sappire intermittent death

hi all, i've got a Sapphire 1.8 LX ( CVH) 'J' plate. recently it has started dieing (?) for no apparent reason. 1st time - driving on M25 - splutter splutter - dead. 5 mins later started up fine and off I went. Next time, after a lot of stop/ start (turning engine on & off) splutter- splutter - dead - wouldn't restart. Those fine men from the Kent County Constabulary had it towed away for me. When retrieved next day - I got a tow, and it started fine. same thing has happened twice more. In the interim, I have checked and cleaned the distributor - all fine.Sprking on all 4 cylinders. isolated the fuel accumulator (why does this car have one?) - the accumulator rattled when shaken, so I'm guessing it was full of something nasty) and put an In-Line fuel filter in place. ran some Kent cleaner through- all seemed fine but it happened again. could this be something to do with the Carb? is there a sensor that is activated by the float that turns the fuel pump on/off???????

Please help, the recovery costs are now more than the car is worth!!!!!!!!

Thanks


Marti67:frown:

have you checked that the fuel pump is working properly when it does the sputtering?

have you checked that the fuel pump is working properly when it does the sputtering?

I have the same problem. Changed the fuel pump and run ok, but still stalls. Bubbles appear in the fuel filter into the carb as engine is stalling. I have taken down the fuel tank and replaced clips on fuel lines. vacume pipes seem to be on correctly. Shall I dismantle the carb and clear the jets?What to do next?


:banghead:

I have the same problem. Changed the fuel pump and run ok, but still stalls. Bubbles appear in the fuel filter into the carb as engine is stalling. I have taken down the fuel tank and replaced clips on fuel lines. vacume pipes seem to be on correctly. Shall I dismantle the carb and clear the jets?What to do next?


:banghead:


martin67 have you received my email. I am very bewildered with the car. time for it to go onto scrap yard heaven. I could go to have a diagnostic done but cannot possibly afford the cost. Heres a plea to somebody in the forum to have any idea what the problem could be!!!!!!!
I have changed the pump pushrod, checked the ignition coil which still works. Swapped the rotor arm. drove with the petrol cap off. Is it the carb???? Bubbles appear from the filter in engine bay when it stalls,which takes about 2 miles from start up.

please help!!!!!!!.....

Hi all,

Just a quick update:

Whenever the car dies, I get a tow. I slip it into 3rd gear - slide the clutch - and it ALWAYS fires up after about 30 seconds.
When it conked out on Friday, I used a large syringe to draw the air out of the fuel line before I got a tow.
ALSO - I checked in a Haynes manual, and it mentioned the fuel tank breather pipe. Mine has always been blocked !! - I have vented the fuel tank, but it stalled again today.Thankfully I was going downhill at the time, so I was able to bump the car & I was able to get home.

So, the $10,000 question - what causes air to intermittently get into the fuel line?

My car problems have been solved !!!!
Someone nicked my car!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So, I guess i'll never find out what was wrong with it. I sincerely hope that the thief uses the car to do a Bank Job - And gets nicked when it breaks down outside the Bank.

Thanks for your input anyway.

I'll probably be posting more threads when I get my "new" car with the £200.00 insurance money that i'm getting !!! lol

My car problems have been solved !!!!
Someone nicked my car!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So, I guess i'll never find out what was wrong with it. I sincerely hope that the thief uses the car to do a Bank Job - And gets nicked when it breaks down outside the Bank.

Thanks for your input anyway.

I'll probably be posting more threads when I get my "new" car with the £200.00 insurance money that i'm getting !!! lol


well good luck with your "new" car martin67.

I thought you might want to know my car seems to be running well now. I by passed the fuel accumilator on the wing and the carb idle has been adjusted by a garage.

Hopefully it is the end of all the problems.

:) Good luck for the future!!!!

:lol: