Hi guys,

Well with the mot due next week, I thought I'd take her out for a spin tonight and all was well until she started spluttering and kangerooing down the road before cutting out!

After that she started up, and idled fine, but as soon as you depressed the accelerator, she died!

I finally managed to nurse her back home having to use the choke in order to give her the power boost needed when she started to die.

Any ideas what this could be? As it stands, she can't get to her mot next week unless I figure out what's wrong and fix her!

Thanks in anticipation guys.

I had a similar thing, pulled the carb off and looked at the contents of the float bowl.
I had some water in the fuel, can only be from condensation in the tank.
If you remove the carb, take the top off and pour the contents into a jam jar, any water will be under the petrol.
Easy to do and quick, if fuel is good, then it's not that.
When the carb is off, remove jets give carb a clean with an air line.

H A

Classic loose carb or air leak under carb symptoms . I would try that first.

I am going with condenser. If you try and put your foot down on the pedal and the only way you can build the revs up is really, really slowly otherwise it dies, then it could be the condenser?

Thanks guys, I'll take the carb off and have a look, I'll change the condenser too just to be safe.

Just a thought, but before she started messing about, I filled her up with a couple of gallons of fuel and might have got carried away with the lead replacement in the tank, could this have a similar effect?

I would think not, even if you put a whole bottle in with 2 gallons, all it might do is improve the octane value, so give you more power.

May need to get the spanners out, should be easy to sort out.

H A

I also don't think that the lead replacement will have caused a problem Fran.

A lot of problems like you are describing stink of issues with carb/fuel but a lot of times they are down to ignition problems. Everybody gets a bit side tracked with the symptoms and are convinced it is fuel but often it isn't.

If you are running a standard ignition set up i.e points, dizzy and condensor? I would definitely try changing the condensor before pulling the carb off.

From what you are describing does it sound like this? Car starts and then idles ok. But when you try and increase the revs, if you put your foot down normally it just cuts out. But if you try and fettle the throttle really slowly the revs will increase and build up and with lots of fettling you can get the revs high enough for it to move but it takes lots of playing around with the choke to keep it revving and not cutting out. Does this similar?

Tony

Sorry lads, had problem with aged fingers---look on the 'Fiat 500 brakes' page for my suggestion regar.ding condensers

Hi Tony,

That's the long and short of it!

Nursed it home through the back roads using the choke to stop it dying every so often.

I've seen condensers on eBay for pennies so I'll get one of those.

Thanks!

Always carry a spare condensor. They are a weak point in the ignition circuit. Even better would be to convert to a hall effect sensor then you can remove the condensor and points
Damian

ciccio500 said:

I've seen condensers on eBay for pennies so I'll get one of those.

Click to expand...

I always buy the most expensive, and hopefully the best quality I can find.

If the condenser is failing, not sure how using the choke will improve the situation. Unless making the mixture richer might give combustion from a weak spark.

If you remove the distributor cap, rotate the engine untill the points are closed, then turn on the ignition, if you open the points with a small insulated screwdriver, you should see a small spark. If it is a big blue spark then there is a good chance the condenser is faulty.
Also look at your points if they are burnt, then that will mean the condenser is faulty.

H A

So had a play with things today, and it looks like the fuel pump has gone. The jets was clogged, and the carb looks like it could do with a good clean, so that's a job for next weekend! There was a split in the fuel pipe going into the carb which could explain why my fuel doesn't last long!