Engine Dies on Idle... Where to start

My 2.25 Petrol engine seems to not like idling it will slowly cough and splutter and die.
It also does this when i brake to stand still - which is rather annoying at roundabouts / in traffic as i have to restart the engine before i can crawl forward again. I have got a combination of open choke, brake, rev, brake, rev to try and conteract this, but, its not ideal - and if i get it wrong its going to end with a crunch.

I adjusted the carb. so that the engine is getting more fuel when in idle and this helped a bit, but the engine still coughs and splutters a bit and still cuts out some of the time. I could adjust it even further, but i feel i am not treating the main problem here (and burning huge amounts of fuel).

Open to suggestions of where to start on this,

My thoughts were to check the sparks as the starting point. I did think there could be an issue with oil pressure - only because the oil pressure light comes on sometimes before dying - it does leak a fair bit of oil, but i keep it topped up and this doesn't seem to help...
Would lack of oil pressure = cut outs?

As you might have guessed, i've not quite got my head around engines yet so would appreciate some help

Thanks

What carb have you got? How old is it?

You could check the bolts on the inlet manifold to make sure they are tight, an air leak might cause this issue.
And as you said the plugs could cause a similar issue, or the points.

Cheers, i shall check the bolts when i get home tonight.

Not sure what the carb is, again i'll have a look tonight. Age wise i wouldn't have a clue, i've had the Landie for a few months prior to that it was sat in a field for a year or two and prior to that no idea of its history, though it seems to have been well looked after.

I shall report back on my findings later,

Thanks for your help

I just remembered I had a ratsun that did just the same, and I messed about with everything including the carby and it turned out to be the condenser.
I was young and a tiny bit dafter then.

Young and Daft. That fits my profile nicely

I'll try out a new condenser then too, they're not exactly expencive.

My Series 2a was like that when I got it - fine when running but always stalled at junctions etc...

All electrics checked out OK.

Solution was to remove carb, take apart removing all bits and pieces, clean and blow out with airline.

Rebuilt and replaced and problem was solved!

It lasted a couple of years before failing intermittently, eventually did same again but with a carb service kit - now its near perfect again.

Cheers,
Steve

Cheers Steve,

I'll try the easier solutions first but will bare in mind it maybe a carb. clean up job

Vast majority of these kind of faults are ignition related.

If the LR has been stood for a looong time then new plugs, points, HT leads, condenser and coil are a good place to start.

For a start I would also take the plugs and assess colour and condition - you can often tell what an engine is behaving like by plugs.

I assumed you have checked that it is not simply idling to low - i.e adjust that on the carb?

Stripping and cleaning the carb takes about 30 to 40 mins from start to finish and costs nothing unless you buy a refurb kit - paid £10 for mine.
Just need to be sure you set it up right when refitted - plenty info on line if not sure.

Good luck.
Steve

right were to start, take plugs and see if what ****e is on them if there clean and good, then fouling ie sort of tan colour that aint ya problem, if its wetish or dry you have a carb air/fuel problem. might be carbon if dry, is it burnt you will be able to see this. or is your gap wrong,

now on to carb problems does she just cough and splutter, has the engine had its valve overlap messed with ie different cams, when she starts to die does she missfire ?

What rusty meant was make sure your idle revs are not too low, if you follow the throttle cable, it goes to a linkage and on this is a stop screw which sets the idle revs, if you dont have a rev counter park up near a 'modern' car start them both and adjust till you hear them run at the same speed, a bodge for a knackered carb is to speed up the idle, not a brilliant idea but it might save having a bump trying to keep it running while stopping.

I suspect the slow running jet in the carb is blocked. This has happened to mine a few times: It runs perfectly at high revs but just won't idle. An inline fuel filter will help prevent this problem, but you'll have to strip and clean the carb to get clean out the jet. It,s not too difficult though.

Agree with Fenby.

For sure - do all tht electrical stuff as it can only help, but I fear you will not cure the fault till you sort the carb.

