juddering & clicking

[nicksmaestro06]

Hi,

Sorry for my appalling spelling on my last post which i have deleted :)

Right the problem is:
At the moment as many of you already know my car is off road so i can only run it round at the garages so its averaging about 15MPH. I filled it up with 5 liters 3 days ago and ran in and hour each day. It was running fine today all of a sudden there was a clicking noise at the right hand side of the engine i think. it would judder at 2,000 revs and struggle above that with this clicking noise. I think it is just low on fuel and has sucked up some rubbish can anyone help

Thank You,
Nick

p.s sorry for the spelling and my temper :)

[G51 NAV]

Edited as comments no longer apply. Thanks for trying, Nick :)

[ChrisM]

Nope, I could do with some too John...

Nick, if you want some help, it would be helpful to us if you could take some more care over your posts and make sure we can understand them! :)

[D87 SMW]

Time for a forum Spell Checker methinks...

[nicksmaestro06]

Reformed version above ^

[nicksmaestro06]

Sorry i posted quite a few foul ones lol (reformed version above ^)

[e692wtt]

Diagnosis: fouled spark plug. My money says "Number 3".

That make any more sense :laugh: ?

Translated: lots of slow running has fouled up one of the spark plugs, I reckon No 3. Usually, it is No 3 that overheats in hard useage, but let's call this one a hunch.

Nick, check the plugs and get back to us. A set of plugs and a full service will probably ensure that full service resumes ;) .

[G51 NAV]

Edited as comments no longer apply. Thanks for trying, Nick :)

[D87 SMW]

Nick, thanks for revising your first post.

As Rich Smith says, check and clean up the plugs and you will also want to clean the distributor contacts. Check the fuel pump too, and perhaps fit a fuel filter as I have just done. You could also use Redex, as you mentioned the car has never done much over 40mph? Do that and see how it runs. If it seems to cure the problem give it a good revving - you may end up with brown sludge popping out of the exhaust.

[B18 GPC]

Ignore here...

What was posted doesnt make sence now i have re-read..

[nicksmaestro06]

Hi,

I cleaned my spark plugs they had a fair bit of Carbon fouling which is recent and it is long since i last checked them. It seemed to run better after that there was no juddering or this clicking sound. When it reached to the tempreture that the fan kicks in it stasrted playing up again :-(

[D87 SMW]

Hi,

I cleaned my spark plugs they had a fair bit of Carbon fouling which is recent and it is long since i last checked them. It seemed to run better after that there was no juddering or this clicking sound. When it reached to the tempreture that the fan kicks in it stasrted playing up again :-(

How do you mean playing up? Clicking sound again? Wonder if it's the alternator...

[e692wtt]

Did the 'clicking' start when the cooling fan came on, and stop when the cooling fan went off again? If so, there's an electrical short in that part of the cooling fan circuit switched by its switch (without using the word 'switch' or its derivatives too many times :laugh: !).

Give us more detail :) .

[G Force]

I think the clicking sound will be the main coil lead arcing to the low tension on the coil. More than likely due to a faulty HT lead, If you want confirmation of this wait till dark and try reving the engine from under the bonnet and look for sparks in the area of the leads.

Fit new leads and clean the distributor cap and coil tower. While the dizzy cap is off check the rotor arm and the carbon brush in there.

Just running the engine on idle each day without driving anywhere is eventually going to foul the plugs making matters worse. If the plugs are very black and sooty the engine is probably running rich as well, so check the vacuum switch diaphragm is ok for starters.

Gary :)

[nicksmaestro06]

Hi,

Well the juddering and the clicking noise starts when the fan goes on mainly and when cold its all very wierd from running fine to this :(..... Also i've never noticed this before but there is a dripping noise in the sump when the car had been ran :confused: im finding it hard to explain.

Sorry i no im confused so you must be to lol :confused:

[ben rawlings]

Hi Nick

The dripping noise you refer to after it has been running im willing to bet is just the exhaust heat sheild cooling down. Mine does it too, nothing to worry about there :)

cheers
Ben

[Steve H]

As a bit of an aside comment, you say you have put in 5 litres of fuel recently. How much was already in there, and if it was any appreciable amount, how old was it? Old petrol is known to give a lot of problems because the light fraction evaporates off.

Just to back up Gary's comments, I came across arcing and hence juddering once before on another type of car. It only did it when the engine was revved which twisted the engine on its mountings a little, bringing the crack in the HT lead close to an earthed plate (it was rubbing against the plate that caused the crack in the first place).

Not sure why it should seem to be worse in this case when the engine is hot. Maybe an interesting experiment would be to disconnect the rad switch and short across the terminals on the cable so the fan works all the time, then see whether the problem is there all the time.

