Thread: Engine Running Rough, no idle.

I hate to point this out, but you might have to pop the bonnet and have a good look around the engine with a bright torch in one hand. Use your free hand to push against any hoses you see to check that they are actually connected. There are a number of different air hoses around the engine, you will have to look at them all and make sure they are properly pushed onto their connections. Sometimes an old hose will need a hose clamp to stop it falling off again.

Hi

Mine was doing (among other things) this turned out to be a split booster diaphragm letting out vac. Still idled very rough though.


Clive

Check the Flapper on the airflow metre moves with throttle when u have the pipes off (use mobile phone video with light if required)

I would suggest getting a auto-gas mechanic to have a look as a backfire can affect the gas flow device. I had this happen on a holden 5 litre V8 and it started icing up all the time, it was a long time ago so I am unsure what the mechanic did in the end to get it to work properly, think it may have required a new diaphragm.

I had a couple of hours to spend working on the car at the weekend.

I think my bio rhythms were low at the weekend since everything I touched seemed to go wrong.

I did find some loose hoses and have reclamped them.

However I also took the distributor cap off only to discover that it was pretty worn. Repco had a new cap and rotor arm but I couldn't get the new cap to fit with the new rotor arm in place.

Both the new parts looked identical to the old ones but I thought there must be a difference as they would not fit.

So I tried to put the old distributor cap and rotor arm back on. I couldn't make those fit either. It was as if the rotor arm was sitting too high on the shaft even through I had the keyway lined up and the rotor arm pressed fully on.

It is possible that I have damaged the distributor when I first removed the rotor arm? It was hard to remove but I did it without using a lever.

Yup, you've stuffed it. A common problem.

Repair sequence here.

Originally Posted by lidvii

I had a couple of hours to spend working on the car at the weekend.

I think my bio rhythms were low at the weekend since everything I touched seemed to go wrong.

I did find some loose hoses and have reclamped them.

However I also took the distributor cap off only to discover that it was pretty worn. Repco had a new cap and rotor arm but I couldn't get the new cap to fit with the new rotor arm in place.

Both the new parts looked identical to the old ones but I thought there must be a difference as they would not fit.

So I tried to put the old distributor cap and rotor arm back on. I couldn't make those fit either. It was as if the rotor arm was sitting too high on the shaft even through I had the keyway lined up and the rotor arm pressed fully on.

It is possible that I have damaged the distributor when I first removed the rotor arm? It was hard to remove but I did it without using a lever.

Bee Utey's instructions to fix the distributor looked clear enough so last night I started the process.

The circlip came off easy enough and just as Bee Utey predicted the O ring split when being removed. It was so brittle it must be a decade or more old.

There was no oil on the ignition advance shaft. Only a sticky mess. I seriously doubt that the ignition advance could have been working at all.

Interesting there was no sign of the nylon clip that was meant to retain the ignition advance shaft. I guess someone else broke it before and reassembled the distributor without the retaining clip.

I should get the shaft tapped latter today and have it all reassembled through the weekend.

Since I'm going to all this trouble with the distributor I'm going to replace the lucas ignition amplifier with the bosch one that Bee Utey recommends. Also I'll swap out the leads and plugs.

I hope I can get it all back together Okay and the motor will start. I'll have changed so many things that if the motor doesn't fire tracking back to my error might take some time.

A couple of questions:

1. The pickup plate has 2 wires. On mine one is a light brown colour and the other is orange. Which one is "positive" and should be connected to Terminal 3 on the Bosch 024 Ignition amplifier?
2. Are the 2 advance springs meant to be the same? One of mine looks fractionally longer than the other. Pictures attached.

Originally Posted by lidvii

A couple of questions:

1. The pickup plate has 2 wires. On mine one is a light brown colour and the other is orange. Which one is "positive" and should be connected to Terminal 3 on the Bosch 024 Ignition amplifier?
2. Are the 2 advance springs meant to be the same? One of mine looks fractionally longer than the other. Pictures attached.

1. Use the pictures in the conversion post to work out the wiring. There is definitely a polarity involved but I can't tell you what the internal colours mean only how to connect them outside.
2. The advance springs are different, they work at different engine speeds and one will be a bit sloppy on the posts as it only cuts in at higher rpm.