MG-Cars.net

Welcome to our resource for MG Car Information.

Recommendations

Parts

MG parts spares and accessories are available for MG T Series (TA, MG TB, MG TC, MG TD, MG TF), Magnette, MGA, Twin cam, MGB, MGBGT, MGC, MGC GT, MG Midget, Sprite and other MG models from British car spares company LBCarCo.

MG MGA - Puzzler 2

I liked Puzzler so much I thought I would throw one in that happened a few years ago. I had a garage in Melbourne OZ at the time and a lady brought a rear engine Renault 10 in for a tune. It all went ok but a couple of weeks later she came back with a problem. The car had cut out on the road and rolled to a stop. On restart the car ran prefect only for the same thing to happen a week later. It took us weeks to find the problem and cost me a great deal of time, there was no way I was going to let it beat me.
This problem might happen twice a day or once every two weeks. We did end up finding the problem and I have have a good laugh about still. The thing that made it hard to find was that it would never do it for me, so I drove it for days until it did happen and it proved to be pretty simple. Please rattle your brains but I dont expect a Quick result. Denis
DENIS H

Ignition switch?
Tom

Surely you must give some symptoms. Loss of ignition could be many things.
Loose connection that caused a loss of spark? Loss of fuel injection?
mike parker

She was pulling out the choke to hang her handbag on it?
dominic clancy

I've heard this one before. Dominic is right.

Steve
Steve Gyles

I had a similar problem with a VW beetle 1960. It would run perfectly well until it decided to slow down to about 5 MPH. It would never stop. Let it idle for a minute and off it would go. It would run well for many days ,sometimes even weeks and then do it all over. I was sevicing VW's at that time and I changed the fuel pump, carburettor , distributer and one time even pulled the cyl heads thinking maybe sticking valve guides. All to no avail.
I ended up trading his car for one of mine and drove it everyday to work. It would still slow down but never left me stuck. I found my problem one night at approx 1030PM while working in my basement.The original fuel pump was tagged and while rebuilding it I found that one of the check valves had split and one small piece was missing. This was in March and I was in the arctic region of Quebec. The car was outside in the driveway. The only piece of the fuel system that I had not replaced was a small brass ferrule that plugs into the carburettor. This is connected to the fuel pump by a short line. I pulled the ferrule and took it inside. There was my problem. The small missing piece of a bakelight material was inside the ferrule and acting like a rotating plug. It was turning crossways in the fuel line and thereby partially shutting off the fuel supply.
Sandy Sanders
Hudson Florida
Sandy Sanders

Hi all

I could bore you with lots of things like this but the one that sticks in my mind was a Volvo that would breakdown, when I went out to (several times) or the RAC breakdown service it would start and drive OK, this went on for about a month, ignition was checked, carb cleaned, fuel supply checked. I even drove this car on and off for a week with no problems. Eventually it in desperation I took out the fuel tank and inside were some small foil discs, I worked out that these would block the fuel pick up pipe, once the engine had stopped the suction would recede and the discs would float away. When I told the customer we were puzzled by how they got in the tank. I then remembered he once told me of this fuel additive he was using, meant to increase power and fuel economy etc. He got a new bottle out of the car and when the top was unscrewed the sealing disc fell out of the cap
Discs removed - end of problem. Be careful when you pour things into your tank !!

Terry
Terry Drinkwater

Back to the thread
Renault 10's were terrible cars, the petrol cap was in the engine compartment (at the rear) I once commented to a customer, whilst filling hers with petrol, that as the fuel filler was near the hot engine, it was potentually a fire risk. She wouldn't drive it after that, her brother came to the garage and gave me a b******ing for putting the fear of God into her. If one broke down its best to leave it where it is and walk. Almost as bad as a Hillman Imp

Denis H Your problem sound a bit like my volvo story, something in the tank?

Terry
Terry Drinkwater

Mike I will give the first clue that led me to the answer. You guys cant road test the car but my problem was even more anoying in that it always ran perfect when I drove it, however one day I jumped in the car and it did exactly what the lady driver said, it just cut, rolled to a stop just as if the key was switched off. I must say that the answers givern so far were all logical and could have easly been the problem but were not.
As the engine cut there was a very slight "pop" noise, just one. The funny thing was that the pop was in the front of the car. I have to admit that I was lost until I heard this noise as we had covered "almost" every possability indeed many times over. ???? Denis
DENIS H

Intermittant fuel tank venting?
Nigel Steward

Denis - can you give us a description of the type of road, speed, turns, etc that made up the drive that wa "exactly what the lady driver said". I'm wondering about fuel starvation or loose connection that occurs under some force such as hill or turns.
Ken Doris

Denis
I can't remember if the battery is in the front, was it a something shorting on the battery or leads? Maybe a loose terminal. I had it happen on a mini, I went over a bump and the jack shorted the battery, which didn't have its cover on

Terry
Terry Drinkwater

All these answers were the things I looked at as well but were all good. The car was always travelling at least a slow cruise and when it stopped for me it was at about 35mph and trevelling straight and level.
As a clue the lady owner had been so happy with the car after the tune up that she detailed the inside and out, just as in the other puzzler it might not always be the ignition or fuel system that causes a motor to stop. Wont drag it on too long, answer tomorrow and I hope its from some one else. Denis
DENIS H

A little continuous vibration and the weight of the key fob turned off the ignition switch?
Barney Gaylord

I only put this puzzler in because in the fiftytwo years I have been in the motor trade it was the most unusual and frstrating problem bar none. It cost me a lot of time and money but at least I found it in the end.
The lady owner like I said had cleaned the car inside and out after getting it back from the inital tune up. When cleaning out the front luggage compartment she had placed clean newspaper on the floor to protect the carpet;
A renault 10 has the engine in the rear and the air filter to get clean cool air draws it from the hollow side chassis member which in turn draws air from the front luggage compartment. At speed which could vary with wind direction and velocity the top sheet of newspaper would float up and now and then go pop across the air vent. As soon as the engine stopped the paper would settle down again. The lady driver never mentioned the pop noise as it was very slight, but had I not heard it I might still be looking for the problem. In the mean time we had the tank out, pumps apart, checked wireing looms and switches, checked for blocked exhaust and all the normal things, in most cases several times. I suppose when you think about it the owner caused the problem herself but I was just glad we found it for my own piece of mind. When its your job you dont like a problem beating you. I did not expect to many to get the answer because it is one out of the box. Denis
DENIS H

To close this one off, I just came across this reference to Dominic's answer:

http://www.snopes.com/autos/techno/choke.asp

It was listed along with the "car driven 100 miles in 1st gear" fable!

LOL

Joe
Joe Cook

When I first went to work at a dealership, [Velie Imports/Oldsmobile]
I was the resident Renault mechanic.
I had reinstalled a R10 engine, and went on a road test. About a mile from the end of the test, the car died. And wouldn't restart.

What I found was, I had failed to fasten the positive battery cable down. As a result, it was against the exhaust manifold and shorted out.
Easy, but embarrassing fix.
Live and learn.
Safety Fast
Dwight
Dwight

With reference to the handbag on the choke cable, I think I can beat it for dumbness. I had a lady customer who filled her mini engine with water right to the top of the rocker cover, it took about a week for the emulsified muck to drain out. The engine was OK after some TLC. And they gave women the vote!!
Now then, do you want to hear about another customer (male) who crashed his Mini Clubman into the petrol pump island and then fell out the car door, rolling drunk ! Those WERE the days !

Regards

Terry
Terry Drinkwater

This thread was discussed between 08/11/2005 and 19/11/2005

MG MGA index

This thread is from the archive. The Live MG MGA BBS is active now.