Dirty fuel blocked my carb - what to do next?

terricfan

Yesterday afternoon my car was down to reserve, but by no means dry, so I bought £25 of unleaded from a local petrol station of a very well known supermarket chain. I drove straight home, no further than 2/10ths of a mile and left the car parked on our driveway for about three hours.

That night I backed out of our drive but as soon as I tried to move forward in Drive (car is auto), the car was coughy and spluttery and had no power. I got no further than six doors away from home before giving up and calling the AA.

After two hours, the patrolman gave up but was certain that the problem was in the 'low running jet'. He could drive the car round the block if he booted it to move away under high revs, but if he tried to move off normally, the car was very hesitant. He tried cleaning the carb and blowing through the fuel pin, but no luck. (He also checked and discounted the rotor arm; I had a previous car of the same model which had the same symptoms due to a worn rotor arm.)

My car was running fine before I filled-up yesterday afternoon.

I have the receipt for the fuel purchase.

My car is 20+ years old, but has less than 80k genuine miles on the clock.

I now have to phone a local mechanic after Easter and get a quote for a scrapyard-sourced and fitted carb.

It seems very odd that my car has such a problem less than half a mile after filling up; I wonder if the fuel was particularly silty/dirty, and the dirt had time to settle at the bottom of my car's tank as it sat idle?

I'd be grateful for any advice on how to seek possible redress.

Mankysteve

Frist off don't buy a second hand carbon there a pita to get going it worth shelling out for a new one/professional refurbished. Your current carb may well still be serviceable

If you've got a old car and you've let the tank get low mostly you've sucked up some of the crud from the bottom of the tank which has caused your problem.

Go back to the garage/contact the local paper and see if anyone else has had problems but I would suspect that this problem is of your creation sorry.

Incyder

Could be coil, dodgy spark plug or ht lead.
I had the same symptoms with a heavily carboned spark plug just after I bought a car.

Could also be fuel pump, if its the old manual type it probably has a gauze filter in it.
I had major probs with a Lancia when that filter got blocked.

As a general rule, according to the AA, when cars are showing problems like this, 9 out of 10 times it will be an electrical issue and one out of 10 times will be fuel.

NiallB

Have you tried taking the air filter out and spraying carb cleaner through the carb? How about the fuel filter, have a look at that too.

epninety

Frequently the problem with old cars now is finding an AA (or any other) service guy who is old enough to have proper experience with things like carbs. Last time I called the AA, the guy who turned up was more than 10 years younger than my radiator.

Find a garage with an old school mechanic and it'll most likely be fixed easily. You don't need if it's just blocked, as long as it was running reasonably before the problem, it should be no problem to sort out.

Generally carbs are much less sensitive to dirty fuel than fuel injection, so if there was a fuel quality issue the garage will have seen other complaints already.

20 years and less than 80k miles makes it quite likely you have rust/dirt and/or water in the tank. Check the fuel filter(s) for colour and contents. Even if it looks fine, fit a new one. If you can't check inside the old fuel filter, cut it open and have a look.

Check the fuel pump output with a hose into a jerrycan if it's an electric pump. If it is mechanical it's a bit more tricky. You can also feed the pump from a jerrycan, and see how it runs (common sense should tell you how dangerous (or not) this procedure can be).

Oh, and don't be tempted to fiddle with all the little screws on the carb(s)!

Hammyman

What car is it? I've got years of experience with old classic Fords and all the grief they give.

asbokid

That sounds like a good diagnosis from the AA man. "Blocked idle jet". It's very common. Just strip down the carb and clean it out. It's not heavy work, and so long as you remember where everything goes, that's where a Haynes manual helps, then it's a DIY job.

Hammyman

Also many carburettors had a thin conical fuel filter inside the inlet pipe. You use a screw to take it out.

mchale

Try removing the air filter housing and revving the engine high ie 4/5000 rpm and then whilst engine is at high revs cover the carb with a rolled up rag this normally clears any jet blockages, then fit a new in line fuel filter or better still 2 fuel filters

terricfan

Hammyman wrote: »

What car is it? I've got years of experience with old classic Fords and all the grief they give.

It's a Vauxhall Astra 1.6 auto.

NiallB

Hammyman wrote: »

What car is it? I've got years of experience with old classic Fords and all the grief they give.

Won't be a ford if it's lasted 20 years, my 91 Orion Ghia rusted out from underneath me

My current 91 Honda Civic is still going like a trooper though!