Thread: S3 died on the way home

Originally Posted by Rosco

Just a point about hand feeding the carby. Do it with caution. My oldest bro ended up in hosp many years back as a result. It backfired through the carby and he copped a very good singe .......... Full ex foliation of the face and throat.

Your right Rosco
Never HAND FEED a carby ... I've seen engine bays go up in flames because of this .... The only way is "Gravity feed" via a can with a tap ... hung up above and away from the engine, through a rubber fuel line connected to the inlet side of carby

Thanks for everyone's comments and suggestions. Keep them coming!

Originally Posted by mike 90 RR

Dave
I take it that you got her home OK ?

Nope, she's still parked in a convenient field off the side of the road in Bilpin. I was going to hire a trailer today and use the Disco to tow her home BUT the brake boost has just gone intermittent on the Disco! I thought "weight of 109 plus weight of trailer plus descending Bellbird Hill down from Kurrajong Heights" and I thought perhaps not.

Originally Posted by mike 90 RR

ALSO did you change the dizzy cap, rotor button , test vacume advance ???

I wasn't able to do this as I have no spares and I'm not sure what dizzy is on it - it's different to the one on my station wagon.

How many k's is Bilpin to home????

Also fuel starvation is usually .... it runs / idles then when you go to drive .... it starts to DDDdddiiiiiieee ... then picks up
and repeats the cycle of pick up to die untill you are driving at a idle speed, then it settles down (idle) ... is this the case???
if so .. this would explain the backfiring .... as you are pulling the choke on, while driving & the fuel finally refills the carby .. it is flooding the motor
Hence/ sudden mix of too much fuel ... Spark .... Backfire

Originally Posted by mike 90 RR

How many k's is Bilpin to home????

Also fuel starvation is usually .... it runs / idles then when you go to drive .... it starts to DDDdddiiiiiieee ... then picks up
and repeats the cycle of pick up to die untill you are driving at a idle speed, then it settles down (idle) ... is this the case???
if so .. this would explain the backfiring .... as you are pulling the choke on, while driving & the fuel finally refills the carby .. it is flooding the motor
Hence/ sudden mix of too much fuel ... Spark .... Backfire

Bilpin is only about 45kms away but there is a serious hill in the middle of that. It's also a busy single lane road with no shoulder on the hills - not somewhere I want to get stuck.
Your description of fuel starvation doesn't really fit what I'm getting. At present she seems to run, idling or revving, but only for a while before dieing. If revving she runs for less time than if idling. After the engine stalls switch off/on, wait for fuel pump to stop ticking (sometimes 30 seconds or more) and she'll start again, first turn, and repeat the process.

I mulled it over and would say that you answered it yourself ...... "it takes 30 seconds for the pump to stop ticking" ....

I would grab a multi meter first and find out what voltage the fuel pump is getting // on positive side ... then negitive side // (check for lousy connections / especially earth) ..... as it always good to see the problem first / helps in fixing it

Then undo the fuel line and freeflow the pump and get it to fill a 2 litre bottle
This is to see how it flows + see if the fuel is dirty or has water

All that rough riding could have stirred up sediment and blocked the "filter inside the pump" (guessing that it has a "bag" filter as I know my ford fairlane does)

Other blockage culprits are inline filters / filter in carby (dont think it has one) / rusted or blocked steel fuel pipes (use compressed air)

I have cleaned blocked inline filters by reverse flushing // Basically hooked a water hose to the "outlet side" and turn on tap .. not recommended, but will do the job

Lastly .... See the comments from clean32 below ...Spot on method
Mike

Old school motor old school thinking

i doint know the 6 do thay have a zenith or an SU ??

any way the Key here is the choke, more choke = more fule, no fule + choke = some fule, simple you have a fule problem so forget about every thing else

1 cranking the motor over spary some of the carby cleaner stuff in, if she fires ( when she didnt before) is fule

2 zenith take the bowl off jets in the botton and on the plate that faces the carb body, check the float valve first, thats the one on the top plate still attched to the main body.


3 as you said she starts runs for a bit then stops, ok do that but when it stops, kill the switch pull the bowl off to see if its full of fule, NOT some fule but full. put it back on the turn the switch pump up the fule take it off again see if its at a difrent level, if it wasint full to start with or it was fuller after, have a look at the fule pump, slow flow or low presure.

Thanks Mike and Clean32 great suggestions for diagnosis.
The 6 cylinders have a Zenith Stromberg carbi with the big 'air valve'.

I've fixed my Disco's brake boost problem (I hope...) and I've got a trailer booked for tomorrow morning so I'll be bringing the 109 home to work on it then.

I got the 109 home on a U-haul trailer - nearly had a fit when I found they didn't supply any straps but fortunately I had several light-duty straps with me. With those plus some chain I had at the rear and the trailer winch at the front I thought it would be okay if I took it easy. That's the first time I've towed a heavy load and I can't say the sensation was pleasant, but I made it back okay.
Yesterday I tested the fuel pump and got 2 litres of fuel in 50seconds direct off the fuel pump and also after the fuel filter. I removed the carbi and dismantled the fuel bowl and gave everything I could reach a good spray with carbi-cleaner. Put everything back on the vehicle this morning and... no change.
Checked out the wiring to the coil and the fuel pump, replaced some dodgy connectors to no effect. Hot wired the coil (and therefore the fuel pump) direct from the battery. It still died after a short while. But something had changed - it wouldn't restart! I tried several times. Only when I disconnected power to the coil and pump and reconnected it would the motor start. Next time it died I pulled the fuel line off the carbi (power still going to the fuel pump) and nothing, no fuel!
So it seems the fuel pump works fine until it pressurises, switches off and then doesn't switch on again.
So the question now is how do I fix it? (I'm still working on it just taking a break while I post this).
@Landy Andy - your left nut is in some peril at the moment! However the light oil I put in the dashpot a few days ago has mostly gone. I've replaced it with some engine oil but I'm wondering if that's a sign of something else not right?