Opinions please gents

[Adrian Southgate]

The Sierra is giving me jip. Running rich, high tickover (1200 rpm), mixture screw is fully in - 1/4 turn back, starts misfiring at 2000 - 2200 rpm, throttle stop screw is backed off and not making contact, throttle cable has slack and is free moving, as it the throttle linkage assembly. Looking for places to start.

I will be doing a compression test when I get home tomorrow and will change the condenser too. 

Anyone got anymore thoughts?

[Adrian Southgate]

I don't trust the carb on the leggy not to be faulty. It too is running like dog poo at the moment, thats one of the reasons I need to take it off the road.

I only have myself to blame for using second hand parts from my parts bin but if i'd bought everything new I might as well have gone and bought a 'proper' car. I'm enjoying the challenge but its wearing thin. The cam timing was checked and double checked when Mike H and I were fitting the bits to the engine. Dave and I also checked it when we did the initial start up. I'll see what else I've got lurking.

Now i've ordered pizza instead of eating out I have a bit more time to try something else. 

time to raid that parts bin again i guess.

[Dave Adams]

coughing and spluttering ......is it points or electronic? check spark and see what colour it is....it should be blue in colour if yellow you have a problem in the sparks dept. if its points then the condenser is u/s

[Big Vern]

Dave, its Ade we're talking about so it'll be a wick soaked in oil :-) But yes could well be the condemser

[Adrian Southgate]

:-( wick soaked in paraffin i'll have you know...

Anyway, pulled number 1 plug..I knew I should have changed the head gasket as soon as I got the engine back in the car. I said as much to both Dave and Mike but then carried on regardless of my own advice.

Guess what i'll be doing over the weekend :-(

[Big Vern]

Yeh coolant has a flamable sticker on the side of the bottle but I've never got a car to run succesfully on it, still you've got the carb rebuilt now so it should go well once it's sorted.

[Dave Adams]

i use the glycol coolant they use in peugeots (bright green stuff) because i had to deliver some 20 odd ton to coventry before they closed and they only had room for 19 odd ton so i drummed it off into 25L drums and took 6-8 home with me still have the better part of a drum or so left.

[1midz0wwbl268]

Vern, i always thought that with a duff condensor the engine would start but cut out as soon as you rev it,

i had a simular problem with the 2.0 pinto i had in my eagle RV, that would start, run but splutter , and then die, i traced that down to a stuck vacuum advance , the clip wasnt on properly  and the arm wasnt moving , i tried everything, checked static timing,  carb, points, it was only when i took off the vacuum lead and sucked though it  i noticed the arm not moving   

[Dave Adams]

condensers are oil and paper capacitors basically and they can take ages to pack in completely sometimes the car will run fine for hours and then just stop and not start again until cold, sometimes you get constant missfires sometimes popping and banging through exhaust, but almost always a crappy yellow spark at the plug when they are on the way out.

[Adrian Southgate]

I'm a computer engineer and there is no way I would give control of any vehicle I'm driving over to a damn box of electronics.

[Adrian Southgate]

Number 1 plug is blacker than the ace of spades and there is a slight oil leak from the head gasket by the side of the dizzy.

I have expired and given up for the night, got food on the way and jelly babies to win. I'll start again saturday and see what happens. I thought the head gasket was dubious before I put the engine in but couldn't get enough oomph behind the wrench to crack the bolts without tipping the engine over so left it until I got it back in the car. Then left it until I got it running and as it seemed happy didn't bother. I will learn to trust my first instincts one day. Now to find the spare gasket set which has all the other gaskets in. Looks like that head gasket Dave Thomas gave me will be useful sooner rather than later.

[Dave Adams]

also check dwell (more accurate than points gap) do you have right coil for your ign system? is coil wired up correct way round? (seen it loads of times) run wire direct from +ve coil to battery and test.....you can add a condenser at -ve terminal of coil to earth as a temp measure to test (often done this myself) check vac retard works, check advance (weighted)  works as it should (broken or sticky springs will affect timing drastically) ign advance wants to be about 4-6 degrees max. tickover, although engine will run much nicer at 12-20 degrees tickover it will pink its head off at high revs though! you can buy a "pegged" distributor for the pinto which restricts advance on dissy but allows higher static advance for better tickover.

missfire is usually caused by weak mixture (air leaks) a coughing spluttering often by over rich mixture (which will contribute to high tick over) also over advanced ignition can cause rich running (it can cause the engine to develop high vacuum and cause it to draw in more fuel than it should)

spark plug gaps need to be right as well, so do your HT leads and the silicone leads in particular give immense problems and on my pinto were replaced every year because of miss fires.

[Adrian Southgate]

I still think your statement about multiple faults holds water BV.

My first priority though should be to get the gaskets sorted to at least give it a fighting chance. Once thats done I can start from the beginning and work through the basics before panicking again :-)