Series 2 poor idle when hot now wont start

I purchased my little LR Series 2 couple weeks back. Since getting it replaced longer rear half shaft, serviced carburetor as it would stall on acceleration. Found vacuum pipe was not existent and carb was full of dirt. and float level was wrong. Cleaned all jets. car started right away and had a little pause on acceleration. purchased new fuel hose and installed vacuum advance. It ran well when cold and warm. Once vehicle was hot it would popcorn. If accelerating it ran great. the moment you let off accelerator to stop or take to long to change gear it would stall. Today I decided that I should check the spark plugs and make sure they in good condition and the gap is correct. found spark plug gap on 1-3 was around 0.4 mm 0.016" and number 4 was 0.7. adjusted these all to 0.75 mm then check points and found it was set to around 0.5 mm so made the gap smaller 0.4. Now she wont start. checked I am getting spark. not exceptionally bright spark but its there. If I turn the engine over 3 or 4 times I will get a loud backfire. wake up the neighbors. Suspecting a faulty coil not giving strong enough spark or timing being out. I checked HT leads position and used firing order from ontop of manifold. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

if its a later weber ,they have a black plastic float which is full of SPONGE, split developes ,soaks up fuel and sinks flooding engine

condensor

It has the zenith carb. If I lesson spark plug gap again it wants to start. Don't really want to do that as it is wrong. Will get multimeter out tomorrow and test coil

been using powerspark leccy modules for years now on all my classics ,no brainer , 10 mins to fit , no condenser to break down ,no points to adjust ,instant smoother idle ,better starting ,all for £30 posted.....................................i also keep a spare but have never needed one in nearly 8 years of using em

Did you change the spark plugs or simply clean and adjust. After a few months of owning my series 3 it started running rough and backfiring, after poking various bits I started wondering if the unleaded petrol was causing the problem. Sure enough, when I stated putting the lead replacement additive in the tank, it started to run better. If it won't start at all, take off the air filter pipe from the top of the carb and pour an egg cup full of petrol down the carb.

Col

Also, when you serviced the carb, did you set the air mix screw properly?

Col

I'd replace the plugs, coil, condenser, rotor arm, dizzy cap and HT leads. The whole lot will cost only £30 odd.

Got my multimeter out Primary winding resistance 3 ohms secondary winding 5513 ohms. Informatioin I can find shows the secondary windings should be at around 6000-7000 ohms. Has anyone tested their coil.

ok so dumb ass moment. checked timing put the spark plug leads back on. Realised I had put them all one position counter clockwise along. car started up fine. adjusted timing by rotating the distributor. till it idled at its best. drove it back and forward a few times then it cut out. she cut out. thought it was the fuel hose sucking in air checked that. suspect there may be a cavitation or vaccum lock now. I have an electric pump fitted at bottom of the bulk head. suspect I need to move it nearer to the tank. I realized this because the fuel filter was almost empty. any ideas with the fuel pump location.

can I remove the old manual fuel pump guts and fit blocking plate. most of it has been removed before i got it just a lifter that rattles up and down making a racket and appears some oil seaps out

FFS!!!! Why didn't you say before! Why do you have an odd non standard fuel pump? The standard fuel pumps cost diddly. You might want to consider retro fitting the standard fuel pump and fuel lines and start from there. Do you have the following: a standard 2.25l petrol engine; a workshop manual? And a standard coil only costs a tenner. Firing order 1,3,4,2! Have you got the HT leads in sequence?

engine is running fine now. coil working mostly everything is standard except the fuel pump. I am not in UK so not so easy to get spares. will message my local LR spares place see what they have. might have to get someone to bring a good old manual pump out.

If the fuel filter is empty, is the pump actually pumping petrol, have you got enough petrol in the tank?

Col

Fuel tank is full took of fuel outlet to check it was not blocked and checked. The pump pumps fine when cold once it has been work for a while If my gives issue. Car stalls. Opened bonnet check filter there very little fuel in it. Turn off for a while and start again see bubbles coming up into filter. Checked all new pipes for air leak there is none. I have afeeling the wrong pump was fitted by previous owner as this one appears to produce between 9 psi and 12 psi. Will look at moving pump closer to tank and test that.

it may be to powerful ,forcing the needle valve open and flooding

The in line filters are often not full , is it easy for you to remove carb float bowl and check level when it stops?

The inline filter normally sits with about 2 to 2.5cm depth of fuel. when it cuts out there is less than 0.5 mm depth of fuel and what looks like bubbles flowing through. Also the sound of the pump changes to like it would if there was no fuel. It appears from the forums i have read I should install a return to the tank so that the fuel continuously flows through the pump preventing it from overheating, vaporising causing cavitation. the other suggestion is to install pump as close to tank as possible as these electric pumps don't like to suck to hard. I currently have about 1 meter of hose between tank and pump and pump is almost same height as top of tank.

the 2.3 petrol engines where carried over to the coil sprung ninety and one-ten. these plus the later 2.5 and v8s had a facet red top (colloquialy called a ticker pump) the early models had under seat tanks same position as series, and the pump was mounted behind it on the outrigger.

so "an electric pump" is not evil, but doesn't necessarily rule it out as your problem. standard mech pumps are not without their faults either

I have just ordered a mechanical pump new and pipes. Hopefully will arrive tomorrow. I check last night moving the 12 v pump near the tank. I thought this improved things but when just idling pump gets excessively hot could not feel it before I move it. Looking at the model numbers it appears to be a cheap ch#$%@^ model, it also appears it only cuts off at 9 psi which would be to high without a return pipe back to the tank. I also will replace the inline filter as it appears to be very junky.