General stubborn Uno

Currently reading:
General stubborn Uno

NickyP

New member
Joined
Mar 28, 2004
Messages
6
Points
3
Location
arbroath, United Kingdom.
Help! 1.0 ie that decides every now and then not to start. Runs perfectly the rest of the time then suddenly just doesnt fire up(mostly when warm) Changed plugs, leads, cap and both filters to no avail. timing advances as well any ideas anyone? read alot about vacuum avdance failure on forum. would this just make it run rough rather than not start.
 
For me, vac advance meant it stalled radomly at idle, although it would always start whatever, therefore I can't advise this to be the problem and as I know so little about cars, i can't help anymore and do apologise for such. Hopefully somebody else will get back to you.

----------
Uno 1.0ie Start. Standard.
ff_banner.jpg
 
Since the ECU is located in the drivers cabin it's most likely NOT this. Very good advice, thah...[xx(]. It's propably your vacuum advance unit as Paul says. It's a common fault.

What to check:
On the air filter box, there are two hoses. Remove both from the box, and remove the thick one from the cam as well. Inside this there is a brass filter for flame prevention. Remove it and check if it's clogged - if so clean it, if not, it's ok. Put back in place on the cam. The little hose you disconnected should suck on your finger when the engine runs. Remove the air filter box and clean the throttle body - it's propably black with oil deposits and dirt passing through the incredibly slacky filter-box. Check that the valve down there closes properly when idling and no obstacles clog it. Check also that HALF the amount of fuel is injected when idling. You will notice this when looking down there and pulling the throttle cable slightly. The little plunger on the throttle body's rear side should be depressed when you release the cable, making the ECU knowing the engine idles. Make sure the throttle cable is SLACK enough - else it will half-choke whenever you release your foot off the throttle. You did change everything of importance, so if this doesn't help, I'd go for the avcuum advance unit. Anyway it's a good thing to tune and clean the intake this way.

You will not give up.

Morten.


gas lowered on abarth wheels. upgraded interior and visuals. audio through phoenix gold and BLOWN kenwood.

projects: air in and out.

Honey that ain't no pistol - that's my LOVE GUN.
 
Had the same problem with an old Uno. New distributor fixed the problem. The vacuum advance unit is attached to this so you may as well replace the whole lot.

In fact, not even sure if you can replace the vacuum advance unit on its own.
 
Vacuum advance unit can be changed on their own, and seems to fail on older Unos.

From memory, you take off the distributer cap and rotor arm, and you should just be able to see the plastic arm from the vacuum unit beneath the dizzy top plate. It simply clips onto the underside of the top plate, and some gentle pushing on the arm should dislodge it. Then you simply remove one or two screws holding the vacuum unit to the dizzy body, remove it and replace with a new one.

Both my Uno 45's had failed units that caused stalling and poor tickover, and were replaced with new as all the ones I checked in the breakers yards had failed too!

Oh yes, a simple test to see if the vacuum unit has failed is to remove the vacuum pipe from the carburetor (leaving it attached to the vacuum advance diaphragm), and suck on the tube. It should be possible to suck and then let the pipe stick to your tongue with the vacuum!

If no vacuum is felt, like you keep sucking and feel no resistance, then the unit is probably faulty.
 
Back
Top