Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Maintenance & Servicing Idling puzzle

Good result, if anyone's interested - you can test in-situ by carefully spraying Cold Start around joints & spindles whist the engine is running, if you've got a leak and it's drawn in the revs will rise

That sounds very familiar. I consider myself very much a neophyte when it comes to diagnosing such ephemeral things as a lumpy idle, but this is exactly what happened to my car a couple of years ago ('85 CVH with Weber 32/24 DFT carburettor). I went through all the usual (read: easy) stuff, changed plugs, leads, condenser... eventually a local garage who understands these things found the butterfly throttle was "loose in stays" and a tiny plastic washer was all that was needed to fix it. I'd never have dared to prod and poke around in the carb to find it myself!

I saw neophyte in the Matrix.

After using the car regularly over the past days I am still not happy with idling especially when I start the car the first time during the day. It still does not run at 900rpm. However after 10 minutes on the road it runs ok even on neutral. I also noted that after I switched off the car until I open the garage door after a long run, it took me three attempts to start whilst normally it starts spot on. The car runs very well after reaching the correct temperature. What should I look at next.

Based on your opening statement where you indicated some pinking at various times I would check the plug gaps, points and the timing in that order. Although you mention the timing is correct what is that based on, all engines are slightly different to what is written in manuals?

Bruce The initial problem was stalling whilst idling not pinking.

MOR404, sorry to read that your Mog is not running as you might wish despite resolving your carb issue..I guess an other question is did it ever run to match your expectations of it..?

Modern cars have so much complexity built in to ensure smooth running in all sorts of situations that are far outside the capabilities of any elderly carb fed engine which may be less than comfortable while running on the choke, which it`s self may not be operating perfectly if automatically controlled..?

Your car is nearly 40 years old, it has spent a lot of time with it`s engine and much else not in use and depending on climate, corrosion can play a part, which can cause it`s own wear and tear issues thus mileage as recorded in the speedo may not be taken as a true assessment of condition. Also that you have only owned it for 2 of it`s years (?) you may have no idea as to how it has been cared for over the previous 30 or so years..and as I hinted before it is also possible the engine has been subject to some modifications..? Fuel quality and dependant on whether the engine has been modified to run on whatever fuel you use can play a part.

Perhaps a compression test may be worthwhile to help you partly assess the engine`s condition..?

When I start mine using the choke and put the choke in once it has started it takes about 8-10 minutes (depending on ambient temps) to warm up before it will idle correctly and will stall at idle before it has warmed. Have you tried a new coil, they can be fickle creatures? My comment above still holds, they are simple things to check and adjust and can make a difference. I also assume that the plugs colour and condition are correct?

Indeed, Bruce was reading the original post by "SCX358G" Dave with the '69 +4. We haven't heard from him since, I wonder if he fixed it?

My 4/4 on TWIN Webers is about to clock up 39,000 miles. I've just had a look at the price of replacements.