Engine Wont Idle

[Joel]

My engine won't idle. It starts ok, and will run as long as you've got your foot on the gas, but as soon as you lift off it stalls.

 

There's a small patch of oil on the floor below the fuel pump/dizzy area, but it's quite hard to pin-point exactly where it's coming from. The most likely place seems to be from the forward-most inlet where the inlet manifold bolts to the head. Also the exhaust gases stink of oil.

 

For what it's worth, I changed all the gaskets before I fitted the engine, about 12 months ago. The car's not on the road yet so the engine only gets started from time to time. I drove to SVA last week, which was the first time the car's been further than in and out of the garage, and it ran fine.

 

Any ideas greatly appreciated.

 

2.0 Pinto with Weber 2V carb and ESCII

[Jon Bradbury]

Joel

 

Check the inlet manifold for leaks. This happened to me and the engine ran fine when cold, because the choke was on, but as soon as it came off it stalled because the mixture was suddenly too weak. I found I'd left a pipe off (it was sealed but not good enough).

 

J

[Guest flightless]

Joel, I have exactly the same set up as you and it turned out to be two problems. Firstly the idle jets on the carb were blocked - I needed to lift them out of the carb (they are the two inner jets) and clean them out with a bristle from a wire brush. Secondly I found that the engine would idle when warm but when cold - and also when it had been left for a while after being warmed up - it wouldn't idle properly - this was due to the stepper motor that controls the mixture isn't calibrated properly (somebody said because the ESC11 wasn't getting the signal from the cold side of the air filter) i needed to unscrew the plunger on the end of the stepper motor so that it hit the actuating cam for the misture control - I also had to make sure i had blocked off all the holes on the inlet manifold.

 

cheers

[Longboarder]

You should be careful what you use to clean carb jets. Wire is a no no. Blow through them or use a bit of nylon fishing line. Using wire harder than the brass they are made of may enlarge them and lead to over-rich running.

 

Nigel

[Joel]

Turned out to be a blocked idle jet.

 

Thanks everyone.