Morris Minor Owners Club

Hi,

Tried to get Rosie to an MOT on Friday and she conked out on the way, missed the MOT and had to get recovered. The brakedown engineer suggests that it could be a blockage either in the carb or the float chamber, how hard is it to recondition a carb/float chamber?

Thanks

Philip

No offence meant to the 'breakdown engineer??' (recovery technician?) but if it is an absence of petrol, then the first thing I would re-check is that the petrol pump is delivering a good supply through the fuel pipe to the carb.

The carb has a simple float and needle arangement so nothing is rocket science for strip down/investigsation, although it's best to get a new gasket kit first.
If there is no fuel getting into the carb, then (most likely) either the needle has stuck or there is some debris blocking the hole above the needle.

The pump is definitely working, he pulled the fuel line off for a look see while the ignition was turned on Still it's degreased the engine bay

I have had the same problem before and it was debris stuck in the float chamber valve.

New valve, seat & gasket set is only about £5 and worth replacing. When i took it all apart i also noticed allot of debris collecting in the bottom of the chamber.

Dont be fooled by the fact the bottom of the chamber just looks a bit rusty! Get a screw driver and scrape it about and see how bad it is. its worth getting ALL of the rubbish out of there before you start it up.

Are you sure that it is fuel related?? not ignition? Try putting a SMALL amount of petrol into the cylenders and if it fires and runs for a second or too then you know its a fuel problem, but if there is still no sign of life then you need to look elsewhere!

Are you sure that it is fuel related?? not ignition? Try putting a SMALL amount of petrol into the cylenders

to do that is very easy - splash a bit of pertol down the mouth of the carb then try starting - if the engine then fires up for a split second, this proves the lack of petrol theory.