EliTR6 Posted December 18, 2008 Report Share Posted December 18, 2008 Hi guys, Picked the TR up last night after an engine tune. It's definitely better in the mid-range but still misses and backfires above 3500rpm. I can't seem to find any valvemaster plus locally and last petrol I put in the car 95. Put a tenner's worth of 97 in and it seemed to run a bit better towards the end of the drive. The garage said they adjusted the timing, checked the tappets and fitted a new rotor arm and replaced a dodgy spark plug. I'm off to France tomorrow, do you think it will run better once I put some quality petrol and additive in or is a rolling road necessary to get it running smoothly? Cheers E Quote Link to post Share on other sites
TR8IAN Posted December 18, 2008 Report Share Posted December 18, 2008 Hi Eli. Have you been using your car much lately - are you using a petrol additive? Our local motor engineering shop showed me something interesting the other week, we had a car that had been running very badly at top end. What it turned out to be was the petrol additive had settled out from the petrol so in in effect we were running just about on a thick gloop! A good run of a couple of tanks of no additive has really made a difference. Cheers Ian Quote Link to post Share on other sites
EliTR6 Posted December 18, 2008 Author Report Share Posted December 18, 2008 Hi Eli. Have you been using your car much lately - are you using a petrol additive? Our local motor engineering shop showed me something interesting the other week, we had a car that had been running very badly at top end. What it turned out to be was the petrol additive had settled out from the petrol so in in effect we were running just about on a thick gloop! A good run of a couple of tanks of no additive has really made a difference. Cheers Ian Interesting. Haven't used the car much at all over the past few months. And any use has been 1hours max in London so no proper blasts on motorways / fast roads. I usually use valvemaster plus but haven't put any in the car for 2 or 3 months. Might try the car without for an hour tomorrow and then add some to see if things change. Thanks Ian! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
TR8IAN Posted December 18, 2008 Report Share Posted December 18, 2008 If its anything like our car there was about three bottles worth left in the bottom. we were told to not use any additive for at least two fresh tanks of petrol. Have a great time in France Cheers Ian Quote Link to post Share on other sites
EliTR6 Posted December 18, 2008 Author Report Share Posted December 18, 2008 If its anything like our car there was about three bottles worth left in the bottom. we were told to not use any additive for at least two fresh tanks of petrol. Have a great time in France Cheers Ian Wow. Fresh 2nd hand tank was put in a year ago so hope mine is relatively clean. Will try to scrape the bottom of the tank with a metal rod and see if there's any gunk. Thanks for the advice! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
stuart Posted December 18, 2008 Report Share Posted December 18, 2008 Wow. Fresh 2nd hand tank was put in a year ago so hope mine is relatively clean. Will try to scrape the bottom of the tank with a metal rod and see if there's any gunk. Thanks for the advice! Eli go careful scraping about in the bottom of the tank as you may disturb other debris and make it worse. Stuart. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
grahama Posted December 18, 2008 Report Share Posted December 18, 2008 Eli, I had a misfire at 3500 - needed new points! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
john.r.davies Posted December 18, 2008 Report Share Posted December 18, 2008 Very similar thread here recently, that attributed 'gloop' to mixing old with new petrol, that possibly has alcohol in it. It's a minefield, isn't it? Not an oil field. John Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Guest ntc Posted December 18, 2008 Report Share Posted December 18, 2008 Very similar thread here recently, that attributed 'gloop' to mixing old with new petrol, that possibly has alcohol in it.It's a minefield, isn't it? Not an oil field. John Hi John It is a minefield my concern for quite some time is that a forty plus year old system has already had to cope with unleaded fuel let alone some of the fuel that is provided today probably Jellison and others on here will hopefully tell us different. Regards Neil Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Alec Pringle Posted December 19, 2008 Report Share Posted December 19, 2008 Hi John, 'Twas I who started discussion on the mixing of old and new super unleaded, after my own experience of creating 'gloop' . . . . Since then I've come across other instances of a similar occurrence, and my chums down at the workshop have had the opportunity to siphon old fuel from laid-up cars and mix it with fresh fuel. OK, this is only a small sample, but mixing old and new super (98 octane) unleaded in a glass jar resulted in 'gloop'. Mixing old and new premium (95 octane) unleaded didn't produce a gloop. However, introducing a standard (and well-reputed) fuel system cleaner into old fuel, premium and super unleaded alike, did produce the wretched gloop. One suggestion from a petrol/oil company rep is that the volatile components of the old petrol having evaporated away, the fuel system cleaner reacts unfavourably with the old (depleted) fuel. Well, yes, that seems pretty logical an explanation. When he referred the problem back to his technical colleagues, the silence was deafening . . . as in, not their problem if someone else's fuel system cleaner doesn't do its stuff. My cynical conclusion ? If you have old fuel in the tank - don't try diluting it with fresh fuel, and don't try adding whatever additives. Just drain it out and dump it. If all else fails, it's damn good weedkiller. Cheers, Alec Quote Link to post Share on other sites
