Hi Guys n Girls

i've been pretty much problem free for quiet some time now, apart from bashing off the usual fog lights and the voltage regulator melting away on me one night...

Poppy is becoming a little tempermental when it comes to starting when warm, now i've swapped the coil round with a spare and the problem is exactly the same and shes running on 123 now which i believe was set up spot on, she ran spot on, better than she did before to begin with!

when i've been out driving and shes got rather warm, then left to stand for say 15-20 minutes, she then doesn't start properly, turns over fine, fires up but won't idle, but either revving when starting or just cranking her over a couple more times and eventually she will idle! (say she'll shake around and sit at 500-600rpm for about 5-10 seconds then she'll slowly creep up to around 900-1000rpm where she'll idle properly)

something i've also noticed is that when she engine has just been turned off and its still hot, i could hear "gurgling" yes like that noise you make when you gurgle liquid at the back of your throat, i could hear something like that, took the filter off the carb and basically i could see what looked like bubbles of fuel coming up from the rear carb barrel and then the fuel disappearing and vapourising down into the manifold????? also when warm she would constantly over run when turning her off... and i mean she'd probably turn herself over 5 or 6 times and then eventually die... although since having a fiddle with the mixture screw this has since stopped!

i've completely cleaned out the carb and found a little water and what looked like metallic flakes at the bottom of it.... which i did find a little odd as i dont have a metal section in the fuel line theres a filter there... but cleaned out and still have this problem of her not starting properly when warm and i'm probably wrong but i dont think it's an ignition fault!

any feedback appreciated cheers, Joe

Joe,
my car would never, ever start when hot, which was really annoying,

turned out to be the non existent valve clearences so would be worth checking those,

sounds like fuel starvation to me the not idling for 5-6 seconds,

Yep,mine was the same.Reset valve clearances and it is fine now.Runs alot smoother too.

I've had exactly the same thing recently. It'll fire but even when you pump the throttle like mad you just can't keep it going. Next time I'll try and it'll run fine. I cleaned the idle jet and that solved it, but every now and again it'll come back, despite having a fuel filter

cheers for the tips on valve clearances, one side in particular has become quite tappy lately so i will definately check them! James - i stripped everything out the carb and made sure all jets were blown out and clear and there was no muck in the bottom, it did run better after that but it's still a similar situation with the idling! will have a look at the tappy things when i get the chance!

Joe,
valve clearances close up with use, rather than get wider, which is why regular checks are so important.
If all of the clearance disappears, particularly on an exhaust valve, a burnt valve is the usual result.
If one side has 'become quite tappy', maybe worth doing a compression check in case there's been a partial seizure or a nipped piston ring.

ken

Thanks Ken, well one thing i'd noticed recently which has got worse in the last couple of months is smoke when starting her, usually she would smoke a little bit but not like she is now theres alot more coming out, although i never notice it when running! i'll hopefully check the clearances tomorrow!

Hmmm,
that might be linked with the 'running on' problem, if there's carbon buildup in a combustion chamber...

ken

Ken

I've probably asked this before, can't remember .. how regular do you recommend , i last did mine about 6,000 miles ago .

Ben,
it depends how hard the car is driven, as one which is caned all the time will need to have the gaps checked more frequently.
I always remove the rocker covers when doing an oil change and don't thrash engines, so about every 5,000 miles seems to work fine.
It's always the exhaust valve clearances which change most, so if you keep a note of how the gaps have altered, that should give you an idea of how often you need to check them.

ken.