Jump to content

Loose power turning right


Recommended Posts

All,

 

Anybody experience this type of issue?

The TR4A goes fine, I can run long distances (500km), accelerate fine, good power, smooth idle & running.....but if I make a sharp right turn I loose all power until the car straightens-up or until I'm almost stationary. Then the car runs fine & continues like normal...

 

It's not a slow loss of power like I would imagine fuel starvation to be, it's pretty instant making me think its electrical... i replaced the last 3 feet of the white ignition wire going to the coil thinking that this piece of wire sees a lot of movement and could have failed internally..that didnt help.

 

Many years ago I had an series of full loss of electrics (going straight!) which turned out to be the foot-dip-switch shorting to earth... thats ok this time...

 

any other thoughts on things that go splutter in the right?

Link to post
Share on other sites

Hello Dave,

Sounds similar to problems I've been having. On mine I reckon it's the electrics, but I've not had the opportunity to test things out recently because the weather hasn't been that good here.

You might find something useful in the discussions I had at: http://www.tr-register.co.uk/forums/index.php?/topic/49989-fuel-starvation-or-something-else/

Hope it helps.

Darren

Link to post
Share on other sites

I had a similar problem a few years ago and tracked it down to a loose connection on the condenser in the distributor

Link to post
Share on other sites

Dave,

 

I suggest that you replace the piece of wire from the coil to the distributor. It takes a lot of flexing and I had this fail intermittently before.

 

Cheers

 

Graeme

Link to post
Share on other sites

Hi Dave,

apart from the electrics (happy hunting) have a look in the fuel tank.

A friend of mine had similar problems and it turned out to be a fungal lump in the fuel tank.

As he turned right it got moved to the left over the tank outlet.

 

However this would not be an instant failure compared to a dicky wire.

 

Becareful when looking in with a torch.

 

Roger

Link to post
Share on other sites

Hi Dave

 

It does sound electrical, and I would suggest trying another ignition coil as it could be related to movement of oil inside the coil. Long shot but maybe.

 

Only other thing I can think of is are your carb dashpots topped up? If they are low or empty perhaps the sudden movement of the change of direction effects the level of the dampers. Sorry another long shot but worth checking!

 

Regards

 

Kevin

Link to post
Share on other sites

Hi Dave,

 

Unfortunately, I've not been able to get the car out on the road over the last few weeks, so I don't know if I've fixed the issue or not with what I've done. My car runs fine when parked in the garage. I can rev it, or hold the revs at say 2000, and it's perfect. I've only noticed the problem when out on the road, so it does make me think it's a dodgy electrical connection that's the issue. Finding it and knowing that I've found it is the real problem. It might be that with what I've done already that it's fixed, but I won't know for sure until I take it out.

 

Darren

Link to post
Share on other sites

My money is on an electrical issue.

With engine running try moving all the wires around related to ignition (including under the dash), check inside distributer for loose condenser, or intermittant connection in condenser wire, & the internal earthing wire between the sliding plate, & the body.

 

Bob.

Link to post
Share on other sites

A friend of mine had a similar problem when we were touring in France. It was one of the plug leads shorting onto inside of bonnet. Easily cured by readjusting leads so they were away from inside of bonnet. Engine mountings may be allowing too much lateral movement when you turn. As you turn left engine will rock to the right moving plug leads nearer to bonnet. As you turn right engine will rock to left moving plug leads upwards as well. Leads could be shorting onto engine or fuel pipes.

Keith

Link to post
Share on other sites

Assuming nothing around coil as already suggested (LT connectors and terminals), and dizzy internals (which you'd think any vibrations from the engine would outweigh centrifugal force during a turn ), I'd temporarily run a lead straight from battery to coil +ve. Don't forget to disconnect again to stop engine (!).

 

Run up the road doing whatever it is that triggers it: if it STILL cuts, you know it's nothing upstream of coil, so not loom, ignition switch or power supply. If it HAS stopped the problem, you know it's not coil, distributer or king lead. It seems less likely to be spark plugs or HT leads in general, as all cylinders are cutting, so that just leaves king lead, coil and cap (or technically centre of dizzy cap or rotor arm, but as above, you'd think engine running conditions would outweigh car-turning forces).