88V8 Posted December 19, 2008 Report Share Posted December 19, 2008 .... introducing a standard (and well-reputed) fuel system cleaner into old fuel, premium and super unleaded alike, did produce the wretched gloop. One suggestion from a petrol/oil company rep is that the volatile components of the old petrol having evaporated away, the fuel system cleaner reacts unfavourably with the old (depleted) fuel. If one puts some cling under the (vented) filler car, will that prevent evaporation? Or will the cling just melt...... I read somewhere that with a car in use, ethanol has pretty well evaporated after one week. If that's 10% of the fuel, it makes sense to leave as little as possible in the tank otherwise it's your money disappearing into space. On the other hand, the more slosh room there is in the tank the more it will evaporate. Doh. My car has laid itself up for nearly 2 months now with super in the tank. I suppose if one drained it (item - need to fit petrol tap) into Jerry cans where it can't evaporate, it would be OK to keep. Oh to have proper petrol again. Ivor Quote Link to post Share on other sites
stuart Posted December 19, 2008 Report Share Posted December 19, 2008 If one puts some cling under the (vented) filler car, will that prevent evaporation? Or will the cling just melt......I read somewhere that with a car in use, ethanol has pretty well evaporated after one week. If that's 10% of the fuel, it makes sense to leave as little as possible in the tank otherwise it's your money disappearing into space. On the other hand, the more slosh room there is in the tank the more it will evaporate. Doh. My car has laid itself up for nearly 2 months now with super in the tank. I suppose if one drained it (item - need to fit petrol tap) into Jerry cans where it can't evaporate, it would be OK to keep. Oh to have proper petrol again. Ivor Even in a sealed container I think it only has a limited shelf life. You need to get friendly with someone from your local flying club. Avgas is a wonderful thing and still leaded. Stuart. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
EliTR6 Posted December 19, 2008 Author Report Share Posted December 19, 2008 Hi guys, Back on topic here. The car was still missing above 3500 rpm for the first 30mins today. I filled up with Super Unleaded and did about 70 miles pretty much flat out (4000 rpm in 4th o/d). It was a beautiful day and the M20 wasn't that busy. I always kept the car in high revs, even when in traffic and floored it at every opportunity. 30miles or so after filling up, the exhaust note seemed to change. No more missing, the car pulls cleanly up to 5500 in all gears and feels a lot more powerful. I stopped off at nearly 10 garages today to buy some valvemaster plus but they all stocked redex?. Finally found some at halfords in dover and added some to the tank. The car was flying once I got off the ferry! The new exhaust sounds great, like a proper classic race car. It's less boomy than the old one but has a wicked ragged edge to it. I was really pushing the car hard through the french countryside, hard through the gears and redlining it in 2nd and 3rd. Big grin here! So the moral of the story is: if your car isn't running as smoothly as usual, take it out for a proper drive and enjoy it! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
stuart Posted December 19, 2008 Report Share Posted December 19, 2008 Hi guys, Back on topic here. The car was still missing above 3500 rpm for the first 30mins today. I filled up with Super Unleaded and did about 70 miles pretty much flat out (4000 rpm in 4th o/d). It was a beautiful day and the M20 wasn't that busy. I always kept the car in high revs, even when in traffic and floored it at every opportunity. 30miles or so after filling up, the exhaust note seemed to change. No more missing, the car pulls cleanly up to 5500 in all gears and feels a lot more powerful. I stopped off at nearly 10 garages today to buy some valvemaster plus but they all stocked redex?. Finally found some at halfords in dover and added some to the tank. The car was flying once I got off the ferry! The new exhaust sounds great, like a proper classic race car. It's less boomy than the old one but has a wicked ragged edge to it. I was really pushing the car hard through the french countryside, hard through the gears and redlining it in 2nd and 3rd. Big grin here! So the moral of the story is: if your car isn't running as smoothly as usual, take it out for a proper drive and enjoy it! I think its called an "Italian service" or "Drive it like you stole it" Stuart. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
TR8IAN Posted December 19, 2008 Report Share Posted December 19, 2008 Works every time for me - and it'll be even better the more you use it! Have a Great time Merry Christmas to all Cheers Ian Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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