Thread: What do you thinks wrong?

I was having troubles with mine. Sounds similar.
Check the vacuum advance is working. I sent my distributor off to be rebuilt. The mechanical advance was not working properly.
Still not 100% sorted but I understand the difficulty in getting enough advance. I would suspect the mechanical advance in your case as it runs fine at lower revs.

First it is very hard to see a ripped carby diaphragm and one carby down has a big effect. Like bee utey says start there. With air cleaner to carb pipes off, do both carby pistons rise evenly as it is revved?

This happened to a mate of mine after starting his car one afternoon He had to drive it in low range just to get it a couple of kms home the 1985 Rangy was that gutless. When I checked the timing with a light it was about 12 deg retarded. Bought it back to 6 deg advanced but had to take distributor out and reset the rotor position to get enough advance. I thought it was very unusual at the time.

It turned out that it was a slipped timing chain due to wear on the plastic cam gear. Car was showing about 180K but could have been more easily. So how old is the timing chain set?

Hi All,

You have all given me much to think about and on the weekend I will start working through your suggestions:

1) Throttle linkage
2) Compression test - if I can get hold of one
3) Diaphrams - will recheck them...... but they both are new.
4) Check timing while running (as is with aircleaners on) with timing light.
5) Remove aircleaners and look at see if pistons are rising the same ....the reason is that from past experience she doesent idle well with aircleaners off.

Bee utey - I've no experience with timing can you run through the process you would do from scratch to redo timing as I've read where people talk about TDC
or set timing 6 degrees BTDC and don't trust markings on the pulley its all very confusing.

I replaced timing chain and gears about 2 - 3 years ago ....she's not my daily driver and as an example only did about 12K last year ....and from memory both gears were metal.

As Mick say's also it could be vacum my...original set up on twin CD 175 is only single vacum line to distributor I came across the pipe (when looking for leaks) and possible causes of misfiring that the other carbie (vacum pipe) was not capped off I fitted a "T" joint with new hoses from both carbies to distributor which is currently running when I replaced fuel pump. I'll cap off additional hose / carbie on weekend to see if it makes a diffrence.

When I did buy her (now 10 years ago) the owner had just had the distributor rebuilt .....reciept for $400 - 500 dollars from memory.

Thanks to everyone thus far .......will advise how I go.

Cheers

Baggy

Hi Baggy


Should idle fine once warmed up with air cleaner off. That is not a good sign in itself. Air cleaner should have very little restriction and make it run just a tad richer. All it's there for is to stop dust going into the engine.


Ensure timing marks and pointer are clean. I use a bit of Tipex or a white paint pen on the 6 deg mark so I can see it easy.
To do timing connect inductive pickup around No 1 spark plug lead making sure that pickup is facing the correct direction....some have a picture of a spark plug so make sure this side is towards the plug. Connect pos and neg leads of light to the battery and make sure fan or pulleys will not catch leads.


Disconnect and plug vacuum advance hose. Start engine and allow it to idle....easier if you warm it up first... and aim light at timing pointer making sure you don't get caught in pulleys or hit fan. Strobe effect of light will freeze marks and you can see where you are. If you need to adjust loosen the distributor hold down bolt just sufficient so you can turn it a bit and move it around until marks align, tighten hold down bolt and recheck....don't get zapped.


To see if mechanical advance is working gradually get an assistant to bring up revs and while watching marks with light to see if timing is advancing progressively.


To check vac advance bring up revs to around 1500 and disconnect and reconnect vac advance hose. Timing marks should advance and then go back as you do. You can also use light to clip around each lead in turn to see if they are all firing correctly. They should all flash the same.


When spark plugs are out they should all look the same. I am pretty sure each Carby feeds the two in centre on one side and the two outers on the other.


Are the breather pipes from the rocker covers and through the grey flame traps clean. I use a 1/4 inch drill with some grease ....(to catch the carbon) on it to clean out the breather pipes on the carbies. These block up on mine and the idle speed goes higher and higher. When I bought it the hoses and flame traps where almost blocked as well. This does not usually cause any running issues just oil leaks as the engine pressurises.

Hi All,

Thanks to everyone’s advice that helped me work through the possible causes that led an engine that ran well one day to then develop a fault that left it running well at idle but under rev’s misfired badly with no power whatsoever.

The final outcome was timing that was badly out and pistons that were sticking in the carbies.
As to why the timing was suddenly so far out ....I can’t explain, maybe it did jump a cog ....and thanks to Bundy’s post, and advice on marking the timing pointer and TCD on pulley with tipex did pay dividends.

When we put the timing light on we could see the tippex on timing pointer but couldn’t see the marking on the pulley ...my brother noticed it highlighted at 3.o clock (on pulley) when the timing light fired.
We checked no 1 piston was up, pointer was on TDC pulled out distributor, and reset timing.
The engine did run better, it still lacked power and was misfiring less noticeably...I had read some previous posts about setting timing to 6 degrees before TDC and with nothing to lose again reset timing to this .....the result was engine that ran smoothly and while revving hard was losing its misfire.

My brother was unscrewing and working the small pistons (on the top of the pots on the carbies and this resulted in engine now starting to rev without misfiring .........he believes that the oil I’ve been using in them was too thick and caused the sticking pistons ......I’m going to use machine oil from now on .....

I now have a smooth running 3.5V8 engine that I believe have a few more extra ponies under the bonnet.

What I’ve learned from this exercise.....a timing light is a must have tool in your tool kit and that AULRO members are an excellent source of knowledge for those of us who are learning how to turn a spanner is a necessary part of owning and loving our classic rover.


Cheers

Baggy

... You mean I've spent ages fossicking through my shed looking for a timing light and compression gauge???? - and you've FIXED it ?

(Found the gauge, the light is still in the dark somewhere...)




Genuine SU dashpot oil is..... single grade 20. Packed in 'Genuine' bottles and sold for a premium.

10 grade can also be used, and there's a complex reason why multi-grade is not the best choice, though a light 15W-40 can work ok.

Carb Wear & tear , engine make & size, use, climate, your shoe size and the entrails of a turkey all have a bearing on what works best in YOUR engine...

Hi Supaquag,

Thanks for looking for timing light and compression gauge.

OK I'm wearing the right shoes ........turkey entrails - check .....cars running well But why has my RH Side door decided now not to open.

Lucky I have two (doors) .....though access through the LH Side is not the best look ....... I'm not as nimble as I used to be.

Well tomorrows another day ..........although my wife just shakes her head and wonders why .......

Cheers

Baggy

Range Rover Classic is the only car I have ever driven or owned which needs regular adjustment of the (exterior, usually) door-opening mechanism.

Usual story is... Exterior handle has to be pulled further out to open.. then pulled against the stop..then pulled a bit beyond where it wants to stop...then snaps off.

You need long - handled and long nose pliers to make the job easier. Bad language helps.

RAVE is your friend....
'To adjust the door, remove door card.'
- Door needs to be open to do this.....