project 1980 Austin Princess

[vulgalour]

Did a little health check just now and made things worse.  Go me.  Coolant and oil nice and clean still, and at the desired levels.  Tyre pressures good.  Suspension good.  No leaks... blablabla.  So let's pull the plugs and have a look.  The engine has felt a bit 'off' recently, a bit too willing to stall first thing sometimes, but nothing obvious.  Plug gaps were all at .55mm instead of the book .9mm suggestion and while they indicated things are running a bit lean, nothing to worry about (turned up the mixture a tad).  Checked the throttle cable too, another gut feeling moment when I undid the bolt that holds the cable in place and watched as a tiny bit of resistance from the cable being a smidge too tight was released.  Also bent the bracket that holds the cable a smidge so it lines up better with the throttle position arm thingy.  So far, throttle doesn't seem to be sticking at idle like it was so maybe I fixed that?

 

Engine still didn't seem right, seemed a bit... lumpy, but not like a reliable miss.  Took it for a spin around the block and the first attempt at going above 30mph rewarded me with a three cylinder car.  Got home, pulled the plugs and regapped just to be sure, and restarted it to find it running very lumpy on three.  Pulled a plug lead at a time and while I'm getting a healthy spark at all four leads, one plug is delivering nothing at all.  It's in the same condition as all the rest, with the same gap, it just doesn't want to spark.

 

I have no idea how old these NGKs are that are in, I suspect at least 5 years old as plugs were one of the first things I did, so they're probably overdue a change.

[Dick Cheeseburger]

I’m not a mechanic, but I reckon it may be worth changing the plugs. Just a small hunch.

[vulgalour]

Might be a good idea, mightn't it?

[RayMK]

Generic plug gap recommendations often assume factory fitted electronic ignition, hence 0.8-0.9mm being common.  Typically, older cars with a coil, distributor and points used to require 0.6mm.  However, each manufacturer may state something different in the owner's manual. What happens if you move the non-sparking plug to a different cylinder or re-gap all of them to 0.6mm?  New plugs would be a fairly cheap option.  Otherwise, as I am sure you are aware, a plug lead or the distributor cap may be suspect.

[vulgalour]

Pretty sure it's a duff plug and not something else.  If I'm getting a healthy spark at the end of each lead, I can't see it being anything other than the plug.

[RayMK]

Pretty sure it's a duff plug and not something else.  If I'm getting a healthy spark at the end of each lead, I can't see it being anything other than the plug.

 

Yes, you did say that in your post.  My memory of recent things often misfires, which could explain why I sometimes go in to the kitchen but haven't the foggiest idea why  .

[Noel Tidybeard]

i've never been won over by the NGK "thing"- in fact my 1.3 maestro positively hated them and ran shit until it had some bosch ones put back in

[vulgalour]

It only got NGK because that's what was available.  When I got it I'm pretty sure it was running a set of four different brand plugs, one of which was an old Champion.

[MikeKnight]

four different brand plugs, one of which was an old Champion.

 

[Talbot]

Pretty sure it's a duff plug and not something else.

Put the questionable spark plug in a different cylinder and see if the fault follows it.

 

 

Also, your brake pedal "bobble" issue. If you drive very carefully without using the brakes for the first 5 miles, does it then still do it, or is the 5-mile time for it to bobble brake-use-independent.

 

If you manage (difficult, I know) to drive 5 miles without using the brakes, and then after said 5 miles it *doesn't* do it, I'd be looking at something other than the brakes.. Maybe a driveshaft joint warming up or similar.

[vulgalour]

It is impossible to drive for five miles without using the brakes because there's about forty roundabouts outside my front door.  Given that the bobble has pretty much stopped this week it's probably my hypersensitivity to mechanical stuff, nobody else is aware of half the things I smell and hear and feel when I'm driving.

[SiC]

it's probably my hypersensitivity to mechanical stuff, nobody else is aware of half the things I smell and hear and feel when I'm driving.

I'm glad I'm not the only one! Naturally if I hear it, I'm only ever worried if its my car making that noise.

