More breakdown woes...

[fallingoffalot]

Trying to diagnose my oil leak, I took the van round the block to warm it up. 1/2 a mile into my journey it cut out and died!! It was just outside the BMW garage in Cheltenham and luckily their mechanic was coming out in his lorry. He stopped, said it sounded like it had run out of fuel, or maybe the dizzy had oil in from the leak. I went home got a liter or so walked back put it in, no luck. Checked the dizzy, seems clean and dry.

I was checking the fuses as well and one of the 20A ones was blown. Put a spare in and it made a crack and blew instantly. This is not the ignition I don't think as this is a 10A one and I've already had that blow.

Recovery on their way, any ideas in the mean time?

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(Edit: the fuse appears to be the main beam or headlight flash)

 

[thejinx]

Are you getting fuel to the carb through the fuel pump?

 

[sparkywig]

There shouldn't be any 20A fuses fitted, only 8A or 16A.
If you're blowing 20A fuses there's a serious short circuit somewhere. Which fuse is blowing?

 

[fallingoffalot]

There shouldn't be any 20A fuses fitted, only 8A or 16A.
If you're blowing 20A fuses there's a serious short circuit somewhere. Which fuse is blowing?

It appears to be the main beam. I think the whole lot needs looking at, it looks like a bit of a mess to me

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[fallingoffalot]

Are you getting fuel to the carb through the fuel pump?

I'm not sure, I'll check when I get home, haven't got any tools with me (recovery see to be taking ages!) In fact the recovery guy will probably check, the one yesterday did.

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[thejinx]

Also check you have spark. Basics first.

 

[fallingoffalot]

What voltage should I see across the coil with the ignition on? I checked this morning and I was seeing 9.6v.

 

[thejinx]

This is not my level of expertise. Do you have spark at the plug when you crank it over.

 

[fallingoffalot]

This is not my level of expertise. Do you have spark at the plug when you crank it over.

I haven't tried this yet as I haven't got the right socket to pull the plugs. I've ordered one from JK, hopefully get it tomorrow.

 

[sparkywig]

You don't need to take the plugs out, just pull the ht leads off the plugs one at a time and hold them by the engine block while someone is cranking the engine over.

 

[fallingoffalot]

Oh OK, will the spark jump far enough, given that there is a rubber cover over on it?

 

[sparkywig]

Pull the rubber boot back a bit so the terminal shows, and hold the lead with some pliers.

 

[thejinx]

Howie58 had this same issue. Look for a post called “engine not firing” his problem was valve clearance and timing.

 

[fallingoffalot]

Hooray it goes.....

No idea. I charged the battery up with a Halfords universal battery charger, it only took about 20 mins to get to the maintenance phase - indicating that it wasn't all that discharged, it actually read 13.4v before the charge. I cranked the engine for much longer than usual and pumped the throttle loads more than usual and it fired. A bit rough and spluttery to start with but then it sounded fairly normal I think. The only thing I can think of is some sort of blockage that's now cleared or I actually did run completely out of fuel and it's just pulled the 1/2L I put in yesterday? Thanks for all the above suggestions, now on to the oil leak!

 

[ozziedog]

If in future, you think you may have run out of fuel, put a bit in the cap or lid and slip that down the carby after taking the air filter off of course and that will give you a clue as it’ll fire and run but not for long.

Ozziedog,,,,,,,,,, if you needed a charger, it needs to stay on overnight while charging. :mrgreen: