basically i think i have killed lily - help!!

[markthe45king]

Ok, first things first, this sorry tale probably reflects very poorly on me - but i am trying to learn how to keep her on the road, though i appear to be mechanically inept. So (as i know the whole background helps you tell me hopw i have cocked up) here is a story.

Lily goes to a well known Surrey minor place for a pre mot service and some welding. As she had been playing up, they also put a new lucas alternator in (i'm assuming that is the big silver thing that one end of the fan belt goes on - just humour me!). On the way home, when approaching the first junction and decelerating, braking and taking her out of gear, the engine cut out. I know at that point i should have turned around, but i assumed it was my fault trying to readjust to a slightly less soft clutch. anyway, happened a couple more times. rang the garage and they did in fairness say to take her back. But i haven't had time.

So, like a fool, armed with a little knowledge and on the garage telling me it was probably the carb needing a tweak, i started tweaking - but i ended up tweaking both the jet screw at the bottom and what i assume to be the idling speed screw (on lily this is yellow and isa just off the carb pot). and i forgot rule number one about remembering where you started; and then i took a phone call, so was even more distracted. So basically after running a gamut of black smoke from running over rich, to dying without choke i thought i had got it vaguely right - the exhaust was blowing clear and the engine wasn't cutting out. so i took her for a spin.

and now i have the following issues.....

she dies as soon as you take the revs off - somewhat brilliantly including when you decelerate and drop from 3rd to second whilst moving - that's no fun.
She won't run for more than 20 seconds without the choke when in neutral
the engine seemed ridiculously hot after the short run
there appears to be a lot of noise and some misfiring if you slow the revs in 4th and 3rd
the oil filter light comes on when the ignition key is turned one click

i am going to have to take her back to the garage, but her mot is first thing on monday, and i need to be able to get her there and back to the garage (a 30 minute drive) - so suggestions please? if i take the jet screw right to the top - is is 2 and a half flats or 2 and a half turns back to a rough starting point? and what do i do about what i assume is the idling screw? which is the yellow bit on the photo i hope i have linked to....

and why is she dying so frequently?

sorry to be such a pain in the DONT SWEAR OR YOU WILL BE BANNED, but i really have put myself into a bit of a panic and i need one of you mechanical and level headed folk to just explain in monosyllables the basic error i have made...

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[RobThomas]

Option 1. Join the AA. Get home-start in the package. Probably will pay for itself in the first year.



Option 2. Take out spark plug. If black =rich. If grey/tan = right. If white/glassy= lean.

Jet needs to be about 12 flats / 2 turns down. Maybe more, maybe less depending on wear etc but 12 / 2 is about right. 14 flats will make sure it is rich and not burning out engine.


That yellow screw is a numberplate screw stuffed into the end of a breather (designed to suck air out of the engine and thus save'the environment)'. It isn't the idle screw. You can just see the screw above and to the left of the yellow thing. Lookslike a tiny bolt with a slot cut into it.

[bmcecosse]

That yellow thing is just a plug - sealing off the inlet for fume removal....... It's nothing to do with adjusting the mixture. Oil light is MEANT to come on when the Ign is switched on....so no problem there. Do you have a manual to reference ? The carb mixture is adjusted by turning a nut under the carb - turn it up for weaker and down for richer. The idle speed is adjusted with a screw on the other side of the carb - there will be two - one acts when the choke is pulled, so pull the choke out and note the positions - then push it back in and look again. Ok? So - ignore that screw for now - but do turn the OTHER screw down (clockwise!) slightly - say half a turn - now start up - does it run faster? Get the engine warm, then play about with these two adjustments to get the smoothest idle at a decent speed.
Why did you let them fit a new alternator? Was the battery going flat??

[MarkyB]

Don't worry, you haven't killed the car.

You could turn that yellow screw all day and not affect anything, it's just been used to blank off a pipe that would be better used sucking crankcase fumes.

The tick over screw is the metal one just peeping round the dashpot in your picture.

As choke is needed to keep it running and it's getting hot, adjust the jet downwards one flat at a time until things improve then take it back to the garage and give them a good telling off.

[bmcecosse]

I did wonder if it was that little screw peeking out from behind the bell.......

[markthe45king]

guys a huge huge thank you - one deep breath, one careful read of what you said (those haynes "explosions" don't help me at all) and now i have an idling speed that doesn't make the car rattle (although i am now amazed at how fast you can make an engine run standing still) and a car that can sit without the choke out and not die at all.

oddly though, i thought i would see what would happen if i removed the yellow thing, since i read it as being unnecessary, and the engine died as soon as i pulled it off!! so that will be staying there! But now, after 10 minutes of informed tinkering she sounds right again - i will run her out tomorrow and see if she still wheezes to a halt at junctions, then recheck the plugs - but really, thank you so much - i'm not so stressed now.

[chrisryder]

it died from removing that plug as it will have allowed a lot more air to be sucked in. weakening the mixture right down. If you've got a rocker cover with a pipe on it, like this:

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then you could save yourself some oil leaks by connecting a bit of hose from that tube to where the yellow screw is on your carb.

[markthe45king]

Chris my rocker cover goes into the carb air filter casing, so that bit is ok.

lily has been out, still cutting out at the odd junction, and also kangarooing a bit - mainly when in 2nd and oddly only if pulling away from corners, and i think there feels like a sluggishness and on one occassion at changing lights a real gap between putting my foot on the gas and any form of acceleration as we slowed down and then sped up. The idle speed is up now and she sounds healthy - though in my hearing she seems to occassionally speed up and slow down whilst running, not hugely, but noticeably. she still seems to be running a bit hot too.

i know the simple answer is return her to the garage who did the service - but any thoughts on what it might be? the plugs look a healthy colour, there are no obvious loose pipes letting air in round the carb or petrol tank, the petrol tank is ticking over in a controlled level way, and there is petrol in the car. still too weak a mix? dirt in the carb? dirt in the petrol pump?

see this as part of my learning curve!

[daveyl]

Worth mentioning, if the plugs are black and sooty they will not always spark properly. They will need a clean first and then make adjustments.

[bmcecosse]

Put the breather pipe on that side tube (remove the yellow screw and little rubber pipe first!) on the carb - it's MUCH better there than on the air filter. Also - take the top off the carb (black plastic knurled knob) and pour in some oil - 3 in 1, or just engine oil if that's all you have handy.