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TR2/3/3A TR3A: Occasional sputtering and hesitation?

karls59tr

Obi Wan
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For the most part my TR3 runs strong but sometimes for no apparent reason there will be a sputtering hesitation that eventually clears itself.I know a plugged gas filter will do this and also if an SU damper fill cap comes lose. New gas filter was put in last year and I've run several tanks thru since Spring start up.Ignition system was done last year. Have Pertronix(?) Do our cars plugs carbon foul after extended idling....rush hour bumper to bumper? Odd thing is I talked to an MGA driver today and his car was doing the same thing...said his gas filter was clear (but maybe he had last years gas). Can an electric fuel pump overheat and become less efficient untill it cools down? I did add an Octane booster but the car was having the same issue before I added it. Any advice?
 
My 3 does this only in a specific circumstance: Warm day -- park the car and come back to it after only a short time. It starts right up, but then sputters and misses for about 30 - 40 seconds. My belief is that this is caused by fuel boiling in the float chamber -- which problem is cured when some fresh fuel gets pumped in.
 
I HAD THE SAME SYMPTOMS THIS SPRING WHEN I WANTED TO START MY 1958 TR3A. I TRIED EVERYTHING - BUT NOTHING MADE A DIFFERENCE UNTIL I REMOVED THE RUBBER HOSE BELOW THE INLET TO MY FUEL PUMP AND I BLEW MY AIR COMPRESSOR AIR BACKWARDS TO DRIVE THE DIRT AND SEDIMENT BACK INTO THE TANK. NO ISSUES SINCE THEN WITH ABOUT 190 MILES DRIVEN. JUST DON'T LET YOUR FUEL TANK GET SO LOW AGAIN - AS I HAD DONE.

SORRY ABOUT THE CAPS - I DON'T LOOK AT THE SCREEN WHEN I TYPE.
 

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Beats me, I'm fighting similar problems myself. But the Pertronix seems to have been at least part of the problem, the car actually runs better with a set of points from the junk box.

Adding a paper element type fuel filter just before the carbs seemed to help too.

Although I've run Bosch Platinum plugs for many years and liked them, I'm thinking perhaps it's a glazed plug and I should switch back to conventional Champions. If O'Reillys has them on the shelf, I might try that for tomorrow's run.

You might get carbon fouling at idle if the mixture was going rich for some reason (worn needles/jets in the carb; leaking float valve etc.) but it's not normal.
 
I'm going to change out the gas line filter. I'll have a look at the plugs to see if they are actually fouled. I had bad luck with Champions last year and went to NGK.
 
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