Unhappy Brum

Hi. I need a bit of mechanic advice if possible please.

I got my car serviced today and all went smoothly until this afternoon when she decided to die mid-brum. There was a bit of fuel leaking out of the engine and she appeared a tad flooded.

Mr NRMA man came out, flushed the carbie and I was on my way again. For about 10 metres, anyway, when I stopped and she started idling hella low n the oil light kept flashing on and off.

So he had another look and all seemed fine. Temperamental brat only wanted to play up when she wasn't getting attention, I say.

So I drove the 1km or so home but when I was had my foot on the accelerator, she kept jerking erratically. The car was getting thrown around a lot and when I was pulling into the garage, she went from reasonably high revs to shutting off in a split second.

So we went to drive it to the mechanic and she died round the corner and now won't kick over.

Any ideas what could be up? She's going back to the mechanic tomorrow but I'm kinda trying to work out the likely problems and therefore likely costs.

This weekend is gonna be a busy one and the last thing I need is to be walking after all those Christmas dinners! 😉

Thanks guys.

Sounds like one or more of the spark plugs isn't firing. Could be lots of causes for that leads/plugs/coil/too rich/choke stuck, but I'm not a mechanic. I'm sure a prprer mechanic would know in a second.

Thanks. Got 4 new spark plugs today so not sure...

Oh well, I'll just hafta wait n find out tomorrow.

Plugs, points, timing? They may have retarded the timing to far or your dizzy has loosened up?

Squiz....

FYI. Just got the word on what the problem was. Carbon cap thingy had fallen off the inside of the dissy. When I spoke to the mechanic yesterday on the phone trying to figure out what was happening this was one of his first suggestions, but due to misunderstanding/ignorance I thought he was asking if the spring loaded bit was there, not knowing there was meant to be something that actually went over that.

Anyways, supposedly brum is now happy again and we get to pick it up this arvo.

I don't know if this applies to you, but when you first get a car it's worth replacing all the electrical stuff - points, plugs, leads, dizzie cap. That way you start from a known point rather than trying to second guess when things go wrong.

Why didn't the guy from the NRMA pick something like that up. I've been told about the one where a lady about 2 weeks after a service her beetle started missing, and called the RACQ, and after looking the car, was told that the motor was stuffed. After contacting the mechanic who did the service, he went out for a look and to help her get home.
After being told about the problem, then looking over the motor, then replacing the sparkplug lead, she was on her way.

I know these guys are working on all sorts of breakdowns, and in all sorts of situations, but they are supposed to be qualified mechanics, and should be able to do at the least basic problem finding

Here is a good one.

Few years ago the clutch cable snapped in the bus while Fleur was out on her own. We keep a spare one on board and Fleur had a fair idea how to replace it, but needed a little bit of help to get the splitpin off at the front where it goes on to the pedal.
She got the back wing nut off and pulled the old cable out.
She called the RACV man and he helped for 5 minutes, but no more and wouldnt just put the pin back in at the front of the cable where it goes on to the pedal, put the split pin in and wind the wingnut at the back on.
Would have been only another 3 minutes work.
I had to drive out there and spend the last 3 minutes to help her get home. Far out. :duh

sand kombi wrote:Why didn't the guy from the NRMA pick something like that up.

There appeared to be two problems. He put a lot of time and effort into fixing the first one (carby inlet valve wasn't cutting off). After he fixed that, cause it was sitting still in the parking lot, it was running fine. As we drove off, it was misbehaving a bit again, so we pulled him over again but it wasn't happening. Its kinda hard to troubleshoot something when its not happening to you, being in IT I know this one only too well. The NRMA dude did a good job. It was a bit disappointing having to take it back, but these things happen. He wouldn't have had a replacement dizzy cap on him anyways.