Is there any way to track down where the clicking noise is coming from? Say by using a length of tube, one end in the ear and the other roaming around the engine (keep clear of the belts etc). Does the noise increase in speed with the engine speed? Is it a low speed click or high speed, or does it just click once every time it cuts out to cause the judder?:confused:


Steve H

[nicksmaestro06]

Hey Steve H & Everyone

The click seems to come from the left side of the engine and it is fairly loud and can be felt through the accelerator this is when the engine is cold and just when the fan kicks in.

There is a judder like the car is struggeling to accelerate then theres a click and the acceleration returns to normal.

Rather than the car going bruuuuum bruuuuuum it goes dbbdbdbdbdbdbdum.
:o

[Roperman]

sounds a bit of a nasty misfire. im not sure what the click would be, probably something getting earthed that shouldnt. it can be hard to tell where a noise is coming from under the bonnet though.

as g force says, taking a look in the dark (pitch black is ideal) would be a good place to start, because you can usually see some blue or white sparks near the dizzy or coil that would be causing it, or a cracked ht lead earthing itself.

try taking a lead off a plug at a time, and see if there is a particular cylinder that is causing it. if it doesnt sound much worse when missing one of the cylinders out, really check the lead to that plug (engine off! :)), and try replacing that plug. also check the dizzy cap for dirt/water inside it, and the rotor arm that spins inside it for burning/damage/corrosion.

when you say you cleaned your plugs, how did you do this? if you scrubbed it in any way the spark could be arcing across the plug to earth instead, as they're a lot more delicate than they look, and cleaning can do more damage than good.

knowing an a series the misfire will be electrical, and will be easy to cure, just hard to diagnose.

[nicksmaestro06]

Hey,

Its really annoying me now from running fine one minute to this i think its almost certain a misfire as soon as it get to 2,000 revs and above then about 2,500 revs sometimes you get a click or a clank hard to explain but it can be felt through that accelerator. as soon as it has clicked/clanked its power comes back then a minute later its gone again i don't know what is going on with the damn thing i will try what you lot have said though.

Don't worry i did not scrub the plugs just got the crap off of them

Thank You,
Nick:(

[ChrisM]

Nick, I would suggest that you give the car a good service - new plugs, new dizzy cap, new rotor arm, new HT leads - that way you can be sure that all the electrical componenets are at their best. This lot should only cost £15 at most, and takes 20 minutes tops to sort out on an A+ Series.

May as well change the oil and filter while you're at it, too... :)

[nicksmaestro06]

Right i shall do that and HOPE if cures poor 'Archie' lol any other theory's would be greatly appreciated

[nicksmaestro06]

Hey,

I was tinkering around with the engine today and i realized most of the airflow pipes or vacume system were unattached cracked or missing. I have done a quick fix and stuck some piped on from my fish tank :-) The juddering and clicking has stopped so far so good i will run the car tomorrow and see if it really has stopped the problem or if it was just the lovely hot sunny weather we had today.

Cheers,
Nick:)

[G51 NAV]

Just a note for the future Nick...what petrol are you using? Even if it's been fitted with an U/L head (has it?) you still *may* have some running probs with 95RON fuel...you really need 98RON+

[e692wtt]

Ah, the joys of the 1.3... it's easy to 'swing' the ignition timing to allow use of Unleaded, which is '95RON' (95 Octane Rating) - which is what G51 NAV is alluding to. The 1.6s and 2.0s have two 'black boxes' (the later ones have one 'silver box' called MEMS) so the timing is automatic (actually an advantage - the damn cars will use any petrol, as long as an 'Unleaded' additive is used in the earlier [pre-89 model year] 1.6s)!

If your car is pre-Unleaded then it is possibly still 'set up' for leaded petrol (97RON) - and using 'super plus' fuel (eg Shell Optimax) will make the car run better. Retarding the timing (turn the distributor body about 4 degrees clockwise) will allow use of Unleaded without any problems, if the engine is an 'Unleaded' one - that is if much pinking 'under load' (when accelerating hard) is a problem...

I'm suffering brain fade, so if you can tell us what year your Maestro is, that would be useful (1989 model year on, F-plate for those of us watching in colour, is the cut-off date for using unleaded ;) ).

Glad it seems ok with the new vacuum tubing so far :thumbup: .

[Terry]

Sorry to come in to this post late but have not been well. As a side note RE: useing unleaded petrol. Tesco are selling 99 Ron Super Unleaded

[e692wtt]

As a side note RE: useing unleaded petrol. Tesco are selling 99 Ron Super Unleaded

Sadly not everywhere :( . Only in the South East I believe :banghead: .

[nicksmaestro06]

Hi,

The car is 1986 registered 1987. It is a leaded engine it does not have and unleaded head i am currently running it on unleaded with some castrol lead replacement stuff.

I ask the bloke if he had the engine set up for unleaded he did not know cant blame him he is 93 and probably forgot :)

Cheers,
Nick