Thread: MIsfiring ,too rich mixture, Need help

Didn't get into a lot on the weekend but the car refuses to start. Sounds like its trying but doesn't fire up at all.
Was playing with the dissy and noticed some side to side play (a few mm) of the rotor button shaft. Figured that this shouldn't be good as any movement would alter the air gap of the pick up. Took the dissy apart and had an old dissy thats shaft has no play in it and changed all the bits over to it. Still didnt improve things but haven't changed the pickup yet either and think that its probably damaged if the gear wheel has been turning on it.
Will check that out and do the vacuum test on the regulator.
With regards to the distributor should the weighs be lubricated if so what with ( general oil?) The weights I put so that they are flat on the bottom plate but can't recall if they sat on top of each other. I think if they are a different heights then the securing springs wouldn't sit properly. Anyone know the answer to this as don't recall when I pulled it down and my poor photos don't quite show.

The two weights should be on the same level, I have dismantled a few of these dissies. Lube the weight with a little grease, then a drop of oil down under the rotor button every service. Repair tips in this thread:

http://www.aulro.com/afvb/technical-...-method-2.html

Pic of dissy internals from that thread:

Thanks Bee Utey, do you agree that the rotor shaft should have no movement in it (side to side) as it made sense to me that it shouldn't. Next is to change the pickup and see if that changes anything not to mention to get a new circlip that I managed to snap

Yep side movement in the shaft will make it hard to adjust for best running.

The pickup can sometimes fail, I have one like that here. Try connecting a multi meter on ohms to the pickup, see if wriggling the wires makes it go open circuit. It sounds like you might be best off finding another distributor out of a runner.

Well I am totally ready to tow this to a cliff and end its sorry story.
Whilst undoing the retaining bolt of the distributor I managed to completely break the casing where the bolt houses in theengine casing, a nice 3cm hole. I managed that by hand with a 9/16th spanner. Now I have two holes one for the distributor and one to stick explosives in. Seriously I cant believe this. What now? What do I need to replace now with this grand stuff up. Could it be welded over? problem then is I have no way of securing the distributor or is that part of the engine housing replaceable.

The timing cover is a relatively easy job, you mainly have the crankshaft pulley bolt to undo, and it is tight as. A good time to check your timing chain hasn't slipped due to excessive wear and caused all your running problems.

BTW there are pictures in the workshop manual showing this area.

Thanks Bee Utey , you are an wealth of knowledge. Maybe its a blessing in disguise and forcing me to go to the timing chain to cure its woes.

Have found a replacement engine front cover and will pick up on the weekend.
The crank pulley bolt,is that a left or right hand thread? from all I have read sounds as though thats where the biggest challenge is to replace the cover and what is the best way to ensure the engine doesnt turn when undoing the bolt given only one person available?
Anything else to be aware of?