J-reg 309 with TU engine - starting problems

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DLM
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J-reg 309 with TU engine - starting problems

Post by DLM »

Enquiring on behalf of a friend located some distance away who runs one of these (J-reg 309 with 1360cc TU engine). Starting from cold is either first-time or long-winded and problematic. Friend is not enormously mechanically-minded + I've only observed problem in the dark - prolonged starter cranking will eventually start it, probably after very many attempts, if it's not started first time . Relevant information:
(1) Starting problems appeared from cold as described above - taken to garage who confusingly recommended carb overhaul then backtracked and said that it was probably worn jets which wouldn't come in overhaul kit. Garage didn't want to help further.
(2) Replacement carb found and fitted by friend - fine for a short while, then similar symptoms recurred.
While he hasn't said a lot about the condition of other ignition parts, the car appears to have been regularly serviced. He seems if anything to have been too keen to spend money on it (£££s spent on brake overhaul recently) so wants to recoup through continued use of car if possible.
Any pointers - or likely faults on this engine/carb setup? I appreciate the enquiry and information is a bit vague...and that the recurrence of the fault may suggest something other than the carb (unless carb is pulling in air through a defective base gasket - don't know if this was replaced along with carb).
David
CITMAN
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Post by CITMAN »

SOUNDS LIKE THE FUEL LINE HAS GOT DIRT IN IT AND MAYBE BLOCKING THE JETS UP A BIT. TRY EITHER RELACING THE FUEL FILTER OR FITTING ANOTHER IN LINE FUEL FILTER THIS MAY REMEDY THIS SITUATION FAILING THAT HAVENT GOT A CLUE.
alan s
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Post by alan s »

David,
I don't know the exact model of this car but living in a mechanical third world country as I do, we still have plenty of carby cars around so I'll treat it as any other.
If the car had the old distributor, vacuum & centrifugal advance mechanisms, I would be straight into looking at jammed counter weights followed by a check of the point settings as either jammed weights or points gap closed up will cause identical symptoms. I doubt that it would be so primitive but I just threw that in for the hell of it.
Fuel; has it an auto choke? If so does it operate?
Fuel lines; As Citman says, dirty fuel lines are a possibility and most Weber carbs have a gauze filter just before the needle & seat (held in with a large brass nut.) If this partially blocks, it will cause supply problems. All PSA cars have these plastic looking fuel lines (and sometimes tanks too) that I have been told start to deteriorate with age. Owning a few CXs, we strike it often so we put filters, the metal types not the plastic throwaway ones, before the pump & between the pump & carby. I understand that if the petrol is laced with methanol, that this speeds up this process & the black powdery residue gets washed into the system; hence the need for the filters with a bit of capacity.
Carby settings: Most of the carby tops when held in a vertical position should have a 7mm clearance between the top of the float & the underside of the carb top as the needle cuts off. This setting is fairly critical & again, the symptoms this car is showing are those of a float set too low. If set too high, the opposite usually occurs; the motor will start OK when cold but play up when hot. I usually try to set the height at a minimum setting (say approx 8mm) so that the car starts reasonably easily with the choke on when cold & has to be run with a small amount of choke for a couple of miles after which, pushing in the choke makes no diff. The result I've found is better hot starting (which happens more often than cold anyway) and improved fuel consumption.
I would be surprised if the solution does not lie in there. The fact that it improved after a carby swap indicates it is in this region & a thorough check of everything associated with the intake for air leaks around the manifold region would also be a necessity before he started getting in too far, although I'd imagine thia has already been done.
Alan S
DLM
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Post by DLM »

Many thanks Alan, CITMAN. I'll see if I can persuade him to fit a new filter or supply pipes at least. Though a bit of a perfectionist in some areas (architect turned teacher) my friend is not very auto-minded - but I'll see if I can get him to check out what you've suggested.
I believe it's a manual choke model (hooray! - one complication out of the way) but Alan, could you explain your comment "if the petrol is laced with methanol". Are you suggesting this is present as an additive, or should be used to flush out the system into the metal new filters which can cope with the resultant residue?
David
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