Mysterious Landy Issue

[Shorty tha 3rd]

Hi All,

I've recently adopted a great little S3 shorty off my girlfriend (she updated to a 110 defender...she's an absolute landy fanatic). :)

It's a great little car (almost mint), but she has a really strange habit (the shorty, not my girlfriend ;)) of the engine just going dead as you drive along - no sputtering, no warning, and sometimes the only way i know it's happened is the charge light coming on (possibly electrics?).

It doesn't seem to matter if it's warm or cold, or what revs you are pulling and doesn't happen with any regularity (some drives she's 100%). Sometimes you just put the clutch in, dab the throttle and she'll re-kick, other times you have to crank the key, in which case she always starts first go.

I've replaced the fuel filter and points, and given her a general service (oil, filters and cleaned out the air filter...wow was that a fun experience, found out the messy way it was full of oil), and she seems to be running great except for stalling out.

Anyway, it's starting to frustrate the hell out of me, so i thought i'd try the brains trust. Look forward to any input.

[isuzurover]

Sounds like an electrical issue. Loose connection in the coil or coil/distributor wiring or dodgy HT lead between the coil and distributor. It is fairly common for the wires inside the dizzy to break or for the insulation to perish.


Long shot:
Does it have a (holden) stromberg carby fitted? My dad had a stomberg which would dump all the fuel out of the bowl onto the manifold without warning, the engine would just die. You could crank it over and restart fine.

[agrojnr]

Check the back of the ignition switch the power lead can become loose, happened to me and I went and bought a alternator and then found the loose wire

Adam

[Shorty tha 3rd]

Ohhh, cool, thanks for that. At least I've got a few ideas to work with.

I was thinking it was electrical as well, it just seems to happen so rapidly and with no warning.

Will have a better look at the wiring and see if i can sort it out.

I'm pretty sure it is the stromberg carby - did you work out a solution to the problem, or just replace the carby?

[isuzurover]

I'm pretty sure it is the stromberg carby - did you work out a solution to the problem, or just replace the carby?

I recall we just replaced the carby (or got it rebuilt).

Strombergs are hopeless on hills offroad. You can get a webber or a Zenith 36IV for reasonable money new.

Adam's suggestion is a good one to check - entire key barrel may be dodgy - but you would lose ignition lights at the same time.

[subasurf]

My dad had a stomberg which would dump all the fuel out of the bowl onto the manifold without warning, the engine would just die. You could crank it over and restart fine.

Sorry to hijack this thread, but is there a fix for this? I haven't had this happen to me yet, but it sounds like a bad thing to have happen if you're crossing water, boggy sand or climbing a hill. Are there ways to stop this from happening, or is a different carby the best option?


EDIT: Woops. Was typing up my post as it was already being answered, more or less.

[clean32]

fuse holder, a bit of rust on the clips or the clips being lose,

i had this once motor would die usually when over taking ouch.

[JDNSW]

........

Adam's suggestion is a good one to check - entire key barrel may be dodgy - but you would lose ignition lights at the same time.

No - if I understand the description correctly, the engine cuts and at the same time the charge light comes on (engine still turning). If this is the case it points squarely at the ignition switch or wiring - the charge light shows the voltage difference between the ignition and the alternator - with the ignition on and the alternator not charging, the difference is 12v, and the light comes on - but with the ignition off and the engine turning fast enough for the alternator to charge, the light will still come on. (This depends on just how the alternator is wired - certainly the case with the Series dynamo, and I think it still applies to the S3 alternator)

John

[Blknight.aus]

ignition. specifically the detent spring and ball holding the key in the run position.

bet if it dies while your driving you can get it to come back just by jiggling the key.

[Shorty tha 3rd]

Big thanks to all that have helped me out on this one - started out with the easiest, checked the fuses and the carriers were a little corroded. After a quick clean up she seems to be running fine (couple of 20 min test drives and no cutting out). :D

I'm not gonna say it's totally cured until she stays "cut-free" for a while, but you've given me a whole bunch of avenues to follow up if it does start to re-occur...not to mention a good excuse to keep an eye out for a new carby...;)

[Shorty tha 3rd]

Hiya All,

Been a while since I posted this and just thought I'd update on the cure.

After many attempted fixes, and thinking I'd sorted it twice...only to have it start re-ocurring, I noticed that when it stalled, the fuel gauge dropped.

Eureka moment - got a new ignition switch, and bob's your mother's brother, haven't had a problem for 2 weeks now!!:D

Thanks to all for your help and advice.

Cheers,

[Lostkiwi]

My old series 2a would cut out when you steered to the left :eek: Took ages to find out what was causing it :mad: There were no wires touching the steering what so ever!
In the end I took to it with a pair of wire cutters , and cut the lot out! Eventually found the problem to be broken wires in the main loom
Just a small amount of flex in the firewall was enough to stop ya dead in ya tracks:mad:
Glad i pulled the cutters out as a few other parts of the loom were just as bad!
Full rewire and it never missed a beat again.:D

[Shorty tha 3rd]

Geez and I thought my problem was tricky - I think I probably would've lost my mind trying to figure that one out. ;)

Persistence is definitely the key to series ownership....and a small amount of insanity haha. :)