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1984 Ae71 Cs-X Stalling Problem


JimmyMelbs

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Hi all, recently purchased the above vehicle and gave it a full major service including rebuilding the carby, and it ran fine for a week, but recently have gotten some gremlins. Firstly before I took it in for a service it would stall under acceleration after lagging and spluttering, and when I got it back it ran fine for about a week and has since started up again. It had trouble starting yesterday so I left it, came back in the arvo started it and let it idle awhile and all seemed normal. Then this morning started it let it warm up and then took off for work - got about halfway there and again the spluttering then dying engine and battery light coming on. Started it a few times, occaisionally would crank and crank but no power, other times it would start but as soon as I put my foot down it would hesitate and splutter again then die. I'm at a loss as to what could be causing this, can anyone offer advice?? Cheers!

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I'm guessing it's a 4AC engine you have?

Check for vacum leaks, as you've had the carby off, check for cracked vacum hoses as well.

A good trick is to let the engine idle then use either a can of CRC or a spray bottle with water in it, and spray around the carby, if the engine picks up (rpm increase) you have a vacum leak.

Could also be the ignition module inside the dizzy, these were known to play up. hard to test these, most guys just replace them.

Last one, could be the fuel pump on it's way out, do a fuel pump pressure test, you can buy a cheap tester from super cheap, they do both vacum and low pressure.

Edited by TRD ke70
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until I have $ to 4AGE it. How would I check the points?

 

Going on the second part of the sentence, don't attempt the first part yourself... The 4AGE conversion is not simple, I have found.

 

Anyway- take off the dizzy cap and rotor, and turn the motor with a spanner until the rubbing block of the points is on one of the 4 shoulders of the rotor cam. That makes the points gap as large as it can be. Pull the points open a tad more with a small screwdriver and check how big the volcano is on one side, as while they operate they spark and that takes metal off one side and deposits it on the other. If there is a noticeable volcano there, buy new points as it will stop a good measurement with feeler gauges.

 

Once you have two paralell faces of metal in the points, slip in a feeler gauge. A 0.45mm would just slide in for a 4K motor, the 4AC might need a different size. So about 17-18thou, and 20thou shouldn't quite go in there. A better way is to use a dwell meter, the 4K runs on 46deg dwell, but it is fiddly as you have to run the motor to check it, stop and strip the dizzy, adjust the points and run it again to see if what you did gave the right reading.

 

If you adjust the points at all, you move the timing, so then you need to re-set the ignition timing.

 

It sounds like you should give it a thorough tuneup check, ignition, tappets, carb, and just catch up with things the previous owner might have missed or the garage didn't do. The spluttering could be carb, either rich or lean, rather than ignition related. I'd expect ignition to run badly, but not suddenly die and just as suddenly work again. As TRD KE70 said, fuel pump might be dying, so it goes lean, or shit may be in the jets so it goes lean, or dirt under the needle and seat in the carb would flood it rich.

 

One of my 4Ks occasionally vapourises the fuel in the pump when I park it and the vapour pushes the fuel back down the line and empties the filter. When I restart it runs for 30seconds on the carb full but can't suck fuel from the tank fast enough & dies... Funny cars these...

 

Start a build thread with a couple of photos and ask questions in there, they're simple cars once someone has explained it all.

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Thats all well and good but it just came out of a major service 2 weeks ago, where by everything was checked and replaced where needed.

Carby rebuild, timing belt, all fluids, new water pump, brake hoses, tune up, etc.

I don't think it would be the dizzy but I will have a look.. Could it be an earth problem or may it be something to do with debris in the fuel tank/lines?

Almost stalled again today and I am now taking it really cautiously and driving as little as possible in case I get stranded again,,

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I don't think it would be the dizzy but I will have a look.. Could it be an earth problem or may it be something to do with debris in the fuel tank/lines?

 

its easy enought o see if it has new points or not. They will be clean and shiny and not corroded across the points gap. If it has, make sure the condensor looks new too.

 

Earth problem... I doubt it, if it starts OK. The starter pulls hundreds of amps when cranking, and if the earth can handle that then it can easily handle the few amps a motor pulls.

 

Debris in the lines.. Sure, see if they fitted a new fuel filter in the service. If they did then its unlikely the line dirt problem. If they didn't fit a new one and see. I don't think it would be a fuel blockage because the motor uses the least amount of fuel to idle, so it would idle OK but not drive under power.

