Murphy's Law strikes again...

[Nunyas]

Ok, since I did all that work this past weekend I thought I'd be "golden" for a few weeks. Wow was I wrong. I changed the rocker assembly, and set the lash adjustment to 0.015" on all valves. While the valve clatter has been significantly reduced, I have a new problem that popped up. First, I should point out that while I was removing the old rocker assy I broke the T-fitting on the vacuum lines running between the carb, vacuum advance, and the EGR valve. I didn't think it a major problem at the time and just connected the vacuum advance directly to the carb effectively by-passing the EGR valve. However, ever since then the 'B has been running or at least acting like it's running lean. Complete with all the symptoms of leaness: "splashy" exhaust sound, uneven idle, and lots of stumbling under acceloration from idle. I'm pretty sure none of the other vacuum lines broke, but I should still check just to be sure I guess. I'm planning on stopping off at a local parts store to pick up new vacuum lines and fittings tonight.


The current status is with the carb set to full fuel richness it still behaves "lean". The last time I had this problem changing the plug wires fixed it, but these wires are practically new still. I'll have to double check them to make sure I got them all fully seated to on the plugs and didn't disconnect any of them on the other end.

I should also probably double check my Gulp Valve to make sure it's not stuck open again. Can anyone think of anything else that make an engine act lean all the time, and I should probably check while I'm at it?

thanks

 

[jaybird]

It's not Murphy's Law. It's Morris' Law of Probability According to Janel.

Fix one thing, find another.

 

[Nunyas]

I'm not so sure I "found" this problem as much as I'm sure IT "found" me! heheh

 

[JamesWilson]

[ QUOTE ]
It's not Murphy's Law. It's Morris' Law of Probability According to Janel.

Fix one thing, find another.

[/ QUOTE ]

Murphy was an optomist....

If anything can go wrong it will...

and when things look like they cannot get any worse, they do....

repeatedly.... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/nopity.gif

 

[Bruce Bowker]

"The last time I had this problem changing the plug wires fixed it, but these wires are practically new still."


Just because something is new does not mean it is working correctly. I have installed many new parts that were bad from the box.

Bruce

 

[JamesWilson]

[ QUOTE ]
Just because something is new does not mean it is working correctly. I have installed many new parts that were bad from the box.

[/ QUOTE ]

Murphy's Law of Parts Replacement.

The likelihood of getting the right (or working) part is proportional to the distance to the supplier and inversely with the ability to take the part there- every time they're close and you can take the part it will be right, the further away and less able to check things... more wrong or bad parts. Of course the time until the shop closes factors in too in a non-linear fashion: time needed > time available.

Murphy also makes the most fragile parts hard to get and expensive.

In any system the bad part is always the one most difficult to: 1) access, 2) test (particularly in the presence of experts asked to observe any fault), 3) remove, 4) find a replacement for, and 5) re-install without destroying it or some other part (which of course would be even more difficult for steps 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5).

 

[Nunyas]

well... I found that in a nut shell I had a vacuum leak. The hose connecting the carb to the engine block breather wasn't seated all the way. Even after I fully seated the line I still had a leaness problem. So, I fiddled around with the hose and the pipe it connects to. Pinching off the hose allowed me to adjust the mixture properly. I checked the engine block breather pipe and there was no pressure in there... Which means I don't have any problems with "blow by" I'm assuming. So, I have to wonder where the carb is getting all this extra air from in the block. Anyone, have any ideas on this problem? Is it possible this fitting has a crack in it somewhere that's allowing the carb to pull more air than it should?

 

[Morris]

I have read somewhere that a malfunctioning charcoal canister can cause this problem. It may only be a Midget ZS thing, but I thought I would just through that out there for you.

Morris

 

[Nunyas]

I remember reading an article on University Motors Ltd. that mentioned what you're talking about. I'm wishing I had printed the article now, because their database that has that article is offline now and has been that way for several weeks. AH! I'm in luck though, I just found that Google had the article still in cache. Unfortunately, I don't think it's the charcoal canister, because I DID disconnect it from the carb in my searching for the cause and there was no change in idle. The only thing that changed the idle was my blocking off the port/connection that goes to the "oil separator".

 

[Morris]

Hey Nunyas,

Here's that ZS article. Merry Xmas.

https://www.electrongun.org/ZS_tech_tips.pdf
Morris

 

[Nunyas]

thanks for the link to the article Morris.