Morris Minor Owners Club

There we were on our way to Portsmouth to catch our ferry to MOT 2014. Car had full service a week before. Fuel pump and coil are about 1000 miles old and car WAS running perfectly.

After about 3 miles it splutters and jerks, then restarts, on the move. 5 mins later the same thing but stops. Restarts after a minute then coughs to a stop again a few 100 yds round the corner. Fuel pump ticking merrily as normal. I'm thinking that the car is running on what is in the carb and when that exhausted it stops.

The only thing that the garage (Minor specialist) did is replace the carb float lid gasket. The bill says 'waxoyle etc' for the carb which seems strange. Could it be this? Needless to say the garage closed for weekend and I couldn't drive it there anyway.

AA called and brought us home but the ferry was missed and unless we can get this fixed, MOT trip looking very doubtful. If anyone has any ideas, would be most grateful. In the meantime I will try the 'fuel-pumping-into-can' test

Marion (South London)

Marion
" Waxoyle, etc for the carb " sounds weird even for an ordinary garage, its for rust protection.

The spluttering and restarting sounds like it's dirt in the fuel somewhere.If it's flakes of loose rust in the fuel tank occasionally blocking the outlet ...it's going to be a pain to sort.
If the flow test is OK , fingers crossed it's dirt in the needle jet in the carb.
Battery disconnected, plenty of rags around , take off the lid ( carefully to not damage the gasket )and blow through the needle jet.Check the garage cleaned out the inside of the fuel bowl.Throughly clean out and sediment if they didn't do it at all and complain later !! No in line filter fitted that's partially blocked ?
Good luck with it.
Bob

If the fuel pump test is OK, then look to ignition - change rotor arm first, then condenser before moving on to rest. Why was the coil changed 1,000 miles ago? Old ones usually last for ever. I might be a bit suspicious of a new one. Like others, puzzled by rustproofing the carb

I hope they didn't fit a 'waxstat' jet assembly to the carb..... ??? But as others have advised - do a fuel flow test - and worth checking for a vacuum developing in the tank. Usual checks on the carb - is the piston free to rise and falls back with a nice clunk.. I too would worry about the 'new' coil - why was it changed? Refit the old coil!!! New coils are sometimes (often...) not best quality and may be wrongly specified anyway and intended for a car with ballast ignition. Also I suggest put in your spare dizzy (you wouldn't contemplate a long trip without one...would you??) to see if that solves the problem. And errr - find a different 'garage' to work on your car in future. As a general rule for future - don't do ANY work on a car shortly before an important outing - always give a good settling in period 'just in case'.

Thank you all for your suggestions, all of which I have tried this morning. In summary the fuel is pumping merrily into a can, so the pump is OK. Tried clearing the needle - no sign of blockage. Inspected float chamber - all clean. Replaced the coil, replaced the distributor cap. The only change is that the car runs for only a few seconds now before conking out, whereas before it was several minutes.
So I am going to France tonight, in another car, leaving the poor Morris behind. I will have another look on my return.

In fact all this brings it home to me that I really need a local mechanic - or at least someone who has some experience with Minors to call on when this sort of thing happens. I am happy to pay a reasonable rate to any member who lives not too far from me (Wallington, Surrey) who would be willing to come and sort this out for me. If that's you or someone you know, please PM me.

Thanks everyone

Oh dear - it's probably just the condenser then.... Make a complete spare 'known good' dizzy a top priority when you return. Meantime - enjoy France!

Thanks again all for your suggestions. Thought you might like to know what I finally established as the cause.

The standard test for fuel pump is taking the pipe off the carb and switching on the ignition. I did this and it worked fine gushing out regularly into my petrol can. But when I did the same thing with taking the top of the carb float chamber off and leaving the pipe connected, there was barely a trickle. I took out the valve itself (the thing that the ballcock arrangement opens and closes) and found a small bit - say little fingernail size - of what I can only describe as clear/whitish plastic. Like clingfilm or dried Bostik type glue. Removed this assembled and all fine.

Took out for a run, and there was a little hesitation after a few miles but got back home OK. Took float lid off again and found another bit of crud as above. Whether I missed this the first time or it was a fresh bit, I don't know.

So all fine, but what mystifies me is what this could have been. Remember its downstream of the fuel pump filter.

If anyone has any ideas I would like to know. I'll try to attach a pic

Marion

WELL DONE searching out that problem! That's a new one - persistence pays off!

Marion
My guess ... for what it's worth .... is that the fuel pump ( SU Low Pressure model AUA 66 ) filter is " breaking up ".Probably because of modern petrol formulation.
The filter is of a light flimsy/delicate white ( 'ish ) plastic construction and cannot be described as being robust.

Replacement ?
http://www.burlen.co.uk supply parts.Click on SU Store, then SU Fuel Pumps.
You can either : - continue to Single LP pumps and kits for a full diagram and part numbers or
search for the specific part numbers Filter is AUA 1464 £4.57
and you'll need a new Washer AUA 1442 0.31p
( leave a blank space after AUA ,when inputting the number , in the search term )

Second guess ...the supply pipe from the pump to the carburettor is perishing / degrading internally.

With the battery disconnected a couple of things to look at so that you can forget about fuel supply problems for a while.Pleased you discovered the source.
Bob