 

If not, just take it back to whoever serviced it and say the problem is still there. They might find out what it is quite quickly.

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That is precisely the problem though if you didn't get my question. It just suddenly loses power, I'm driving along and it starts losing power I put my foot down and nothing happens then it dies.. Then I have trouble starting it or it won't start, or it will start then as soon as I put my foot on the throttle it doesn't respond

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Shouldn't a 4ac have an electronic distributor? And not points?

 

One possibility is you are getting junk In your carby jets. Changed the fuel filter? You can pull the hat off the carby and see if you can see junk in the bowl.

Edited by ke70dave
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Shouldn't a 4ac have an electronic distributor? And not points?

 

Well, that would solve the points problem.

 

So it does look like a fuel supply problem that comes and goes.

 

A leaf in the tank that blocks the outlet, fuel filter blocked with rubbish, fuel pump with dirt under a valve, carb with dirt in the needle/seat and dirt in the bowl. If it hasn't got much fuel in, drain the tank through the bolt in the bottom and see what comes out. The daughter's boyfriend bought his mower around yesterday because it would run badly, then clear, and after going over everything we found water in the bottom of the fuel tank.

 

Check that the fuel filter is new..

 

Take the air cleaner off and check the pump jet is working by looking down the throat and flipping the throttle open. You should see a little jet of raw fuel squirt down into the carb. Do it three or four times. I'm sure it is working, but once you have seen it happen you can check it again when the car dies. When it dies next, instantly switch it off and take the air cleaner off and check for the pump jet working again. If the car is suffering lack of fuel in the carb it won't squirt three or four times.

 

If it hasn't got fuel, pull the top off the carb and check the bowl. If its empty then check the needle and seat & float operation, then pull the top off the fuel pump and check in there. If that is empty maybe there is something stuck ander one of the little valves in it.

 

If it has got fuel pull the top off the carb and check the needle and seat for dirt. There's not many things that make it flood and die, there are more things that make it starve and die..

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Dropped fuel tank gave it a clean and checked all the fuel lines - definately fuel getting through, struggling to put it back in without a second pair of hands.

Rustproofed the filler pipe and cap as it was pretty corroded.

As soon as i put it back together I will update on my problems.

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Car started fine yesterday and sat idle, took it for a couple spins round te block no problem.

This morning she died as soon as I left home and had to push her round the block to get home again.

Not sure if it's related but radiator feels extremely not although temp on dash seems normal, and a lot of coolant is going into the overflow.

Could I have a blown head gasket?

Any other ideas guys??

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Could I have a blown head gasket?

 

One morning take the radiator cap off and fill it right up, then start it & leave it sitting there idling while you watch. If the compression is leaking into the water jackets you will see the water overflow and bubbles come up before the thermostat opens. Once the 'stat opens it will settle down with a low water level in the rad and run OK.

 

The other syptom is being hard to start in the morning, maybe on 3cyl for a few seconds, then fine to start all day. That's from water condensing in the middle cylinders and getting on the spark plug tips overnight, but is fine once it burns off.

 

However the head gasket won't make it die as you drive away or while you're driving to work.

 

The other one is to take the rad cap off and drive it around the block, then put a 105deg thermometer in the radiator water and see what it reads. You could just take the cap off, put in the thermometer and fire it up to leave it idling, it just takes longer to warm up. We did it a couple of days back checking the gauge on Steve's 4AGE. The 'stat opened at 80odd degrees and running temp was about 85, just as it should be. However his gauge only showed 1/4 up at that temp.

 

A thermometer is a good investment.

Edited by altezzaclub
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One morning take the radiator cap off and fill it right up, then start it & leave it sitting there idling while you watch. If the compression is leaking into the water jackets you will see the water overflow and bubbles come up before the thermostat opens. Once the 'stat opens it will settle down with a low water level in the rad and run OK.

 

So if this happened what is the diagnoses? I suspect a faulty fuel pump so I am going to get a second hand one and see if that stops the problem. I noticed when it died that there was no fuel in the carby window. And once this happened it would persist and not start/idle/or rev when I depressed the accelerator again.. so still think its fuel pump related. Should my radiator be red hot to the touch after just a 2 min drive around the block and the top hose feel swollen?
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