Engine gets stuck at 3,500rpm

[gbduo]

Hi,

I have a E-Type, Series 1 and half, 4.2ltr.

Recently, when the engine has got hot, when you accelerate under load, in second, third and fourth the engine starts to hesitate at 3,500rpm and eventually gets stuck at 3,900rpm. The car feels like it is hitting a rev limit.

We have removed the spark plugs and the back two cylinders were quite coked up so we cleaned these off and also the air filter gasket between the air filter housing and the inlet box to the carbs had broken, so we replaced that.

We took the car out again and it seemed to run a lot better, but again, after about 30mins running the car gets stuck around 3.5k and then gets progressively worse, the limit reducing to as little as 2.5k within another 15mins.

Do you think this could be the coil breaking down under load/worn HT leads and plugs?

Or a case of a unbalanced carbs as the back two cylinders were more coked up than the other 4?

Many thanks,

Keith

[DaveK]

Keith,

Don't know any history of the car or engine like did you rebuild the engine recently or have you just bought the car etc.
If you don't know when the engine work was done or how long the HT leads, coil, points? have been in the car I would change them as a matter of course along with the plugs and distributor cap.
Does it have points if so look at changing to electronic ignition.

I would then have the timing all checked out.

Change the fuel filer and check the furl pump as well the filter in the tank may be blocked.
Finally I had symptoms like you and found my rev counter accuracy was way out all the time I thought it wouldn't rev more than 4500 it was actually red lining.
If you get it sorted please report back as to your findings.

Dave

[gbduo]

Dave,

Car was rebuilt by somebody else in the early 90s and has done about 8000miles since then. Dad bought the car about 3 years ago.

I'll show this to Keith (my Dad!) later!

Graham

Keith's son!

[DaveK]

Keith,

remove the engine breather tube and clear it out this gets gunked up with oily residues.
By the sound of it the engine service parts need a refresh. Also something to look at would by the dizzy but I would do that last after trying the cheaper electrical parts first.

Dave

[gbduo]

Found the problem, it would appear that the coolant hoses immediately above the dizzy cap had been leaking water onto the dizzy cap so that the HT leads and their connections were wet.

A quick dry and cleaning of the oxide has seemed to have solved the problem...for now!

Keith

[DaveK]

Keith,

Glad you found the problem strangely this is the second time I have heard of this in the past few weeks.

Dave

[Art1012]

Hi,

I have a E-Type, Series 1 and half, 4.2ltr.

Recently, when the engine has got hot, when you accelerate under load, in second, third and fourth the engine starts to hesitate at 3,500rpm and eventually gets stuck at 3,900rpm. The car feels like it is hitting a rev limit.

We have removed the spark plugs and the back two cylinders were quite coked up so we cleaned these off and also the air filter gasket between the air filter housing and the inlet box to the carbs had broken, so we replaced that.

We took the car out again and it seemed to run a lot better, but again, after about 30mins running the car gets stuck around 3.5k and then gets progressively worse, the limit reducing to as little as 2.5k within another 15mins.

Do you think this could be the coil breaking down under load/worn HT leads and plugs?

Or a case of a unbalanced carbs as the back two cylinders were more coked up than the other 4?

Many thanks,

Keith

Hi Make sure the throttle levers are not catching on the engine frame under the carbs, there should be a spacer under the engine mount to prevent this.

[graham59]

Hi
I have experienced similar problems with my 65 series 1 fhc
I had the plugs ,leads,plug caps & points changed.The carbs were also tuned.
This was ok until after stopping on first test drive.i read on the Etype UK forum that the fitting of a filter king would even the fuel pressure to the carbs & assist with the elimination of spluttering on acceleration & the coking up of the rear 4 cylinders.
I have now ordered the filter king from burlen & getting garage to fit when this arrives.

Hopefully this is the cure

Has anyone else tried this or knows of any successes

Regards
Graham

[DaveK]

Graham,

Never heard of a filter king what is it and where does it go?

I have never experienced spluttering on acceleration my engine runs like a sewing machine to be honest. I would look for the reason why it is spluttering first because a well tuned XK engine just shouldn't do that.

Dave

[stuarthardy]

Filter King has been around a long time and was marketed in the late seventies and early eighties as a performance and economy enhancement.

As a callow youth, I was discouraged from buying one in around 1980 by my uncle who was a motor engineer as he argued that a well set up engine (in this case a Cortina) should not need any additional parts to keep it running well. We went through the fuel system from soup to nuts, cleaning and replacing filters and cleaning carburetter jets (Weber 28/36) and this did the trick.

I would be interested to know if the Filter King helps any in this problem as I would be more inclined to suggest the problem lies in the fuel supply, somewhere between fuel tank pick up and float chamber levels.

Regards
Stuart

[graham59]

Good evening
The Filter King has now been installed & carbs retuned.
The result of this improvement has transformed my car from a spluttering car to one which pulls like a train.
The next step is for the carb needle seats to be changed to tune further.
I would recommend this upgrade as this has stabilised the fuel flow to the carbs & removed the smell of petrol

Regards
Graham

[graham59]

Good evening
It appears that the delrin needle valves had been tampered & ground down& differing needle valve seats had been used.
The result was fuel was bypassing & flooding float chamber.

These have now been replaced with Viton tipped needles which can be identified by having a black rubber tip.
A new set of plugs & the car has been transformed.

The final addition will be to replace the forks which contact the floats & needles as again these had been tampered with.

I hope this assists anyone having similar problems.
Regards
Graham

[graham59]

Good afternoon
Update on my 65 FHC ; the problem after changing the needle seats & 1 float lid complete was traced down to the carb float chamber pressurising from a breather which had been soldered on , but the solder had blocked breather.
Now sorted with a clutch slave cylinder as well
Car performs great.