Club 80-90 Forums

Hi all

I need some help,advice or just general pointing in the right direction.
I have a 1.9 petrol water cooled 1989 camper. We have been having a little trouble with her.
She likes to cut out/lose power every now and then espically at junctions or when acceleratoring
She doesn't do it all the time just ever now and then. Went in for MOT last week which was all fine but on way home she kept cutting out so guys took her back to garage but they can't seem to fine anything wrong.
Anyone have any ideas or is this just how she is?

TIA
Jo

Could be quite a few different things, lets start with some more info.

What maintenance have you had done on the engine in the last year or two?

how long has it been happening?

How often do you use it?

Does it happen hot and cold or both?

are you able to do any work on it yourself?

Had same sort of problem with mine happened a few times over the space of a few days then went back to normal.Was told possibly a carb problem but it's been ok last couple of years.i did put a cleaner in petrol dont know if this helped.sure others will come up with other suggestions.

Thanks itchyfeet and fazzer

Had full engine service and showed no problem
It only happens on the odd occasion twice last year. 3 times this year so far
We tend to use her most weekends and go for a good run in her. It can happen when she is hot or cold
E.g. Leaving campsite after a weekend away she stopped outside the gate as we were at junction. Then did same on roundabout once we filled up with petrol and had been travelling an hour.
She is a bit cheeky!
I have no clue when it come to anything to do with campers but Sara is very handy with a tool kit and Haynes manual

Garage reckons it's an electrical fault but can't find it as it's an intermittent issue

So IMO probably a bad electrical connection.

Have you been through the engine bay earths ( on the left head and under coil) and the black wires ...12V ignition connections at the coil? Sometimes removing cleaning and reconnecting or tightening spades with pliers will fix an intermittent connection or if that does not work cutting off spade / ring connectors and re crimping new ones.

Also ignition switch is a common problem if its worn it can cut 12V ignition power intermittently.

You can also try pulling plugs to dizzy and ignition module and reconnecting sometimes just a bit of corrosion, unplug and replug and it's gone.

Give the carb a clean with some carb cleaner spray - our jets were a bit blocked and caused similar symptoms. Worth a shot for a couple of quid!

Could also be water in fuel tank (quite common). Check filler neck for splits.

Sent from my ONEPLUS A3003 using Tapatalk

And last but not least, a fuel pump that is struggling to keep up. This can manifest itself with the engine suddenly dying for no apparent reason, initially at random (although often when coming up to junctions) until eventually it becomes totally unreliable. I had months of that before switching to an electric pump and its not easy to diagnose. Often, the pump will perform ok, the carb being supplied with just enough fuel but will on occasion literally run dry until the float bowl is replenished once more. Drives you nuts.

Come to think of it, a sticking float valve will also cause this.

Seems like ground hog day this,our van did as yours and cut out leaving a camp site,took an age to get going, then ran like a Swiss watch for 12 months then cutting out more often,we replaced lots of parts,cheapest first,plugs,leads,distributor cap,fuel, pump then ignition amplifier,that was the culprit. Someone else had a similar problem recently and the ignition amplifier was at fault.

That was my problem last week. As above started with replacing the little things and testing everything (rotor. plugs. fuel pushrod). Couldn't test the ignition amp so replaced that and it was better but I also had a non functioning vacuum advance and a worn accelerator pump diaphragm as well. Replacing them sorted it only for one of my by ht leads go west two days later. New set on and all good again.
David.

Thanks for all the replies.
will let you know what happens and what it was if we ever find the problem lol

Thank you to everyone that replied to my post.
So, Sara fitted a new ignition amplifier into the camper and it now seems to be working great. No cutting out when going round corners or at junction.
Took camper for a good long drive and all was good.

So thanks once again for all the help, knowledge that you gave

Jo