 

Has any work been done on the car recently? Also, if everything looks ok after above visual and temp wiring test, might be worth rigging a volt-meter where you can see it whilst driving. Be interesting if volts suddenly changed during the cut out, as per your problem from years ago. Also, I assume it's starting ok? Therefore battery connections and earths, and battery not moving around.

 

You'd think if fuel supply issue the float chambers would (possibly?) see you through a bend. As you suggest, a fast, instantaneous cut suggests spark. I know on my old blue 4 that following a float needle failure in Tunbridge Wells, it ran perfectly well on one carb through the balance pipe at low to moderate throttle after I blocked the fuel pipe to offending carb. Therefore you'd need both carbs to have the same problem, to the same degree at the same time.

 

Really interesting: oh yes, did it suddenly start doing it, or did it start with a tiny misfire and gradually develop into full cut-out?

Edited by Barry911
Link to post
Share on other sites

Hi Darren,

next time you take it out and it stops, pop the tank filler cap and listen - does it make a sucking sound. It could be your tank is not vented.

Leave cap undone and give it a run see what happens.

 

Roger

Ah yes Roger: but why directional?

 

As an aside though, I once had a Suzuki Cappuccino. One of those brilliant Kai class two seat, turbocharged micro-sports cars. It had air conditioning which was heavy 12kgs, and took a load of the 63hp engine's grunt. It gradually became inefficient, so I removed it. I looked forward to seeing my economy go up a bit, as not only had I removed the 12kgs, it was one less drivebelt running. Imagine my delight when my economy went from av 50 mpg to nearly 90!

 

I was doing brim-to-brim tests, so knew I was being very accurate (always thinking you see). Out of the blue, I ran out of fuel. Odd, as I didn't think it was very long ago that I'd filled up.

 

To cut to the chase, it turned out that the breather system had clogged, and the little fuel pump had utterly crushed the fuel tank: it's capacity ended up being a fraction of what it should have been. It had even bent the fuel sender, and ripped the (steel) tank. Being fuel injected, the pump was easily enough to generate lots of PSi, and therefore more than enough to subject the tank to a big % of atmospheric pressure. Rather than deal with the very complex (and unobtainable) breather system, I fitted a MX5 fuel cap (with vent), and of course another fuel tank. Problem solved.

Edited by Barry911
Link to post
Share on other sites

Hi Darren,

next time you take it out and it stops, pop the tank filler cap and listen - does it make a sucking sound. It could be your tank is not vented.

Leave cap undone and give it a run see what happens.

 

Roger

 

Thanks for that suggestion Roger. I'll give it a go when/if it happens again. Although, I have to confess that I don't really understand what you mean by a "vented" tank. Does it have anything to do with the fuel cap itself? I know that some have a vent in them, but mine doesn't. Is it worth changing to one that does?

 

Also, with this thread and my one I've seen lots of talk about running a new wire here and there, which is something I feel I should try if what I've already done hasn't cured things, but being a novice about such things myself, I wonder if anyone can give me guidance on what rating of wire I should use for such exercises?

 

Lastly, thanks Bob for the suggestion of moving wires around when the car's running. It's an obvious thing, but it hadn't occurred to me, so I'm off to play about with that now.

 

Cheers, Darren

Edited by TR5tar
Link to post
Share on other sites

Hi Darren,

have you got a TR5 (from your avatar) - not sure how a TR5 tank is vented.

 

What I mentioned works on a TR4A and a TR4 if the vent tube is missing or bunged up.

 

Roger

 

Hi Roger,

 

Yes, mine's a 5.

 

Standard cap on a 5 is vented.

Stuart.

 

Thanks Stuart. When I bought the car I was told that the cap wasn't standard, and following that I did a bit of research and noticed that some caps have the vent. Is it something you'd recommend changing sooner rather than later?

 

Darren

Link to post
Share on other sites

You do need a vented cap whatever. So I would get a standard TR4/4a/5 one (they are all the same) ASAP

Stuart.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

Please familiarise yourself with our Terms and Conditions. By using this site, you agree to the following: Terms of Use.