Distraught - SVX 995M

R

rickkk

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I am distraught. Having purchased my 3rd P6 in October last year it broke down on the way home and needed a replacement engine which I sourced and had fitted through JP Restorations.

This obviously wasn't cheap and neither have the countless other jobs been in the couple of months since.

I thought I had just about cracked it and then I went out in it a couple of weeks back and it keeps breaking down.

It feels like fuel starvation but the symptoms are that it revs very nicely in neutral but as soon as I put it in drive it stalls. I can get it up to about 20mph and then it stalls again. What could this be?

I know classic cards never actually stop costing money (I have an old Porsche 912 and BMW 635 as well) but for a car that underwent a £9200 restoration in only 2001, I am struggling to understand when the big bills will stop.

Any advice and/or some more history on the vehicle would be greatly appreciated as although I bought the car with all the paperwork, this was unfortunately lost in a house move in November.

Thanks in anticipation - I really love these cars but this one is fast pushing me to the 'lose the will to live' stage.

Rick
 
Is this a V8 or a 4 cylinder?

Either way start by running through plugs, points, dwell, timing, advance, air and fuel filters, compressions, and carb settings. Most cases you'll find the cause in those, from what you say I'd guess at fuel filter, but check all the rest as well.

You'll probably get a better response if you move the post into the correct engine category.
 
As soon as we know which engine it is I'll move the topic for you.

Agree with Harvey, a couple of other things are condenser and coil. Either can give problems under load, but seem ok when reved. Also potentially fuel pump, my 4 cylinder started doing strange things like this until I noticed the fuel pump was hanging off the side of the engine ! tightened the bolts back up and it was fine.

Sometimes you find that a completely rebuilt car can suffer from things not having been put back together properly, bolts not being done up tightly etc.. Did you ever see Top Gear where the door fell off the "restored" SD1 ?
 
webmaster said:
a couple of other things are condenser and coil. Either can give problems under load, but seem ok when reved.
Click to expand...
Can you explain why this should happen, i have some times some fuel starvation symptoms in the Austin under load, but everything from the tank to the carb has been checked and it is fine.
I also swapped the dizzy, now the only link that hasn't been checked is the coil.

Thanks,

Demetris
 
Could be the pick up filter in the tank blocking off the fuel flow
Try it on reserve supply and see if it's any better .Then ask for the solution.....

Doesn't sound too expensive a problem so don't give up
If this happened on your BMW635 it would be a 2nd mortgage job
 
Demetris, the issues mostly relate to a weak spark, under heavy load a weak spark will fail to ignite the fuel mixture, but under light load / reving the spark will be enough to ignite the mixture.
The condensor prevents arcing of the points as they open and close, now a failed condensor usually results in badly burnt points, weak spark and an inability to rev. A failing or overheating coil can result in a weak spark and missfire under load.

Might be worth trying a new coil, they're fairly cheap, or just try swapping with a know good one first.
 
Thanks Richard,
actually it is running a Metro electronic Dizzy so no condenser to worry about.
I do have a spare coil so i'll try it and see what happens.
It's a very funny thing this car, some times i think that it behaves like a donkey :D
Normally it behaves Ok, it will accelerate up to max speed without any problems, but if you insist on pressing it, after a while it is like getting tired of it, all sweaty and running out of breath. What i say is that it will cut off for a second, but then it will be OK again, not such a problem on the straight, but on a slope it will cut off more often even on a low gear and a light throttle. There are no overheating problems and the ignition timing is spot on... The strange thing is that this happens only when it is "tired"! Give it some rest with reasonable speeds and throttle openings and it will be OK.

Anyway, sorry for the "off-topic" but i just had to share this!

Demetris
 
I have tonight seen the "Top Gear" programme featuring the SD1 where the door fell off. Leaving aside that the programme seems always to be hosted by that loudmouthed idiot Jeremy Clarkson, I am convinced that it was a set-up and it is unlikely that a door would fall off, even if the car was full of water. He seems determined to denigrate the UK car industry (or what is left of it). He would be in great company with Boris Johnson whom the Economist descibed as a buffoon.
 
Thanks for the responses - I have a better idea now - coil is probably my first check though as that was changed recently due to other issues - is brand new though and was fitted by Pete from JP and ran sweet for a while thereafter. Fingers crossed it's not too much longer before I can look forward to driving it again.

Cheers Dave - yeah if it happened on the 635 it wouldn't be cheap - but that's the only one of the 3 currently driveable!

Rick
 
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