loss of power

[chickentender]

i was out the other day in the '60 bt7 and all of a sudden i was running at half power. i thought it was the points. that is how i dropped the screw in the distributor. by the way, i fished the screw out. while i was in the distributor, i noticed the 2 inch low tension wire the goes from the base of the condensor to the base of the distributor housing had some bare wire showing. any chance that is my problem or could it be a carburetor problem or something else? i need to use starting fluid to get her started when she is cold for whatever that is worth. even before i had the half power problem, the car seemed to miss sometimes under power. any ideas?

 

[Legal Bill]

Probably not. That's a ground wire.

Can you give us any other symptoms? Is the engine running rough and missing as you accelerate? Does it seem to stop accelerating at 3000 rpm? It is hard to know what you mean by half power.

Some of the usual suspects would be a bad vacuum advance, leak in the vacuum line, poorly adjusted or worn points, bad rotor.

 

[chickentender]

the car always had a little miss while accelerating in third or fourth gear. now all of a sudden it just has no acceleration and feels like it is going to stall at idle. i am waiting until i get the new low tension wire and a new cotter pin (old one broke) that holds the distributor plate down over the vacuum lever pin. then i can adjust the points. hope that is my problem.

 

[TimK]

have you checked the timing and the dwell (points gap)?

 

[Randy Forbes]

Vote for the point-gap. As the rub block wears down, the gap decreases, ultimately making for hard starting/stalling at idle.

Good call Tim!

 

[RAC68]

Hi All,

Don’t be so quick to jump on an ignition problem. My “Pump No Flow” problem started in just that way. Initial starting was more difficult than usual but I attributed that to the cold weather and 20W50. Initial running seemed shallow but then seemed to get better until it just stopped coming off a stop sign.

Although I also feel an ignition issue could be the cause to your problem, after my recent experience, I would first check the carburetor boles to make sure they are filled.

Good luck and all the best from the blizzard hitting NJ,
Ray (64BJ8P1)

 

[Bob_Spidell]

I think you might have two or more problems.

i was out the other day in the '60 bt7 and all of a sudden i was running at half power. ...

I've had that problem due to a carb needle working loose and dropping into the jet. Can be intermittent as the needle sometimes reinserts itself into the vacuum piston.

... even before i had the half power problem, the car seemed to miss sometimes under power. any ideas?

That sounds electrical. Had same problem after I installed spiral-wound filament--i.e. modern, noise-suppression--ignition wires. They don't work for long with stock distributor caps. Also had similar symptoms with an aftermarket cap that was leaking spark.

 

[chickentender]

checked all of the ignition parts and everything seems fine. cant get it started even with starting fluid. it fires but wont keep running. i checked the filters going into the carbs. both had some crud blocking maybe 1/4 to 1/3 of the filters. cleaned the filters and replaced them. waiting for some new gaskets. could that much crud cause my problem?

 

[TimK]

Are you talking about the air cleaners or fuel line filters? If you have crud in your fuel lines, you could have crud in many critical places.

 

[drambuie]

sounds like a fuel flow problem! but i would check for a good healthy spark at the plugs first, i had a bad coil that did the same thing to me at one time so i would also check the coil as well as the points, condenser, rotor, and cap and timing. you may want to disconnect the fuel line at the carbs and see if you are getting good fuel flow from the fuel pump. and if all looks good i would check for any dirt in the carburator passages, leaking carb diaphrams ect... hope this helps! michael, bali indonesia.

 

[chickentender]

the crud is in the fuel filters going into the carbs. my next check was going to be the filter in the fuel pump. the manual says the fuel pump is under the pan of the driver seat. do i need to remove the seat pan because it is under the seat or is it under the car below the seat? how do i get to it?

 

[Johnny]

Replace the rotor.

 

[dancrim]

I had a motorcycle do this to me once. It however ran kind of ok at idle but died on acelleration. Also hard to start. Turned out to be the condenser. All the time I thought it was a Carb. problem.

 

[Legal Bill]

You get to the fuel pump from under the car.

You might want to make life a bit easier and check the flow rate at the carbs. Disconnect the fuel line at the front carb, stick the line into a gas-safe container, and turn on the ignition key to the first stop. You should hear the fuel pump tick very fast and the fuel should flow into the container at a good clip. If you are getting flow to the carbs, then I would not spend any time under the car tinkering with the fuel pump.

Someone suggested looking for a spark at the plugs. I agree with that suggestion. If the rotor is ok and you have a strong spark at the plugs, the ignition side is probably ok, given that you have checked the point gap.

Some above had mentioned checking the bowls. You can remove the bowl covers and see if the bowls have fuel in them. Someone else recommended checking the metering needle. You can do this quickly and easily by removing the air filters and looking in to see if the needles are still attached to the pistons.

 

[drambuie]

ok, since you are getting crud into the fuel filters before the carb your fuel tank is most likely old and rust and other crud has formed in your old fuel tank! disconnect the fuel line at the carbs and place the line in a clear bottle, then turn on the key and let the fuel pump run some fuel into the bottle and let the bottle of fuel stand overnight, then look to see what settle's at the bottom, repeat this a few times. if you keep seeing tiny rust particals and other junk get rid of your old fuel tank and buy a new one from moss motors, they are really great tanks and come with all the fittings and hardware, also don't forget to buy a new fuel sender and new copper washers and screw's to mount the new sender. dont forget to order a tube of permatex fuel proof sealer from your local napa auto parts store to seal the new fuel sender and screws as no one carries it over the counter from my experance!personaly i wouldn't waste money on trying to boil out or use aftermarket gas tank sealers because for just a little more money you can buy a new tank with all the fittings and get rid of all the rust problems for good! also if i where you i would get on ebay and buy a used copy of the healey bentley manual to help you know your healey much better! i hope this helps! michael, bali indonesia.

 

[chickentender]

i got it running last night. i disconnected the fuel line and turned on the pump and everything looked good. next i took one of the plugs out and laid it on the generator and turned the motor over. i had good spark. next, i checked eack of the plugs. a couple had a little too wide a gap and the plug nearest the firewall seemed very loose. i tightened everything up and she fired. the loose plug might explain the missing under aceleration. i will check it out later today when i take her for a drive.

 

[Legal Bill]

Well, you are on the right track. When trouble shooting, always start at the end point of the two major systems (fuel and ignition) to see if you can find an obvious problem. If one is missing, you have at least identified the area that requires investigation and you have narrowed the problem. When both seem to be working ok, things get more complicated. I once spent a weekend testing, adjusting and replacing a bunch of ignition and fuel parts only to find out the valve rockers of the car I was working on were completely out of adjustment. But once I set them, the car ran awesome!

 

[drambuie]

as long as you have it running i would set the point gap first and use a timing light with a built in advance and tach, i bought mine at sears and is money well spent! you need to set the timing light at 15 degrees advance and set the idle speed of your motor at 600 to 780 rpm and disconnect the vacume line before checking the timing with the light, after setting the timing properly you will be surprised how fast your healey starts even in cold weather! providing all else is in good order.

 

[chickentender]

i took the car for a drive this morning. had to use starting fluid to get her started. had to keep pulling the chocke to keep it idling and it was backfiring through the exhaust as i was driving. have checked the points, rotor, plugs, fuel filters and the fuel pump. haven't replaced the condenser and havent checked the timing yet. any ideas?

 

[Legal Bill]

Timing, timing, timing.