Keeps cutting out after first few miles

Hoping someone can shed some light on why my series 3 88 keeps cutting out after I drive about 3-4 miles from cold start. It's a 2 1/4 petrol 1982.

It's getting a bit embarrassing now with the local breakdown man The past couple of times I have left it for about a week then when I try it, it starts first time.

I'll be driving, the choke now in, and with no warning just cuts out. The engine turns over fine after but won't start. Temp gauge works but is showing normal. There is clean petrol in the tank and showing in the plastic chamber by the pump.

The distributor looks a bit prehistoric if I'm honest. If it's something accessible I'll have a go myself ........ Any ideas would be welcome, Had it near on two years and first bit o grief I've had ! .....got go fetch it first

is it on a zenith carb by any chance as it sounds like the casing has warped just enough to run ok till it warms up then buggers up the mixture by letting air in and stopping it running

If Johnny's advice is not the cause, I heard a similar story a while back with a Moggie Minor. It had a hairline crack it the inlet manifold and when it heated up it expanded and let air in. When it cooled down the crack closed. Hard to find though.

mmm how will I know if it's a zenith carb ? it does look a bit ancient too.
Would go outside and have a look but it's 2 miles down the road lol

redjellydopper said:

mmm how will I know if it's a zenith carb ? it does look a bit ancient too.
Would go outside and have a look but it's 2 miles down the road lol

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You hope...

true. if it's gone I'll just follow the oil drips
Cheers for help. I'll check both. The manifold could be a good one, never thought of that. Come to think of it there has been more fumes / smoke from below the carb'. Think the seals on the exhaust manifold are shot aswell

redjellydopper said:

true. if it's gone I'll just follow the oil drips
Cheers for help. I'll check both. The manifold could be a good one, never thought of that. Come to think of it there has been more fumes / smoke from below the carb'. Think the seals on the exhaust manifold are shot aswell

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youll know its a zenith carb coz its got zenith in 1/2" lettering down one side of it
id also check the gasket between the carb and fanimold

It could be the zenith carb. Then again I had a 2.25 which did exactly the same thing. I found it was the lift pump which when hot was getting fuel evaporation. I changed it and all was well.

Had it towed back today. It's an old weber carb'. He sprayed something in the air filter inlet and still didn't start .... could've been fly spray for all I know
Might change the condenser. Seems like a good place to start

Are you still getting a spark after its stopped [check with old plug in contact with block] if so the its a fuel problem.

if the beast stops suddenly its not the carb, this would splutter. it will be electrical, change the condenser, gently pull the earth lead in the dizzy, they brake inside the insulation, see if the coil is very hot, if all else fails run a new wire to the coil from the battery. i have had ammeters cause this fault, will not be a bad earth on the engine.

I had this with my old 2 1/4 petrol, the leads were starting to break down at the connections on the ends, creating high resistance and heat. Wouldn't start until it all cooled down and then it'd run ok again for about half an hour and give up again.

Ended up replacing it with a 200TDi i had sat on the floor - bit extreme I know! But new leads, plugs, coil & condenser etc would probably help it

Just to clear up......... put new points, condenser and coil, and now runs like it just come off the production line. Tightened up the manifold and stopped the rattling that's been ****ing me off for the last year aswell - happy days

redjellydopper said:

Just to clear up......... put new points, condenser and coil, and now runs like it just come off the production line. Tightened up the manifold and stopped the rattling that's been ****ing me off for the last year aswell - happy days

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:cheer2:

beware if you used genuine lucas ignition parts as they gave me no end of greif on my ford zephyr due to their poor quality foreign manufacture ,the final straw was when the new rotor arm went completley to earth and left me stuck in a narrow lane in the dark

I refer the 'onerable gent'man to my post in series engines entitled: "Mucky series 3 diesel tank" - although much worse than yours - symptoms were same - until it wouldn't start at all. If not dirt, then my bet would be lift pump. If it's old, i'd think about changing it anyway - the buggers always give up when you least want them to. (60 miles from anywhere, pouring with rain, 2am, long shift, etc etc)

I would say it sounds like air

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