coughing 1300 maestro help please

[avgenisis]

help please......



I have a 1300 that has done about 50000 miles, although it has done maybe 20 or 30 mile a month for a year or so, all ran as sweet as a nut.....



anyway a friend of mine had a stroke a week or so ago, so the milage has climbed to 700 miles in the last 6 days (who needs a local hospital anyway!!)

and its started giving serious problems.



first it felt abit woolly, and lacking getup an go... then it started this coughing, almost to the point of stopping the engine (but at 10 - 50mph!!) eventually thae last 5 miles were covered bunnyhopping , at a max of 20mph downhill.



anway, here is what ive done so far...



new plugs, leads, rotor, distributor

checked / replaced faulty vacume hoses

removed the carb, cleaned it internaly (plunger was coated in sticky goo)



the above has restored most of the get up and go, but i cant shift the cough. it seems to happen when you try to accellerate, althouigh not allways, it coughed 5 times at a steady 30mph last time, so who knows!!!



i have fitted an inline fuel filter to monitor the pipes for crud....



the only thing i didnt do was remove the needles in the carb.



im now thinking coil and maybee amp... but any sugestions greatly recieved, as i need the transprort to get to the hospital.



sorry for such a long post but desperation strikes...



many thanks in advance



al.

[Nikamota]

Hi,

Your problem does indeed sound like the coil.

Check both the positive and negative poles of the coil by trying to wiggle them around in the casing (with ignition off) If any of them feel loose then replace the coil. Even if you cant feel any movement in the coil poles the coil could still be breaking down internally under load (normal driving).

A failure of the amplifier doesnt usually cause a misfire,the vehicle wouldnt start atall if this has failed,so i doubt its that.

Seeing as you seem to have checked everything else i hope this little extra helps. :)

[E_T_V]

It seems you've done alot of the usual things. I'd take a quick look at the vacuum pipes again just to be sure as these are the most common problem on these cars. Another thing to check is the piston damper on the top of the carburettor, it should be filled to the top of the damper with engine oil. if the reservoir is empty you can get coughing on acceleration. Also if the car is equipped with an ORFCO (Over run cut off) valve then try disconnecting it (two spade connectors on a solonoid near the bottom of the carb) as it sometimes can stick causing the car to cut out.

Otherwise I'm afraid it could be dirt or water in the fuel which may need cleaning out. Here is a tip I've found useful in the past for removing water from my fuel. Add 500ml or so of metholated spirits to the fuel tank when you are filling up with petrol. Water is soluble in meths but not in petrol and meths is soluble in petrol. Basically it removes tiny water droplets in the tank and carb by dissolving them and burning them in the engine.

[F690OTF(RIP)]

The symptoms remind me of those we had on a friend's Land Rover when the condenser was giving up, but I've never heard of condenser problems on a Maestro.

[avgenisis]

thanks for all the replys, have brought a coil 2day, so will try that first, and let you know how it proceds, just been given a diesel 'stro today, bottom end is v.noisy though.....

oh slight correction to my first post, shold have read, didnt remove jets from carb, not needles as i stated.

wish i could find an mg turbo talking car..... ummm :p !

al.

[E_T_V]

There is a 2.0 EFI which talks up for sale at the moment with an advert on this forum I think. Very rare and looks quite a nice motor

[B18 GPC]

There is a 2.0 EFI which talks up for sale at the moment with an advert on this forum I think. Very rare and looks quite a nice motor


i Fancy a talking car ever since i worked on simons .. and it told me to

"Please Fasten your seatbelt" .... Wouldnt mind a little computer for mine.

as simon says .. bodywork first

[avgenisis]

solved the problem, blown cylinder head gasket!! fitted new one last night, pots 2 + 3 bridged....

and hey presto all faults rectified!!

so 50mph on 2 cylinders wasnt bad!

[tony]

its good to hear that you have got it sorted :thumbup: