Club 80-90 Forums

Happy new year all!

Basically my DG engined van is an absolute "bar-steward" to start. From cold it will only start after lots and lots of cranking with the throttle to the floor. Anything else and it won’t even try. While cranking with pedal down there’s lots of pops and bangs and misfires until eventually it staggers into life. Funny thing is once running it’s as sweet as a nut. Restart when hot is a bit hit and miss - sometimes fine sometimes more pops and bangs. Just rebuilt the carb (2E3) but it’s made no difference. Vac pull down ok, choke flap gap set at 2.5mm, bypass, auto choke and IM heaters all ok (or at least have a few ohms). At a loss and getting pissed off. To cap it all suddenly temp gauge is permanently on full scale (hot) even from cold cranking

Any ideas? Should I be assuming all is ok fuel wise and moving on to ignition?

Have a quick look at the document in this post and check your carb adjustments, you should only need to press the accelerator once to set the choke and then start on key

http://forum.club8090.co.uk/viewtopic.p ... g#p8233263

My first elimination would be fuel.

Mixture test
You'll need to use a gas analyser for that.
MOT garages will oblige for a small fee.
Don't twiddle the mixture screw!
You can set it to 2.5 turns out from stop.

ignition.
An engine will readily start if the ignition is in the ballpark.
Power comes from it being bang on 5 deg btdc

Weak spark
Bright sparks are essential

Compression
See the haynes manual.

Is the van in regular use? Just wondering if the fuel pump to carb priming time is adding to the problem.

This is a good starting point for temperature gauge woes.

Did you ever get this sorted? as I used to have exactly the same problem. Every time the engine was cold it would take so much cranking that if it was really really cold the battery would go flat before the engine would start.
Turned out to be the fuel pump. It was working but just not that well and it was newish.

Fitted an electric pump, let it tick for 10 secs and then starts every time!

Worth a try.