slow starts and over runs.....

[markthe45king]

Ok Lily B is still needing too much choke (in my opinion) for starting - she used to start on the button now it's 5 or 6 attempts. Plus she is pretty sluggish for the first few minutes.

however once running she is running pretty well - we have had to do a lot of long distance motorway driving recently and she has coped well with it, despite losing the air filter casing butterfly bolt and having to gaffa the air filter and it's casing on!

But she also over runs to the tune of about 20 seconds when stopping.

I know i need to check the plugs, and the carb was new (i'm going to make the brave assumption the garage used the right needle) but any other thoughts?

Also some top tips from my recent long runs - if you drive in Leeds, avoid the entire length of Kirkstall Road, it is positively third world. Also - when redoing oil levels, do not get distracted and contrive to miss the hole - i then added to my own misery by convincing myself i had a huge leak rather than noticing i had liberally applied oil to the outside of the engine rather than the inside.....

[phurn]

Running on in my experience is usually as a result of burning oil, deiseling. So head gasket? Tired engine? My dad had a fiesta that deiseled so bad you had to stall it to stop it.

[simmitc]

Look for air leaks - a weak mixture can cause running on.

[MarkyB]

over runs to the tune of about 20 seconds

That's a very bad sign, it sounds like it's running very weak which makes the engine run hot, very hot in your case.
Have a look at the carb and see if the vacuum pipe to the distributor has come off or something else is causing an air leak.

[bmcecosse]

Running on is often caused by retarded ignition. And you should NOT assume the 'garage' used the correct needle - how would they know ?? Have you advanced the ignition till you hear pinking - and then retarded slightly ? You MUST look at the plugs - report back what colour they are - and if the electrodes appear burned. And - what make/code number are they ?

[simmitc]

Another thought, whilst we all like to fix things, if you used a "garage" to supply and fit a new carb, then go back and tell them to sort it out. Butterfly bolts don't come off if they've been fitted properly!

[markthe45king]

sometimes i feel a little too stupid to own lillibeth, but bear with me....

advance the ignition? How do i do that? and what does the pinking i am listening for actually sound like? i'm a dj, give me a noise and i'll know it when i hear it!

i am going to check the plugs tomorrow and the haynes manual is pretty clear on the colours for those, so that should be easy.

how will i know what needle is in the carb?

and if it is a weak mix, and the engine is running hot, might that mean more oil is being used? And would a weak or a rich mix explain her sudden need for lots of choke when she never needed it before?

finally i would take it back, but it was part of some remedial work that i had done in leeds prior to my dad's funeral and i'm now back in london.

sorry for being so gravely inept!!

[MarkyB]

The most distinctive thing about pinking is when it happens which is when the engine is working very hard, for instance when you are in top gear going up a hill when third would be a better gear.
The sound itself is a sort of light rattling noise, if you push the throttle harder it will get louder, ease of it it will get quieter or stop.

Look for air leaks first, due to the sudden onset of the problem my guess is a pipe has come off somewhere.

[simmitc]

There's nothing stupid about not knowing something, we all had to learn at sometime, and it's by asking questions that you become knowledgeable.

The ignition is advanced by adjusting the distributor. For small adjustments, there is a knurled wheel at the opposite side to the vacuum unit. The case has an "A" and an "R" for Advance and Retard, and an arrow showing which way to turn it. Larger adjustments mean slackening the pinch bolt and rotating the whole distributor.

The check the needle, you have to remove the dashpot, lift out the piston and remove the needle so that you can use a magnifying glass to read the lettering on the shaft of the needle. I recommend not going there for the time being!

A weak mixture would explain the need for choke - the choke makes the mixture richer for starting. Richer = more petrol for a given volume of air. A rich mixture would make a warm engine run roughly and increase fuel consumption.

You can try making the mixture a bit richer by turning the jet adjusting nut anti-clockwise - count how much you unscrew it, so that you can put it back again.

I suggest that you make sure that the vacuum hose between distributor and carb is connected OK. What sort of crank case breather do you have - is there a tube coming out of the rocker cover, or a "chimney" on the side cover - if the later, there should be a hose going to a pipe on the rear of the carb. A missing or split hose would cause problems.

Do you have a servo fitted for brakes - again, a split hose would give problems.

[markthe45king]

due to bad weather today i only managed the spark plugs.....

three were a brown colour on the nose with some oil on the thread which i assume to be normal. the 4th nearest the battery) had a darker deposit. All cleaned and she started a bit smarter. I also checked her running with each plug "disconnected" and she only ran a little rougher with the one nearest the rad out, so i'm now assuming the plugs are good - champion n9yc, bmecosse, by the way.

also checked some of the pipes - there was a bit of a looseness around the petrol tank to carb one, so that got tightened but i don't think it was enough to create an air leak.

ran her for a bit, and while i don't think there is a true misfire whilst idling, she sounds a little bit out, like the odd skip. on the open road, she sounds fine, no real loss of power except the one i reported earlier at around 50 to sixty where she takes a little longer to pick up.

still over ran though, so i guess it's the ignition setting or the carb - in this weather with no garage, which should i do first?

[bmcecosse]

Good choice of plugs there! They should be a light beige colour after a hard run - but check immediately after the run - not after struggling through traffic to get home. So -advance the ignition till you hear the 'pinking' noise. And then retard slightly so it's not-quite-pinking.