Not running right at all

[Anonymous]

In fact, not really running at all! Last June on my way back to Toronto from the Citroen Rendezvous in Saratoga Springs New York, about 250 miles into the trip, the car started backfiring badly, clouds of brown smoke came out of the air cleaner. I thought it might be the coil, so I was able to buy one near where I broke down and made it home. The next day, the car wouldn’t start at all, and made more loud backfiring. I replaced the points and condenser and still no change. I took all the jets out of the carb, cleaned them and no change. Today I replaced the float and needle valve because as soon as I cranked the engine on the starter, fuel would pour out of the overflow and after I changed the float, nothing is different and it’s still overflowing. No matter how I set the distributor, there is still the loud noises, flames shooting out of the carb and brown smoke. This is the first time I’ve ever had a problem with this car that I couldn’t figure out myself in over 30 years! Driving me nuts! Any advice out there? There is a professional carb rebuilder nearby, I may give it to him and maybe he can figure it out. Anything else I should look for???

[Anonymous]

Have you checked the valve timing? Also what about the drive for the distributor?

[Anonymous]

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[Anonymous]

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[Anonymous]

Thanks a lot, I will check all those items. The backfiring did blow a hole in the muffler, so it’s a bit noisy. It’s 30 odd years old so I can’t complain about that. The distributor cap sounds quite possible. It’s not old but it is Chinese made and cheap looking. It all started all of a sudden after making a long drive on that weekend and then the trouble started when I was about 100 miles from home.

[Anonymous]

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[Anonymous]

I did a similar thing in my legere, rushing to attend a business meeting (only car I had at the time ) and it resulted in a whole series of problems, starting with a blown exhaust manifold gasket.
The moral being ” be gentle, the youngest traction is 58 years old”….
Hope the resolution comes quickly…

[Anonymous]

I was driving it just under 100 kms per hour. I don’t usually go faster than that, maybe 110 but it does have a block from a 1959 ID-19 with the 11D head. I had been driving continuously for about 7 hours or so, crossing New York State on my way back to Canada. There was one loud backfire halfway across, then it ran OK till it broke down. As soon as I have time maybe this weekend I will check it further. The dist cap sounds like it might be the thing.

[Anonymous]

Larry,
I think this sums up your situation:

[attachment=0:1xc7471p]unnamed.jpg[/attachment:1xc7471p]

[Anonymous]

and here is the background of “Ladybird Books” – a British institution

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ladybird_Books#The_classic_Ladybird_book

[Anonymous]

Isn’t that an Austin engine on the book cover? In which case, you can’t unfuck it.

While we’re on the subject, the second world war American war correspondent, Ernie Pyle wrote:

Once, on a misty Scottish airfield, an airman was changing the magneto on the engine of a Wellington bomber. Suddenly his wrench slipped and he flung it on the grass and snarled, “Fuck! The fucking fucker’s fucked.” The bystanders were all quite well aware that he had stripped a bolt and skinned his knuckles.

[Author]

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