Hi all,

Just a few quick questions as I am a first time panda owner and want to make sure everything is running as it should before it starts getting hot here for summer (30+ !)

First of all it's a 1990 lhd 4X4 FIRE with 52k miles and she lives at 1800m above sea level in a French ski resort.

Since I've had her she's been tricky to start, I find even when it's relatively warm outside I need to set the choke 1/2 way and blip the throttle to get her running, it usually takes about 3 attempts? But she does start, there was about 15cm of fresh snow this morning and she fired up on turn 4. Once she's starts I need to give it rev's for about 30secs to make sure she keeps running....after that it's all perfect and the engine pulls well, and i'm getting about 35mpg so far.

On the motorway when cruising at about 50mph the temp gauge hovers around 100. Also when I'm doing any manoeuvres involving steep hills and high rev's she will tend to hit about 100 and start the fan, it has never gone about 110 however, just want to make sure it's all in order!

Thanks for your wisdom in advance!, this seems like a great forum and I hope to keep you guys up to date with photos over the summer and coming winter!

Hello!

Although the gauges are pretty rough approximations of temperature, that does sound too high to me - at least worth looking into. If all your electrics are working OK, I would be tempted to put a new thermostat on just in case. Cheap and easy and less of a pain than a blown head gasket. Re starting, how much oomph has your battery got? that would be my first port of call.

Well it shouldn't increase on the motorway - did you say 50? At 80/85 I wouldn't expect it to go up if everything's ok, but it will spike when you come off the motorway when the heat sinks in.

It does sound generally a bit high but the gauges are only a vague guide as has been said. If the fan cuts in and brings the temp back down to normal that's a good sign.

All of them are different to start, but the battery is a good place to start if you're worried. It doesn't sound anything too menacing from your description of how it's starting - all fairly normal. The mpg sounds ok too for a 4x4, certainly nothing weird there.

Edit: keep an eye on the water level as well as if the temperature doesn't go back down when the fan kicks in. It could be the start of head gasket problems so wise to check it. More likely a dodgy thermostat or radiator needing a good flush out though (hopefully!).

Thanks for the replies

I had the first real check in the engine bay since I've purchased her a few weeks ago.

I had a look at the battery, it's relatively new, the connection was extremely loose however, I could pull off both cables without any resistance!!, so sorted that out easily.
Also had a look at the contact points in the dizzy, both the rotor arm and points were corroded so I cleaned them up. This made a noticeable difference in the start up, however it still takes quite a while for the engine to run smoothly.

It almost feels like a fuel starvation problem? it will often die if I don't hold rev's for about 30seconds, even with the choke opened fully, once the car has been running it'll start perfectly for the rest of the day, any ideas?

Idle/ fuel cut off solenoid.
located in the lower part of carburetor body just above intake manifold, there is single cable conecting to 6.3mm male blade connector, "click" sound should be heard when positive +12V applied (ignition).
It might be stuck in closed position.

To be honest the starting doesn't sound outlandishly odd on a carb car. All of mine have always started with a quick prod of throttle, then I've kept them running on a few light blips of the pedal for a few seconds until they settle down. Might be worth checking the obvious and see if the choke cable has stretched or slipped slightly, might just not be getting full choke.

The dizzy has a vacuum advance retard.

Very common for the pipe from this to the carb to be split

Thanks guys i'll have another look and see what I can find ,
New to all of this, the car is actually older than I am, so learning as I go.

Alixcompo said:

The dizzy has a vacuum advance retard.

Very common for the pipe from this to the carb to be split

Click to expand...

I had to read this twice, it sounded more like an insult on first reading

onemanmade said:

I had to read this twice, it sounded more like an insult on first reading

Click to expand...

I thought exactly the same haha

Sorry the distributer on my car has a learning difficulty
...

Alixcompo said:

Sorry the distributer on my car has a learning difficulty
...

Click to expand...

Well Pandas are quite simple really...

I'm just digging a hole now aren't I...?

I thought all 4x4s were fitted with the breakerless dizzy...? Obviously not! Possibly worth trying a new condenser though that should effect running after it's warm too. Have you set up the points and the timing?

OK so let's have another go without sounding stupid...

If you cleaned your points and had an improvement the order new points and condensor straight away.

Points are very expensive for Panda's, don't last very long and really don't like having their faces re-profiled

firstcar-Y10 said:

To be honest the starting doesn't sound outlandishly odd on a carb car. All of mine have always started with a quick prod of throttle, then I've kept them running on a few light blips of the pedal for a few seconds until they settle down. Might be worth checking the obvious and see if the choke cable has stretched or slipped slightly, might just not be getting full choke.

Click to expand...

:yeahthat:

conkerpow said:

Thanks guys i'll have another look and see what I can find ,
New to all of this, the car is actually older than I am, so learning as I go.

Click to expand...

Likewise my Panda is 2 years older than I am, choke starting for me in the summer was easy, in the winter it took me quite some time to get the knack of it, seems with just about every car to get them going easily is slightly different.
For example if I try and start with full choke even if its very cold the engine will always flood.

Echo'ing what everyone else has said about temp gauge being a rough estimate, mine can read about 97 on a hot day if I'm having to use high rpm's but will bring itself back down to 92 ish on the gauge.

Alixcompo said:

OK so let's have another go without sounding stupid...

If you cleaned your points and had an improvement the order new points and condensor straight away.

Points are very expensive for Panda's, don't last very long and really don't like having their faces re-profiled

Click to expand...

The best way to find points is to try all the cross referenced part nos on ebay and you will find a wild variation in prices (hopefully some at the lower end!)

Hi all,

Thanks again for all your help!

Looks like I have found my rough starting problem.
The vacuum advance unit has failed (well I presume that hole is not meant to be there? ) , I'm guessing this would lead to a rough idle?
What's the best course of action? Just replace the vacuum advance? Ebay?

Also I have found a tiny split on a fuel line which prob account for my fuel starvation problem on startup, as the car starts much better facing downhill, so that leads me to believe the split is allowing the fuel to drop back to the tank when it's been sitting.

AFAIK the Vacuum advance doesn't effect idle. It only kicks in at high revs like a vtec

Hi conkerpow, just read this thread for the first time.

You certainly need a new vacuum advance unit as no, that hole shouldn't be there . You could seal it with a dab of silicone but the chances are that the diaphram inside is poor or dead anyway. Vacuum advance is designed to alter the timing under load true, but on the Panda it gives you about ten degrees at idle too, try disconnecting the pipe when it's all fixed, you'll find the engine revs drop dramatically and probably stall. Your hole could also allow air into the carb via the vacuum pipe allowing it to run week.

Can I confirm a couple of things that others have mentioned.

In the UK all 4x4's have electronic ign. not points, unless they are MK1's with the ohv engine. Could you post a pic of your engine and distributor so that we can be sure of what we are dealing with?

Also, points need to be in good condition, cleaning them up is fine as a 'get you home' measure but, as Alik says should be replaced asap along with the condenser. May as well start off ownership with a new set of plugs and leads if you can run to it too.

Points on a FIRE engine can be set with the engine running using a dwell meter, this is preferable to setting with feeler gauges as it allows for wear in other parts of the distributor (shaft, baseplate, etc). A multimeter that can do dwell is well worth buying for this as it's not too expensive.