Steve

Hi,

right, had a bit of a play now.

I took out the first spark, it looked ok, put it back in and snapped the ceramic. So bought a complete new set of sparks, stuck one in to replace the broken one and before replacing the other 3 i went for a drive as i needed to move it out of the way and it seemed to work perfectly - just on one spark. So i will do the other three now and see if that has solved the problem or if the run around this weekend was a fluke or the solution.

I had adjusted the idle revs whilst out on a green lane a few weekends ago - that did seem to solve the problem a bit, but then it slowly got worse again.

I think cleaning up the carb. will be a good job to do and can only help matters though so will definitely aim to do this soon - the Landie had been standing for a year or so before i got it

Thanks for your help everyone

Hi Mike,

I have been away... It makes a big difference which carb you have here, I didn't spot which one you have. The Zenith is actually a very good carb, despite rumours to the contrary. This is the carb that was originally fitted to the 2.25. You do find a lot of folk fit the weber though, and some folk fit SU's. The Zenith has a slightly larger venturi than the weber, so if you have a high compression head you can get more fuel in. The SU is supposed to be very nice, but requires a new inlet manifold.

The Zenith was however botched from day one in many respects and has a lot of "features". Cleaning it, may help, but may not. the "O" ring is very sensitive to miss-fitting, the little ridge in the rubber should align up in the middle of the ring and you have to be careful not to stretch it when fitting. Do not roll it in, slide it, carefully! As the rings get old they start to leak and this can give the effect of the revs dropping and wavering, normally resulting in the engine stopping. The problems is basically running rich. This is just annoying, when it's right it generally ok for a long time.

However, if you find it's worse when the nose of the vehicle is higher that the tail, it might be another feature. The Zenith was manufactured by a few folk and not all were so concious of quality. The temperature treatment of the metal was not always the best, and the newer ones are worse than the older ones. I eventually sent mine to Greenways Engineering to be skimmed. The problem was that the top of the carb had twisted with the heat of the engine and the bottom had too, but in a different way, resulting in leaks. These could be nipped up by cranking the screws down £$%%^& tight, but after a few weeks it would be back to it's tricks again. Following being skimmed, I have never had another problem, although due to the poor metal it will return eventually.

Hope this is useful,

Rob

Hi Rob,

Just been to put the other 3 sparks in and fire her up - sadly back to square one - the weekend run must have been a fluke.

The Carb. is a Weber - any advice on it? I guess this is my next place to work.

Listening to the exhaust the engine almost sounds to be 'putting' or puffing out in short bursts

Cheers,

Mike

Hi Mike,

My memory is that there really isn't much you can adjust in a Weber, it's part of the attraction, they just work. It sounds like it's the idle jet, the Weber doesn't suffer from the same issues the Zenith does.

A traditional trick for this is, start the car. Put a pair of leather gloves on (important). Take the air filter off, rev it up, drop to idle and slam your hand over the venturi (the big vertical air pipe). This forces the carb to suck like £$%^&* through the only places it can pull air/fuel as the engine momentum tries to suck in air/fuel through the passage you blocked and the jets. If this doesn't work you have got to strip it down. You might try carburettor cleaner, it may work. The "putting" sounds like it's burning the fuel it gets, an' it ain't gettin much...

Sorry mate, Webers ain't my bag. I ditched mine in search of power without vapour locks! Which interestingly caused similar symptoms, after running for a while.... hmmmmm.... I never solved the problem. It used to konk out on the motorway when the engine got hot. I did spot this, on a... shhhhh... say it quietly.... Jeep website.

Vapor lock?

I have not followed it up, but you may find some know how.

Cheers,

Rob

Cheers Rob,

It ran fine again last night - until one of the new shocks fell off (shame as its damaged it now so i need another new one) - i have no idea how the bolt worked loose - but thats a different issue.

It does seem a tempormental problem. I'll try the sucky air trick (with leather gloves) and see if that helps - maybe the new sparks just needed a minute to run in before.

Thanks

Mike