The trouble is they stirred up all the crap from the tank which then subsequently fed in to my nice new overhauled carbies...runs like a bag of bones now, when I asked why they didn't flush the tank before reinstalling I was met with no reasonable response other than i didn't ask them to so the didn't.

My question is, from an informed bunch of experts that you are, what steps should I take to rectify the dirty carbs/lines. I'm not taking it back to them, I'm sure with some advice from you guys I can sort this myself.

Cheers in advance.

Elliot

[Meccles]

My brother in law has told me of his experience's at Roverworks with his D3. He was not complimentary.

[ElliotCC]

It's sad but true, I have a number of issues with them over my 2 door...such a shame because there are plenty of Landy/Rangie guys down here but only one so called specialist...

It came out in a worst state than it went in....and apparently that's my job to rectify.. ;(

[bee utey]

The carbies wouldn't have any crap in them if the vehicle had been fitted with a suitable fuel filter. I like using the steel cased EFI fuel filters, e.g. Ryco Z200, that have 8mm hose type fittings. As for the tank and lines, I suggest you take out the tank and flush it properly, then blow the lines out forwards before you install the filter. Cleaning out the carbies shouldn't be much of a problem so long as you have a workshop manual or other suitable instructions on hand. It's about getting the crap out of the float chambers, the main jet and the needle and seat, not exactly a complicated task.

[ElliotCC]

Thanks for the advice. I have a manual and will tackle the job with your advice in mind. One thing I'm aware of is the black art of balancing these twin carbs...would playing around as advised require them to be rebalanced or am I staying clear of that area of the carbies?

[DoubleChevron]

Did it run ok when you first picked it up ? I'm betting they buggered up the carbies ..... I can't see how dirty fuel would upset an SD carby so long as the needle and seat continued to work. You see it would probably clear out any junk in the carbies fuel circuit if you gave it full throttle.

seeya,
Shane L.

[PLR]

G`day ,

if it has the early carbs ?

The first thing i`d do is undo the bottoms off the fuel bowls where the main jet adjustment is done and see how much and what sort of gunk is in the carbs .

The fuel pump if factory will have a filter/strainer fitted as well from the factory there should be 1 of 3 types of filter fitted before the carbs

I`d think it odd for rust etc to get past the filter into the bowls more likely to block the filter and stop flow at the pump of before carbs .

Coarse having been around a while it could have anything or nothing fitted .


How and when does it run like a bag of bones a good description makes guessing what it may be more valid .

[ElliotCC]

It ran perfectly fine before, the reason I had the carbies done was as a matter of course, I didn't know the history of the maintenance so thought nice new clean floats and needles etc would be a good thing to do...

The rough running is only apparent on acceleration, idle in the driveway no issue..hit the gas and it begins to splutter...try and drive and it struggles to accelerate.... I have not made any attempt to diagnose as been busy with the disco 2 (does it ever end?).

The only facts I have at the moment are the admittance from the garage that it was the result of the tank removal....

[bee utey]

It ran perfectly fine before, the reason I had the carbies done was as a matter of course, I didn't know the history of the maintenance so thought nice new clean floats and needles etc would be a good thing to do...

The rough running is only apparent on acceleration, idle in the driveway no issue..hit the gas and it begins to splutter...try and drive and it struggles to accelerate.... I have not made any attempt to diagnose as been busy with the disco 2 (does it ever end?).

The only facts I have at the moment are the admittance from the garage that it was the result of the tank removal....
Sounds like nothing more than a blocked fuel filter. Get underneath, trace the fuel pipe from the tank to the fuel pump and the engine, a filter should be present somewhere. Then buy another one and fit it. It really is that simple, carbies with gunk in them don't generally idle correctly. You could ask the garage to do it, they would have it done inside 1/2 an hour. They might even do it for good will, if you have been polite to them.

[ElliotCC]

Will get under the bonnet tomorrow and have a butchers. Not taking it back to Roverworks, it's just a principle thing.

[PLR]

It ran perfectly fine before, the reason I had the carbies done was as a matter of course, I didn't know the history of the maintenance so thought nice new clean floats and needles etc would be a good thing to do...

The rough running is only apparent on acceleration, idle in the driveway no issue..hit the gas and it begins to splutter...try and drive and it struggles to accelerate.... I have not made any attempt to diagnose as been busy with the disco 2 (does it ever end?).

The only facts I have at the moment are the admittance from the garage that it was the result of the tank removal....

G`day Elliot .

I`d suggest before you buy anything you can do some checks for the cost of a bit of time or you could just buy new bits to eliminate , your choice .

It has an electric fuel pump , if you look at the left carb it will have the main fuel feed going to it and a branch across to the right carb .

If you remove the main feed and place the pipe in a bottle you can judge from the flow the amount of blockage of the carb filter and or the pump filter . To do this it would be best to remove/unclip the starter solenoid wire so the key can be turned on without the engine rotating .

To decide if the problem is lack of fuel or too much fuel , take it out for a short drive , warm it up , drive at the revs that it plays up , drive back home playing up . Pull some spakplugs out and note the colour .

The tank being removed and running poorly don`t necessarily go together it could be many things , it may be worth lifting the bonnet when dark and have a look at the leads , if there`s a light show going on it may be a faulty lead .

It`s a bit hard to know if your running rough is a miss or cylinder dropping out or similar , leads and caps etc will often show as rough running when under load .

I am not suggesting you replace any of the ignition parts unless you can find a fault .

Just to know does your RR use points ?

[justinc]

I would also check that they haven't played with the timing. Retarded ignition timing also behaves like leanness.

Try it at 9 or 10 BTDC the low comp engines love a bit of advance...😎

Jc

[ElliotCC]

Thanks PLR, I can't drive it as it is a resto project and I have stripped the thing down to just the one driver seat, no glass or rear doors etc...I tried to drive it up and down the street when I first got it back, struggled to drive with all the stuttering etc...will try out what you have suggested, minus the driving around to warm it up....

[ElliotCC]

Easy there......checking timing? Advancing BTDC...that's electrics....me only use hammers and spanners...

[DoubleChevron]

I pulled the carbs off my '85 Rangie and cleaned them up and stuck a kit through them ............... and couldn't get the damn thing to run right. It leaned out and felt to be knocking away on 4 whenever I opened the throttle. It took me pulling the carbs off about 1/2 dozen times ( Some serious :wallbash: :wallbash: :wallbash: was happening ). Finally I went back to basics and stripped the bastards back down and started from scratch. Nothing wrong, I worked my way back through one of the carbies and pulled the needle seat and blasted back through the carb housing with air and watched a petrol soaked spider splatter against the shed wall.

What had happened was I pulled the carbs down then sat them on a shelf in the shed for a week after I'd thrown a kit into them ...... A bloody spider had crawled into fuel inlet pipe and "almost" completely blocked fuel to the needle and seat, but enough flowed past it to all the car to idle.

Fun right ?

seeya,
Shane L.

[Mercguy]

...which is why My garage is routinely sprayed with the evil stuff from the pest control man.