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Update (Was: RE: How to diagnose poor running?)

To: "MG List" <mgs@autox.team.net>
Subject: Update (Was: RE: How to diagnose poor running?)
From: "Marc Siegel" <smarc@abs.net>
Date: Thu, 26 Jun 2003 10:55:52 -0400
Thanks for all replies - Temperatures & weather last night were extremely
conducive to driving around in & playing with LBC's. So course I did.

I first drove the car with out making any changes, when the problem
manifested it self, I watched the Tach, but it was steady, no drops.

Pulled into the garage, and it was idling pretty rough. I was going to
recheck the timing, and pulled off the timing advance vacuum line from the
manifold (engine was still running). I noted that as soon as I did that, the
idle smoothed out immensely. I figured that it must be quite rich and the
added air being pulled in through the now open vacuum port had leaned it out
enough to make the engine happy.

So I reset the mixture screws to the initial start-up procedure, and set
them up as best I could. It runs much better now, no more back-firing.

It occurs to me that I had a brand-new Ansa exhaust system installed a few
weeks ago, and haven't driven the car much since due to the lousy weather
we'd been having here in Maryland.

Could the exhaust system change have affected the mixture required? Of
course, it's a pretty wide temperature difference as well... perhaps a good
30 degrees warmer out now.

The other thing I noted is that I can now hear pinking under heavy
acceleration. I did a compression check about three weeks ago, with results
of 150-145-150-150. I'd been having a run-on problem, & it was suggested to
me that perhaps the head had been shaved, and to run higher octane gas. It
was also suggested that I advance the timing a bit, which I also did, by
about 5 degrees. The end result being that the run-on problem seems to be
about 90% better.

Valves were last adjusted late last year.

So now I have to address the pinking issue. Is it simply a matter of
retarding timing until it stops? What else must I consider? Please gear any
advice to strictly Novice level!

Thanks!!

--
-----------------------------------------------------------
Marc Siegel, Charm Net, LLC.  eMail: smarc@abs.net
Baltimore, MD  http://www.charm.net  voice: 410/361-8160

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