Hi all,
Made it back from England/Scotland with the new '74 BGT V8, even managed to
make it through all the snow which was huge fun for someone from Australia!
Of course I made the trip to pick up the new car with no spare parts, no tools
etc! Believing of course the PO's assertion that the car was reliable...
Hmmm.. it is, sort of.. <G> Pulling into the driveway of my uncles house, the
car started to splutter, then died. I couldn't get any power to the starter at
all, ignition light on. This was after perhaps a three hour drive at night,
with lights, fans cutting in, stereo etc. Next morning she started up fine but
still hard to start. On the way into Edinburgh, she died on me twice, started
to misfire, then died, again no power to the starter. I took her to a
specialist in Edinburgh but that didn't solve much except cost me ###'s. I
ended up with a new fuel pump, new condensor and points but still the problem
persisted.
I ended up calling in another guy who found many faults including a loose fan
belt (explains the battery problem), the belt on there is too big, no oil in
the dashpots and incorrectly gapped points - ie no gap!!. The carbs were spot
on, no problems there he checked them with his Exhaust gas analyser. 3.8% CO I
seem to recall, 14.4:1 on the AF ratio. A little on the lean side I guess but
when she idles and runs she seems perfect. She gets a bit above N before the
fans cut in and bring her down to N or just below.
After the last mechanic, I drove her for three hours again, at night, and the
same problem reoccured, misfiring, then cutting out but always crawling around
town, no probs on the freeway. Last night and over the last couple of days
she's seems a bit better, but still starts to develop a misfire once the
engine gets warm enough and the fans cut in but not serious enough to stall
her - maybe only because there hasn't been enough time for the fault to
present itself again.
Any ideas? I am going to buy a few tools here to check the timing, dwell etc
as I have nothing not even a single screwdriver at the moment!! <G> I am
wondering if it could be the coil (lucas sport) but it is staying bone cold. I
am also wondering if it could be the batteries at fault. The alternator is
putting out 13.8V no matter what rpms, the battery shows about 12.5V with the
motor off. I also considered the ground strap but the lights all work fine etc
etc. Could it be that the ground is not good enough for the ignition but ok
for the lights etc? The car had a relatively recent respray and hardly any
driving since.
Thanks all and a happy new year! :)
Cheers,
Neil
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