Fellow masochists,
My Herald has been having a few difficulties lately and, as I'm not too
mechanically minded, I don't think I can solve them alone. Here's where
you come in! Any advice you can offer will be gratefully received
(except perhaps "Buy a real car!")
The car: Herald 1300 (originally 1200, but with a Dolomite 1300cc engine
- much the same as the Herald 13/60). Normal single carb set-up, using
13/60 manifolds, carb etc.. Wire mesh (cleanable) air filter.
What's wrong, then?: Well, for ages the choke has been very sensitive.
Too little, engine dies. Too much, engine dies. Recently, in the
first few miles of a journey (i.e. while the car's warming up) I've
needed to use less choke when stationary and more when accelerating: If
I give less choke when stationary, the car idles much better - but when
I accelerate I need more choke, otherwise the car is _very_ sluggish.
Fuel consumption is quite high: about 25mpg average.
Two weeks ago, my wife tried to use the car while I was out, and it just
kept dying on her and was very sluggish when running. I found that the
carb's dashpot was empty, so topped it up. That seemed to solve the
problem. BTW: What oil should I use for this? My old handbook says
"light engine oil". Are modern multigrades still too heavy?
This morning, barely 100 miles later, I was driving to work on a main
road (about 60mph) and the car lost power and got a bit "lumpy", like it
was starving of something: but whether fuel or air or ignition I couldn't
say. It idles just fine, but didn't want to cruise at speed. Dropped
speed to about 45mph and got to work okay. Only had a couple of minutes
to look under the bonnet when I arrived: Dashpot level is a little
lower, but not too low (I think). No other obvious faults: all leads
and vacuum connected. There is a rubber breather tube, running from the
rocker cover to the air filter, which is kinked so I straightened it out.
Water temperature okay. No (new) oil leaks, Greg.
Car was MoT'd end of July and the mixture was adjusted: it was running
far too rich before. When I checked the plugs two weeks ago they were
fine.
Any suggestions for the most likely cause(s) of this power loss (and what
I can do to correct them) gratefully received If you've any more
questions, please ask them!
Thanks in advance
Daren Allder.
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