T1 dying out .

I have had it with my TI. I drive it for an hour then it dies out for some unkown reason. Was it thealternator......Nope already install a new one. If I let the engine sit for an hour which is usually near a local water hole it will start up. Any ideas guys?
I will have a MassIVe motor in it next year. I just want to enjoy the rest of the summer . What left.
Joe S.

Check the temp. of the motor, perhaps it's too hot.

J-P

Could be that there is too much heat being built up. When this happens the fuel could be getting too hot. When it does it can turn into a gas (not liquid) and this could simply be a question of fuel starvation. Did you do anything lately to cut the air supply to the motor? New exhaust?

I agree with both suggestions above & offer a 3rd, Now some will tell you that this just doesn't happen..... but. I had the same symptoms even though the car was running decent temps. (checked and verified.) I went through everything possible in search of the glitch. Guess what I (we) found? Without getting to the hows; my Comp-U-Fire unit was the cause. I replaced it and the problem was gone.

Three of us were involved in troubleshooting, and we kept telling ourselves that there was no way a CompuFire would go intermittent. It would either work, or not, pure & simple. We were wrong. Replaced that unit 5,000 miles ago and never had a glitch since.

Is this your problem? Unlikely.... but I'd sure consider it if you have a Compufire or Pertronix package.

JIm
(Message Edited 8/30/2003 10:27:20 AM)

Also check your gas tank screen and screens on the carb(s)..... how that may relate to heat I don't know, but I would sure eliminate all sources of glitches as I was going through the car. Check your Coil... where is it mounted?

Jim
(Message Edited 8/30/2003 10:30:39 AM)

My engine does run on the hot side. It is kinda odd you will be driving along and the ignition will start to break up . Almost like it has bad ignition wires. The power starts to drop off and then it is dead. You try to restart and it won't even turn over. I'll wait an hour ,it will start, and I can usually get 3-4 mile more.Could the cylinders be getting way to hot to cause this problem?
Thanks,
Joe S.

The coil is mounted on the fan shroud. The Compufire is only ignition module is only two months old with very little time on it.
Not to get off the subject... I was at a cruise gathering with my car last night and meet someone with a turbo T1 on a Meyer Max clone buggy. I went for a ride in it. 1st gear was so so.....When we got to 2nd and the turbo boost kicked in WOW ! You can feel the front wheels just lift from the torque. The engine puts out 240+ hp . That ride was great .

Joe,
"Won't even turn over"? Ouch! This sounds expensive to me...

Joe, I have had that syndrome on other vehicles that proved to be the coil. Engine doesn't have to be overly hot. If the coil internally breaks down, even minor heat will cause the wires to lose contact, when they cool down, the wires contract and make close enough contact to work again..

Gclarke

I like the coil diagnoses as long as engine temp isn't to extreme, if not coil it could be compufire, just because it is almost new doesn't mean it doesn't have a problem, figure out when warranty is up on compufire and make sure you tell them it does this after heating up.

It could be the Coil or the module The modules require a balist type rezistor on the input lead if not it will give trouble as it burns out.

Bosch "blue" coils available today (Brazilian) have internal ballast resistance and are compatible out-of-the-box with Comufire and Pertronix triggers. Could be a bad coil, a bad trigger module, "vapor lock", bad distributor cap and/or rotor, or even something as mundane as a bad connection (including the engine/transaxle ground strap) that gets worse when it gets hot. Or an intermittent "open" in a critical wire that occurs when hot.

All this sounds good, except he said it doesn't even turn over until it cools down.

I have to agree with Stan, if the engine is hot then it's less likely to turn over when it gets hot. I've got a 2110 and it doesn't like to turn over as easily because the air in the cylinders is hot and less compressable. I'm not sure but it sounds like the engine is over-heating. Take the car to an expert before something costly happens.

J-P

I really don't think it is an ignition problem. The engine does run on the hot side. When we first bought the car the heat ports off the shroud were wide open....no plugs. The heat in the engine compartment melted the resin in the external volt-regulator.After doing some research we plugged the ports. It may have been to late. I think there is a possiblity that when the cylinders get to a high temp the piston starts to bind in the combustion chamber. I plan on doing a leakdown test both hot and cold. We have have a chance to use a dyno next week to pinpoint this problem.

Pistons sieze in the cylinders, not the combustion chambers. If you ran for any extended period of time without capping off the heater vents you may have seriously overheated the engine to the point where it needs a rebuild. Compression and/or leakdown test definitely a good idea.
(Message Edited 9/3/2003 1:13:24 PM)

Yep.

George:

What do you mean by 'capping off the heater vents'? Do you mean the rectangular plates that get bolted to the bottom of the pan and cover the push rod tubes?

Robert Carley: on the "fresh air" type 1 engines there is a vent on each side of the shroud that goes to the heater boxes on an exhaust system that has them. The connection between shroud and heater box is by large hoses. If you are running this type of setup in the spring/summer but have no hoses to heater boxes and leave the ports on the shrouds open you will be losing a fair amount of cooling air outside of the engine tin which may cause overheating.

In the summer the heater boxes are normally closed (except that they have a small vent hole to the underside of the car), and in winter when the heater boxes are in use the engine is running cooler anyway so a little loss through the heater boxes is no big deal.

The type 1973 181 (Thing, or jeep) did not have a shroud with vents (or heater box exhausts) as they used gas heaters.

Thanks, George. I understand how the heating/cooling system works, just wanted clarification of what you meant by 'capping' - top or bottom.

Appreciate the reply.

Must be tough waiting for your new car?

RJC

Nice catch Stan, I didn't notice the part about the engine wouldn't turn.....

How about a bad starter ? If replacing a speedster starter.....
for a few extra bucks, use a VW Beetle starter that was for a semi automatic bug They are stronger and of better design / bolt in with no modifications.

Alan M

It's wasn't the starter . Once the engine cooled off for an hour or so the engine would turn freely. But when it peaked at operating temp it lost power and died out. So what was the problem .... a 2 over heated cylinders . The pistons would bind up at the max temp slowing the engine and eventually dying out. The starter could not turn the motor over until it cooled off. I have parked the car for the season. The new Raby motor is to arrive in Nov. I am tearing the car down completely to redo the electrical , interior and body. The previous owner didn't take care of this car. I did find some nice aluminum bezels to cover the bezel rings on the VDO gauges.

Joe, it's too bad that you had serious engine problems. Many people that buy used replicas don't test drive them long enough and hard enough to disclose any problems that may exist.

A few years ago I "bought" an Ebay IM in Alabama that, according to the owner, was absolutey cherry, perfect, as new; he had bought the "coach" version and finished it himself.

I flew to Atlanta, rented a car, and drove over the state line into Alabama; my plan was to check out the car, buy it if it was OK, and drive it back to Maryland. When I met him his car was running on three cylinders, there was excessive play in the steering, stone chips in the paint, stone chips in the glass, dents in all of the hubcaps, etc. After a test drive in his car I just shook my head, got a flight back, and cancelled the purchase.

Caveat emptor (at any price)

Joe's problems are solved. He did the smart thing- CONVERTED!

Whatever....

Is this the beginning of another boxing match?

Converted? Is this getting to be a religious site?

I bought the car expecting it to be a project.As for the engine it really didn't matter it was to be replaced anyway. I was more interested in the chassis and body. I have no regret. It's going to MassIVe when it's done.
Joe S

No boxing match........(only if George wants one)

Kudos, George. Sounds to me like you correctly nailed the diagnosis. I appreciate the tip about heater vents, running engine with hoses removed.