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MG TD TF 1500 - TD Heat Shield

Was there one? If not should one make & install one?
V.W. Piña

Vince - There was not. I'll send you information on making one. Cheers - Dave
David DuBois

How much difference does a heat shield make? In notice that my car ideals rougher on warm days. Is this due to warming of the carbs?
russ oakley

The last time the PO recalls using the car, it would run for awhile & stop. He'd have to wait to get it started again. Does this sound like vapour lock?
V.W. Piña

Dave,

I would appreciate some info on making one, myself. Please e-mail me, as well.

Cheers,

Tom
Tom Balutis

Rough ideling when the car is hot may be an indication of the inseption of vapor lock, but it is not the main symptom. Usually, the problem shows up after haveing driven long enough to get the engine and engine compartment good and hot, then parking for 10 to 30 minutes in hot weather. The car will usually start right up, but then start ideling rough and stalling (I believe that it is the front carburetor that most often develops the vapor lock in the chanel between the float bowl and the carburetor). One of the reasons I have been reluctant to remove the tickler pins in the float bowl, is that I have found that pushing the tickler pin push the float down a couple of times will often disloge the bubble of vapor that is being held in place by the float). The heat shield is not a cure all for this problem, but it does minimize it. One must make sure that the grill slats are open far enough to allow a good flow of air through the engine compartment to remove the heat build up while driving to minimize the heat soak whenthe car is parked. One should also insure that the timing and mixture is coorectly set to minimize the heat generated by the engine. Even then, in very hot climates, vapor lock is going to be an occasional problem. ONe solution is to move to a cooler climate - it is only on the few hottest summer days in the Pacific Northwest (west of the Cascades) that vapor lock is a problem and why I have not removed the grill and opended the slats on our TD yet. Cheers - Dave
David DuBois

V.W.
If the car would run for a while and then stop, is not an indication of vapor lock.. That seems like it would be some other fuel related problem, like a plugged filter or screen, or a bad fuel pump... or miss adjusted float..

SPW
Steve Wincze

"If the car would run for a while and then stop, is not an indication of vapor lock". That depends on how the car acted when running. If it runs when first started, then starts sputtering (particularly whe trying to get it moving) and eventually stops running, it could be due to vapor lock. As stated in my previous post, the problem usually happens in just one of the carbs and will quite often just run very poorly on 2 cylinders until the vapor lock clears. The best way to clear it is to keep opening the throttle wide and letting the engine rev (just don't over rev it) to pull the vapor through the carb. Cheers - Dave
David DuBois

VWP: "Just heard from the PO and this is his best recollection:"

PO: "Sure I’ll tell you what I can. Last time I drove was about 15 years ago. I remember that the car would drive fine when it was cold, but after a while (one time as short as 2 minutes) I would hear a sucking sound when I pushed down the gas pedal. It was like there wasn’t enough gas or too much gas and the engine was missing some element that caused the car’s engine to loose momentum. I say it was a sucking noise because it sounded like air was needed or too much air was getting in. My dad and I always assumed it was a gas pump problem, so we used to put on a bunch of different gas pumps. With 15 years retrospect, I wonder if it had to do with something else because it seemed like we went thru 5 pumps or so in my memory. New pumps seemed to fix the problem for a while, but never a permanent fix.

I only drove it around town, so I was okay with it being temperamental. My brother supposedly drove it to Mexico in the early 80s so I think it was only temperamental in my era. My brother once told me it could have to do with the su carburetors. I don’t even know what carburetors do. Or maybe it was because the old pan/air pan (can’t remember which) was missing when I had it. If you remember, I never remember seeing the pan above the engine that you said was missing.

I just remembered one more thing – when the car did the sucking noise, the car wouldn’t move forward. It was like the sucking caused the engine to disengage from the transmission, but I think it had such a drastic loss of power that the car didn’t respond at all. I would rev the engine when the sucking noise would start and the car would lose power, and I think it was a matter of time before the engine would die. I think once the sucking noise started the engine would die within 30 seconds. My memory might be a bit skewed after 15 years. But I’m pretty sure this was the problem.

I hope this helps you!"

VWP: "Any ideas?"
V.W. Piña

Sounds like a vacuum leak to me. Check the welsh plugs at both ends of the intake manifold, I've heard of them coming loose which will cause a really bad vacuum leak and would definitely cause loss of power. Also check the manifold gasket for a leak. Good luck - Dave
David DuBois

V.W. - I am going to print that out and frame it and hang it on the wall of my 'shed'... that is pure 'prose'!!!!!!
gblawson - TD#27667

That good huh? Should I tell the PO he is in the wrong line of work? :-]
V.W. Piña

My TD always acts up after a drive in hot weather, such as at a stop for gas. The problem has always been immediately solved by short term use of the choke. As soon as the fuel pump gets cooler gas to the float bowls the problem goes away and I remove the choke.
Bill Cole
Bill Cole

This thread was discussed between 09/10/2006 and 12/10/2006

MG TD TF 1500 index

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