Series 2 petrol - fuel problem or something else?

So, I didn’t expect to be looking for help and advice quite so soon; I guess this is all part of the joy of Land Rover ownership…

My Series 2a, 2.25 petrol has been running very sweetly, esp after renewing all ignition components and the fuel pump a few weeks ago. But on Tuesday night, it started fine, then about 100 yards down the road stuttered and then stalled, as though running out of fuel. I knew there was plenty in the tank, and after about ten minutes got it fired up again and got home with a bit of suttering when the engine was under load but ticking over fine when stationary. Have tried running it since, seems to start fine (with the choke closed) and ticks over ok. But opening the throttle gently causes a “whoosh” noise (like air escaping or something) which seems to come from the carb, and then it starts to stutter again. Opening the throttle sharply causes a very violent “woosh” noise and the engine stalls. I can’t be certain the noise is from the carb, to be honest it’s such a violent noise I was worried about putting my head to close to the engine bay to find out.

Can anyone give me some direction over what this might be and how to start sorting it? Thanks for reading.

carb needs setting up air/feul mixture sounds wrong to me
you could check timing but as you say it starts and runs give that one a miss
you need to turn the air screw out slowly a
CLOCK WISE and the fuel in ANTI CLOCKWISE slowly while the engine is running when you are doing pull throttle when you get the engine revving even then you are somewhere near you will have to fiddle about with both screws as i dont know settings try screwing both all the way in and the unscrew 1 and a half turns each then quarter of a turn after that
hope this helps

Thanks DM, will have a play around at the weekend. Is this the sort of thing that can suddenly go out of kilter (still new to all of this so sorry for noob vagueness!) or should I have noticed something going off? Was all happy days until suddenly failing on me on Tuesday.

yes as wear and tear maybe **** in carb blocking a jet but defo carb prob mate

before twiddling screws, cos you knew it ran ok before, check some other bits.

theres a small bore copper pipe (may be plastic, as someone may have changed it) that goes from front end of carb (assuming you have zenith), round back of engine, and conects to vacuum advance on distributor. the coppers usually joined at either end by a rubber tube. ensure this is intact and connected.

the tube that goes from the inlet manifold to the brake vacuum servo (if fitted), check this for security and leakage. you can disconnect and bung it on the manifold if neccersary, but be aware if road testing, the brakes will need a lot more pressure to operate.

imo it sounds like fuel starvation, the above would be checking for incorrect mixtures caused be air leakage, rather than carb settings. possibly a blocked or partially blocked carb jet. if you can get it to rev up (by gently incresing the throttle on carb), with the filter elbow off the top, rev up fairly high then stick yer hand over the air inlet and open the throttle fully.
it will cause the engine to stall, the idea being the vacuum caused by the high revs and blocked inlet, will suck from everywhere possible inside carb, including cak stuck in jet.
may clear it, may get temporary improvement, or may not help at all. its another thing to try tho before upsetting setting which are known to have worked prior.

also worth checking, is the carb petrol diaphragm.
with engine off, look down top of carb and operate throttle fully open then closed.
you should see a squirt of petrol injected into carb on throttle opening.
if this aint happening, it can be a cause of your symptoms.

come back before tweaking stuff!

also worth checking would be the points gap and ignition timing.
both can be done without disturbing settings, and can be seen if "out".

(unlike cak in the carb)

Thanks for all the advice. Will try running through all of this at the weekend. You've both left me feeling positive that it might be something within my capabilities of sorting.

Will let you know how I get on.

ecobebop said:

Thanks for all the advice. Will try running through all of this at the weekend. You've both left me feeling positive that it might be something within my capabilities of sorting.

Will let you know how I get on.

Click to expand...

Remember that there is no such thing as a big job ... only a series of little jobs added together.

Oldseadog said:

Remember that there is no such thing as a big job ... only a series of little jobs added together.

Click to expand...

Ha ha! Like it. I'll keep it in mind when embarking on next series of smalll jobs...

OK, well following everyone's advice, I found fuel wasn't coming from the jet into the carb when opening the throttle, but it too a bit of time tracking down why - was hoping it was just dirt, but found that the little piston in the carb that forces the fuel through was sticking on it's return up it's barrel. A tried a little judicious sanding and improved a bit but still far from perfect and was still sticking. I was nervous about over-doing the sanding to the point where fuel could escape past the piston, so figured finding a new piston might be the answer. The carb is a Zenith 361V which otherwise seems in good working order.

This hasn't proven so easy - I was hoping carb refurb kits might have one but it seems not. So my options seem to be:
Buy an old carb and take the piston out of that.
Buy a nice working used carb and fit that completely.
Buy a new carb.

My concerns are:
If taking a piston out of an old carb, is there a possibily either the piston or barrel will have worn to their own shape after years of use, meaning it may not be a good fit for my carb (esp since the piston I have is not a good fit, it seems!)
Buying new I seem to only be able to find Chinese copy parts - I don't mind this for say a windscreen wiper but have heard lots of bad things about cheaper copy parts and so it might be good money after bad on a carb.

So getting hold of a used British made one would seem to the answer. Would you all agree? Was this carb fitted only to Landys or would other used parts suppliers be able to help?

One other option seems to be a Weber carb that a number of Landy parts places are doing, and describe "a direct replacement for Zenith 361v".
Weber Replacement Carburettor. To replace Zenith 361V
How accurate is this statement? Can I really just get hold of this and fit it, and would it be a better move that sticking with the Zenith?

Your experience and advice is really welcome.

way back in the days when I done mobile mechanics, I done this conversion on a 3a?
I looked after.
owner said it made it run better, faster & cheaper to run

webber carbs usually have great feedback & reputation,
as they`ve been doing it for years & years..


oh, love to see an inline fuel filter provided !!!