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Poorly TR3, periods of no power, running rough


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This morning over breakfast I was telling my wife what a great car our TR3a was and what a treat it is to drive it. Like driving a new TR3 etc.

 

This afternoon I took it out to get groceries, taking the scenic route about 10 miles on some windy back roads. The first indication that all was not well was when I started it. The engine normally takes a few seconds to get stabilized when cold but that really is a just few seconds. Today it was just not happy but I pressed on and when out on the open road it seemed fine. We got to the grocery store with no drama.

On leaving the store the engine started normally but within a quarter of a mile the engine was just dying when I gave it some throttle and had no power. I babied it through that phase and it coughed and spluttered a bit more but I pressed on and got it up to 50 mph in 4th, navigated through a couple of intersections and eventually home. For the last quarter mile I was very doubtful that it was going to make it but we did.

My first suspect was the Lucas sports coil but I compared it with a new one and they are pretty much the same with the primary coil measuring around 3.6 ohms and the secondary just over 10k ohms.

Both float bowls were full of fuel.

Spark plugs all look normal.

It was getting late and buggy and time for the bears to go home so I had to call it a day but will continue tomorrow and would welcome any suggestions of what to poke at next. I probably have a spare everything.

Stan

 

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Hi Stan,

if you are happy that you have fuel at the carbs, and you didn't fill up with fresh,

and that there is no **** got into a fuel line, then I would be looking at ignition.

Obviously all the components, Condenser, rotor arm, points etc, if you have electronic, then swop it back for a test.

But also the obscure, like a failing lT wire at the coil under the lucar plastic?

King lead ends etc.

John.

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First observation is that the point gap had closed up to almost nothing. With that adjusted car seems much happier on my short test drive. Going to go for a longer drive and see if it behaves. I last set the points 700 miles ago but no apparent lube on the cam..

Stan

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Obtain all your distributor parts (points, condenser, rotor arm etc.) from Distributor Doctor - there' s too much rubbish out there with in boxes labelled Lucas.

Have you had a look at the filter bowl of your fuel pump?  Is there a load of rubbish in the bottom?  If so, that can block the gauze filter and starve the engine.

Ian Cornish

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Just got home from a 60 mile trip in the TR3a, did not miss a beat so I'm going to attribute the poor running to the points gap. Omitting to lube the dizzy cam was one of several things that I missed during the re-assembly of this car. The worst was a track rod end that I had not tightened. The local inspection station found that one during its annual physical.

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