Cylinder head change now running like crap!

Hi All,
I am new and have said a hi on the intro page.

I have a 1980 petrol series 3 which was running sweet as a nut. 66,000 GENUINE miles and 3 owners. Started on first turn every time and pulled like a train. Then the head was changed as it cracked.

It was returned to me and straight away didnt start as it did before. It was "spluttering" as I drove it away and was like driving a different vehicle. I was told by the guy that "fixed" it that he thought the carb needed a refurb, but as I said it was fine before.

It has cut out on me on the way to work yesterday and would not start for half an hour. When its running its spluttering, backfiring, not getting a spark to all plugs and runs like a bag of spanners.

Fuel is getting through the carb.

Does this sound like the timing has not been set up correctly?

Any help would be much appreciated.

Dan

There's any number of things it could be. Suspects would be. I've listed _some_ below. Did the bloke not know what he was doing? Where abouts are you based someone knowledgeable poking their head under the bonnet could probably work it out in 5 minutes and save you getting ripped off...

It's in reverse order of expense / buggering about so start at the bottom an work up.

- a crap head has been used (hopefully unlikely)
- a crap head gasket has been used or its not bee torqued down properly
- tappets not set right
- tappets not put together right
- manifolds not sealing to head (esp. intake)
- manifolds not sealing together (there's a gasket between inlet and exhaust)
- carburettor not set up right (find out what carb you have then we can help you set it up).
- spark plugs got crap on them
- plug leads put back in wrong order (from 4 oclock position on dissy they should go 1-3-4-2 anti-clockwise)
- king lead (one from coil to middle of dissy) has been swapped with a plug lead
- spark plug leads damp or mucky - take each one off (in TURN so you don't get them mixed up) and give them a good spray of WD40 inside the ends and along their length then wipe off with a clean piece of paper towel.
- carburettor choke cable set up wrong. Make sure it is on its end stop when its pushed in and that it starts to move as soon as the choke is pulled out and that it returns back to the end stop when pushed in. Too much or too little choke will make a petrol run like ****e

dominicbeesley said:

There's any number of things it could be. Suspects would be. I've listed _some_ below. Did the bloke not know what he was doing? Where abouts are you based someone knowledgeable poking their head under the bonnet could probably work it out in 5 minutes and save you getting ripped off...

Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply, I will take a look at the bits you have sugested until they get above my ability! I am based not far outside of Wrexham in Coedpoeth. There is a local expert who once owned my vehicle so I am trying to obtain his number to see if he could take it in. Hopefully it would be a 5 minute fix for the right person. Also its the zenith carb fitted.

Thanks again

One quick way to tell for manifold leaks is to get a can of carb cleaner and spray about the joins of the manifolds to the head with the engine running. If you hear a change in the engine note it's likely sucking the stuff in through a bad join and this would warrant further investigation.

Garages like the one who did this to your car are why I do all my own work...shocking stupidity to tell a customer a line to get them off the property with a badly-running repair job.

Have you considered going back to them and demanding satisfaction? I wouldn't myself given their utter level of stupidity but then again letting them get away with it isn;t right either.

ajr

You mentioned that it's not sparking at all the plugs. If you're sure about this, it is quite a specific fault. They shouldn't have touched the timing to change the head gasket, but may have knocked the distributor and affected the spark/timing. If you can get the timing checked, it should be a quick/cheap fix.

mrchurchill109 said:

One quick way to tell for manifold leaks is to get a can of carb cleaner and spray about the joins of the manifolds to the head with the engine running. If you hear a change in the engine note it's likely sucking the stuff in through a bad join and this would warrant further investigation.

Garages like the one who did this to your car are why I do all my own work...shocking stupidity to tell a customer a line to get them off the property with a badly-running repair job.

Have you considered going back to them and demanding satisfaction? I wouldn't myself given their utter level of stupidity but then again letting them get away with it isn;t right either.

ajr

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Thanks for the reply. I bought it off eBay but the seller was a mechanic. Soon after buying (100 miles) I noticed the gasket was blown. He took it back and swapped the head and charged for parts only. I wouldnt concider going back to him to be honest as he has let me down with the job... Having said that he could have told me where to go and not looked at it at all.

I will do the test you suggested tomorrow thank you.

Dan

zeaphod said:

You mentioned that it's not sparking at all the plugs. If you're sure about this, it is quite a specific fault. They shouldn't have touched the timing to change the head gasket, but may have knocked the distributor and affected the spark/timing. If you can get the timing checked, it should be a quick/cheap fix.

Click to expand...

One plug was definately not firing yesterday. I did some road side checks but when it fired back up (eventually) I had to run it home quick (in a chitty chitty bang bang fashion) and get a lift into work. I will do some more checks tomorrow evening so any suggestions are welcomed!

I am of the opinion (maybe misguided) that it should be something simple and the timing seemed to me to be a good possible. I will take it to our local expert if the basic checks proove fruitless.

Thanks for your reply also and I will definately get the timing checked if my basic fault finding fails.

Thanks

Dan

If one is not firing it is maybe just a damaged HT lead or the distributor cap is wet or mucky or even just not pushed back on properly. Like I say try taking each lead off and giving it a good clean up with WD40, same for the cap itself - just remember where all the leads go back. If that doesn't work you can tell which plug is at fault by pulling each one off in turn and starting up. The one that doesn't make it worse when unplugged is the culprit. Try swapping that lead with a new or known good one and check that spark plug too.

To be fair to the feller fixing it, it might not have been his fault if a lead has gone just bad luck!

D

dominicbeesley said:

If one is not firing it is maybe just a damaged HT lead or the distributor cap is wet or mucky or even just not pushed back on properly. Like I say try taking each lead off and giving it a good clean up with WD40, same for the cap itself - just remember where all the leads go back. If that doesn't work you can tell which plug is at fault by pulling each one off in turn and starting up. The one that doesn't make it worse when unplugged is the culprit. Try swapping that lead with a new or known good one and check that spark plug too.

To be fair to the feller fixing it, it might not have been his fault if a lead has gone just bad luck!

D

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No I do agree, to be fair to him he couldnt test it after the repair as he injured himself. He got someone else to test drive it etc and then called me. I wouldnt take it back to him as he has done enough and I wouldnt bother him any more.

I've got a spare dizzy with leads on it so I will do the test you suggest.

Thanks again

Dan

I am going to do some fault finding this evening, any more suggested actions would be great.

Thanks

I forgot to say the water pump was changed also. Could this have caused any of the problems?

Landmandan said:

I forgot to say the water pump was changed also. Could this have caused any of the problems?

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It shouldn't affect anything but the temperature. If the heater works at all, then water is probably pumping around ok.
I'd focus on getting a spark at every plug for now.

Problem resolved with your assistance, many thanks.

So what did you actually do - it's only fair to share so others can find out searching later....