Listers,
I though I would share this engine problem with others as it baffled
me for a few days and perhaps me relating my experience with you, it might
save you some frustrations further down the line.
My newly rebuild 1953 Sunbeam Talbot saloon had been running flawlessly
for the past three months and I was beginning to trust it on longer trips
now that I had
ironed out a few minor adjustments that occur when doing an engine rebuild.
I had
taken it on two longer day trips of about 200 miles and it "laughs at the
hills" as
the original 93 year-old previous owner Naomi Hollenbach in Allentown, PA
had told me.
Last weekend we decided to take it on an overnight trip with the BATANS car
club here in Nova Scotia and it ran flawlessly for the first half hour when
all of a sudden
it started to misfire and backfire out the exhaust that could be heard six
cars back! The
power had disappeared and I could barely make it up hills so Pat & I pulled
off the highway
and tried to diagnose the problem. It would idle but roughly but would miss
and backfire if I
revved it up a bit. This was something I didn't want to tackle beside the
highway with traffic
whizzing by at 110+ km/hr. so we called the Tiltload people to retrieve us
and we switched
cars at home and resumed the trip in the Drophead Coupe.
After contemplating the problem for almost a week, yesterday I decided to
find
out what the problem was. It was acting like fuel starvation so I checked:
1. fuel pump pressure - O.K. - problem persisted!
2. dirt in the fuel lines - O.K. - problem persisted!
3. dirt in the main Carb. jet - O.K. - problem persisted!
4. hooked up a gravity fuel supply - problem still persisted!
5. Changed distributor cap, wires and rotor from working drophead - problem
persisted!
6. Checked plugs - all clean and a light brown - appear O.K.
7. Checked dwell - 50 degrees and steady, not out of whack!
8. Checked timing - flashing steady but mark on flywheel jumping around
+/-3 degrees.
not quite right.
In a last ditched attempt to find the problem, I replaced the condenser
with the one
from the drophead and BINGO! It ran like a baby once more! Who would have
thought
a condenser would cause these symptoms. I thought that when condensers went
bad they
would short out and thus cause a ground short and therefore no spark. Not
in this case as
I tested it with my Fluke ohmmeter checking the resistance and it would
build up a charge
and then show as an open circuit as it should do.
So I hope a few of you have followed my story and will benefit from my
experience
should you encounter similar symptoms. Check and replace the condenser
first! Now does
anyone know where I can get a couple of Lucas 420302 condensers????
Regards,
Bob
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Robert (Bob) A.C. Hamilton, Waverley, Nova Scotia, Canada
The Man of Many Sunbeams - Alpine, Drophead and Saloon 1953-1954
Home Page: http://www.navnet.net/~hamilton/index.html - REVISED!!!
E-Mail: hamilton(at)navnet.net
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