• Hi Guest!
    You can help ensure that British Car Forum (BCF) continues to provide a great place to engage in the British car hobby! If you find BCF a beneficial community, please consider supporting our efforts with a subscription.
    There are some perks with a member upgrade!
    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Subscribers don't see this gawd-aweful banner
Tips
Tips

silly idle question.

Share this page

vping

vping

Yoda
Silver
Country flag
Offline
I finally got to start the GT today. Weather is turning for the better and I want to get it ready for the driving season.
Pulled the choke & it finally started. High revs until the temp hit 160. backed off on the choke a bit to slow down the idle for a few minutes.

Car was nice and warm so I pulled the choke all the way in. She died instantly. Car idles nice at higher revs and is very responsive. If the idle drops low and I try to give it gas to keep revs up, it sputters and spits and wants to stall. Sorry for the rookie question but have not had the B for a year yet and still not used to adjusting.

Was running OK but not perfect at the last drive. Great on the highway but sputter at slow speeds.

Any clues?
 
You went thru those carbs well, so old fuel would be a stab I'd make. Also p'raps a vacuum leak but I'm guessin' at both. Are the points clean/gapped?
 
Points are new and should be gapped correctly. Fuel is only a few months old. Carbs not rebuilt but cleaned very well. Vacuum. Hmm. How can I check that.
 
I think it was December gas. I would guess in NY that it is that Ethanol stuff. If it is the problem, what can be done about it?
 
To run correctly on Ethanol formulated gas, you need to run a bit richer. Sounds like you could be a bit too lean on the low end. That can be caused by vacuum leaks or bad carb adjustment. The vacuum leaks can be checked for with a can of carb cleaner and spraying around all the seals between the carb and head (i.e. the carb - manifold seal, manifold - head seal), and around all the vacuum line take-offs and intersections (all the way to the distributor). And of course, around all of your emissions equipment that attach to the manifold (if you have any that is).

If no leaks are found, I'd go for checking the plugs (to verify if your running rich or lean), and then make carb adjustments accordingly.
 
Back
Top