Thread: S3 died on the way home

What kind of oil for dashpot?

The "Haines" manual says for "Zenith Stromberg" ... Normal engine oil filled to 6mm of the top

If you have a spare carby, grab one for the "Rubber diaphram" just in case it's cuput (white smoke)

Okay Mike, thanks!

Dave
Have you proved that you have spark at the plugs individualy and if you have a timing light try it an each lead to ckeck if they are firing. I hand a similar problem rescently and it turned out to be leads breaking down under load. Hope this helps
Maurice

Hi Dave
Light oil is reccomended,Ive read sewing machine oil on here before.
Had to fix mine once before by droping some sump oil via the sump bolt into a freshly emptied beer can
Try topping up before anything else!!!!
Andrew

Well I spent 4 hours at the vehicle today and didn't achieve much.
I filled the dashpot with light oil - it was very low - it made no difference.
Swapped the coil and all the HT leads - no difference.
Cleaned the rotor button and visually checked the points open and close.
Changed the fuel filter - it was very dirty - no difference.
Sprayed carbi cleaner into the carbi - no difference.
Removed the exhaust (because this was the last thing fiddled with) - no difference except it's noisier.
Removed and cleaned spark plugs - all okay and pink except No.5 which was oily and dirty (could have picked this up on the way out).
Removed the small capacitor from the dizzy - now it wont start so I put it back.
Removed the carbi horn and sprayed in more carbi cleaner.

Somewhere along the way there has been a slight improvement in that she will idle with no choke now. The idle lasts for maybe 3 minutes getting progressively rougher and slower, then dies. If I rev the engine it will rev okay for maybe a minute, although I can hear misfiring, then it suddenly dies like I switched off the ignition. I can turn the ignition key off then on, wait for the fuel pump to stop ticking and she will start again, first turn of the key, and do exactly the same thing - idle for three minutes and die or rev for a minute and die.
Am I seeing fuel starvation here?

Sounds like blocked jets, try syringing some fuel into the carb throat while it's running. I say that as it sounds like it has improved a bit since you've sprayed carbi cleaner at it, could be the rough track has stirred up sediment in the tank.
Good luck with it, it's always a pia on the roadside.

Dave you have a started a good fault finding 6 cyl thread without realising it. Stuff to remember for when i get mine going!
Hmm have absolutely no idea on these motors, but ,
from reading each point and symptom you describe, this is only a guess, though, a along the same lines as yours,
fuel starvation, have you checked the output on the fuel pump, if its the orginal,it may not be earthing properly on the bracket it sits on and once the motor starts it could be vibrating shorting out and stopping the flow.
Its the idel thats seems to give it away, starts ok then rough then stops.

just a guess on something you haven;t covered.


john

symptoms are possibly caused by failure of the booster diaghfram also could have some brake fluid in the booster