I was taking the kids to school this morning in my wife's car (Phase 2) and suffered several instances of what I guess may have been carb icing. The symptoms were a misfire that started as I drove along and quickly developed into a total lack of firing. I'd stop at the side of the road, wait a couple of minutes and try to start the car. After a wait of 3-5 minutes, it would fire up and bahave normally, only to repeat the whole process a mile or two further on. The cycle happened 6 times at irregular intervals on my 12-mile trip, with an air temp of about -2 degrees.
Does anyone have any ideas? Anyone had carb icing in a Peerless? (if so, how did you deal with it?) I'm going to look at ignition too, but a cursory examination this morning didn't show any obvious faults, and it was clearly working fine some of the time...
That's not carb icing Nick. My money's on one of two things....
1. The rotor arms had it. Have you changed it recently? I have several "chinese copies" where the plastic insulation has broken down, usually after a couple of hundred miles. Sometimes the engine will run at 3000 RPM and won't tick over, sometimes it just runs really lumpy.Get one from a reputable supplier, and carry a spare.
2. The ignition supressor/capacitor will deteriorate over several years and usually fails when it's hot. Again, there are chinese copies of these around that don't last very long, badly burnt points are a sure sign that somethings wrong here. I change these annually when I change the points. Useful to carry a spare also.
I don't want to show any favoritism, but I've never had a duff component from Holden.
Oh carb icing. It happens when the relative humidity is high, and the temperature's low. Youv'e been zapping along with the throttles open for a while and the evaporation of the fuel lowers the temperature at the jet, so that a lump of ice forms from the moisture in the air. As you lift off for that roundabout, the lump of ice stops the SU piston from closing. This usually results in a severe adrenaline moment, when you wished you had ABS, or a bit more road to play in.
I agree with Flash Frank, have a good look at the ignition. Sounds that way.
could be any number if things, but usually it's within the disey and not before(leads and coil)
There are several things that can go wrong with the ignition over time. Check it all
Check the points. If they are burnt, then it's either the capacitor that's had it, the points are not adjusted properly or there's a worn bearing on the distributor axle. Wriggle the disey axle and see if there's any play (side to side, not up and down) there should be very little play. If so, you may have to change the bearing on it. If in doubt, get a specalist to check it out. Alternatively , give it a good wack with a hammer
Also check the distributor cap, if there are grooves in the metal, change it. Actually you should always change the cap, rotor and points together, just to be on the safe side.
Hope this helps,I'm no specialist but I've had problems like this before. My very best advice is to change to electronic ignition asap, luminition, or aldon, anything but points and capacitor!!
Hi Nick, It could be one of so many things. If non of the above work, it could be fuel starvation. My phase 1 did the same thing and it turned out to be crap in the fuel tank that was blocking the inlet pipe of the SU pump. It would also tend to unblock/alow a bit more fuel through after stopping for a few minutes ! If it's not that, try a new ignition coil, I've had those that cut out when they get warm. Like Frank says, Monkey parts are a major problem but no one will address the subject. Supplyers argue that peple wont pay for quality. I think thats partly true but that cheep parts can have large profit margins. Good luck let us know how you get on.
Frank, Are you recommending Holden as a quality parts supplyer then ? I must admit I'd written them off as too expensive but if they sell top notch parts I may re-consider God knows I'm sick of **** from Moss. Shock Horror yes I'll say it again I'm sick of Monkey Rubber and parts i wouldn't fit to a car I was taking to the scrap yard.
Well, these sort of discussions keep coming round.
I buy loads of stuff (too much!) from a variety of suppliers, and yes, from time to time, you do get dissapointed, annoyed, and sometimes infuriated at the quality and/or service. Buying things mail order is always a chancy business, and with things like capacitors or rotor arms even if you had it in your hand you couldn't tell whether it was a good one. Worse that that, any electrical (insulation breakdown) test would destroy the component anyway! You really do rely on the supplier's batch quality control (and carrying a spare) with these things.
What I am happy to say, is that I've never had a duff component from Holden, and I've bought quite a lot of stuff from them over the years. Yes, they are pricey, but they are very helpful, they know their stuff, and who else can supply pattern rear lights from stock?
I've had fuel starvation as well, from some mucky French petrol, but in my case the pump ran dry, immediate cure by switching to the other tank.
Keep up the good work, the Forum is really at it's best at times like these!
You couldn't be more right Frank, what a great bunch of people!
I finally got to the bottom of it - replaced the plugs, points, condenser, rotor, cap and coil, and it seemed to be going fine, only to do pretty much the same thing as before, when we were on our way to a Birthday meal out for Ali.
You can imagine how I felt (and this after lots of "Yes dear, it's fine now ..."). I let the car rest for a minute and tried it again, and was hit by a blinding flash of realisation when the fuel pump went tick-tick-tick-tick-tick etc as it refilled the float bowls. I really should have spotted that one sooner, but at least the fix was easy - switch to the other tank! What fooled me was that the pump would go for a while and then fail until its points had (presumably) cooled down. I've got a spare set of points somewhere so I will take the seat out and have a go at the pump at the weekend.
Thanks to all for your ideas and advice, it is fantastic to be able to draw on this sort of help and expertise when you need it!
