Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Maintenance & Servicing Car stops running for a few seconds

Hi,
My question is ,do you know what the problem could be on my +4 1991 M16 Rover engine, after wintertime i start the vehicule to go to the MOT, on my way it was like the engine stops running or gave a bad ignition. checked the battery switch because I had to times problems withe no electric. checked also the sparkplugs and leads but these seems OK, cuold it be the electric fuel pump çfor 6 months no running), when my wife drove with me she said there is a louder noise from behind??
What to do?Does anyone recognise these .

Best regards, Bart+4

Does it stop and re-start or just stop?

If it stops and cannot be restarted it sounds like fuel or battery issues. Have you checked the battery voltage?

Can you carefully remove the fuel line and check fuel is making it to the engine (capture in a jar)...

When running is the alternator OK?

Just some thoughts....

Hi Richard,
I changed the fuel filter already and also checked distributor cap and
rotor.
One thing I have to say, during wintertime I changed my kingpins and clean
up the complete front suspension , and I must say that the car was standing
in front on 2 axles for about 5 months!!!
so I think that the petrol was at the back of the tank.(Stupid from me I
know).
After remounting the front suspension I put the car in front down and start
the car, it is than that i heard a different noise from the fuelpump!!!!!!

The car can run for 1H30 minutes OK, and than when driving 120KM/h it feels
like the car is on 3 cilinders, like you are loosing power, for a couple of
seconds after this it runs good again.
Yesterday I start the car and when the tachometer is going down to 800/900
TRM the car stops running and the fuelpump was running on /off (a squeeze
noise).

Best regards,
Bart Bonnaerens

Rotor arms can be faulty from new, so it might be worth trying another, or using the original. Are you sure there's no contamination in the tank?

If this car runs a Rover 800 fuel pump to match the engine, then they haven't got the best of reliability records. I don't know much about Morgans (I'm here to learn), but I'm quite clue'd up on Rovers. I does sound like the pump if powers down without misfiring.

It will be a compatible Rover pump I think but they either work or they don't (usually).

Hi all,
Thanks for the information and replies, i changed over the weekend:
1)Fuel pump(new Bosh pump)there was still the original Bosh pump in the car.
2)Fuel filter (checked also for dirt but could not find).
3)Distributor cap and rotor arm.
first i changed point 1 and 2 and do a testdrive: everything OK
After this i hanged also point 3 to be secure and did a long testdrive,
car runs back like it should be.
So thanks for all the info.
Bart+4

Is the fuel pump outside the tank?
If it is then put an in- line filter between the tank and new pump to protect it.
I had fuel pump failure on the old 4/4 and did this - car was 1992 and low mileage with previous owners in 4 years prior to buying it so it had been idle too long!
Replaced Bosch pump with Bosch new.
I also drained and flushed the tank.
It's amazing what I filtered out of the petrol - bits of black crud and jelly- like stuff.
Also put new rubber fuel hose in with new stainless hose clamps and painted the pump mount plates etc- seemed silly not to when replacing the pump and the bits were off.
No issues after that.

I did the same on my old MG Midget when the pump failed. A cheap & easy preventative measure

Its a good idea to drain a fuel tank after a long lay up as the fuel can "go off" it starts to turn to a jelly like substance which can block the system. You are better off to drain down before the lay up.