 

Whatever you do, don't let it rub off onto your other half. Mine is now hypersensitive to every noise a car makes, but due to her lack of automotive mechanicals, she worries overtime. It took a good few days to properly convince her that the popping from the amp in the TT isn't the car about to explode.

[flat4alfa]

Pretty sure it's a duff plug 

 

I read that too fast.

 

 

Sorry. As you were

[Timewaster]

I remember in my spark plug selling days how lots of older fellas would be incredibly loyal to spark plug brands.

 

Initially we stocked Bosch but we kept a few Champion to keep the oldies happy.

Easily done when N9Y fitted 50% of the cars out there at the time.

 

There were some who wouldn't buy NGK because they remembered the war and saw Japan as the evil nation.

 

But with NGK, when a customer came back and said they had a duff plug from us, we could confidently say "No you haven't."

 

We would change it because the NGK rep would always honour it but he recons they never ever had a duff plug get through quality control.

 

The customer would always be back for a set of leads or distributor cap the next day.

 

Five years might be pushing it though

[vulgalour]

I hadn't had a problem with these NGKs until recently.  Went to the local motorfactors and they only stock NGK.  I wanted to avoid waiting on an order arriving, and ECP, so it was a little irritating that the type I need isn't one they had on the shelf and they had to order in for me.  Still quicker through the local shop since the plugs will be here tomorrow, it's less hassle, and they're a comparable price to everywhere else.  Then I got flumoxxed because I was presented with a contactless card payment machine and I've only just normalised using chip-and-pin.  The future is scary and beeps a lot.

[Timewaster]

Yep. I miss the 3 carbon copies and an imprint machine.

[vulgalour]

Collected my new spark plugs today.  Gapped them since they were all different, chucked them in and fired the car up.  First thing I noticed is that it fired up a lot easier, it had started getting a bit lazy and grumpy about it recently.  Second thing is that the misfire is totally gone.  It feels nice and even now rather than ever so slightly off, so that issue was probably the plug breaking down.

 

I also found the irritating occasional rattle from the boot area.  That's part of the lock mechanism touching part of the boot lid ever so slightly and vibrating at idle, easily fixed with a file and/or rubber grommit.

 

Only thing of concern now is that I noticed what seems like a very occasional knocking noise from the head at idle.  I can't tell if it's just old engine noise, or something that's worn out.  You can only hear it with your head in the engine bay too, it's very subtle.  None of the danger lights have come on and it doesn't feel like a major problem, it could well be perfectly normal, it doesn't seem like something amiss.  Difficult to explain it better as it doesn't pick up on camera microphone so it's something I'm just keeping an eye on for now.  I do have the car's original head in the garage that can easily be rebuilt if needed, the one on the car is from the lower mileage orange one I broke for parts so I have no history for it at all.  The noise is definitely coming from the head too and only noticeable at idle, if it were coming from lower down the engine I'd be much more worried.

[DSdriver]

On a car that age you should gap the plugs in thou. I'm sure this is the answer to your problems.

[Ghosty]

Yep. I miss the 3 carbon copies and an imprint machine.

On an AS outing last year, we found a petrol station in the Lakes that was still using one.

[DodgeRover]

We used to keep one in the shop in case the phone lines went down or some other eventuality.

 

Had a pounds shillings and pence till in reserve too, just in case the metric system didn't catch on.

[SiC]

I'm old enough to (just) remember having to use them when working on checkouts when I was younger! Not long after, they updated their tills. Must have been around 2002-2003ish.

[MorrisItalSLX]

I see them all the time at antique markets. Perfect for paying $10 for a mech-less mantle clock and a bakelite phone handpiece out of the back of a Toyota HiAce!

[PhilA]

Re the knocking noise from the head

 

Mine was doing this

 

It was a failed water pump bearing. The water pump isn't anywhere near the head but the noise was being translated up through the block very efficiently. Check for slack in ancillary moving parts before writing off the engine.

 

 

Phil

[vulgalour]

Thank you!  I just had a listen and it was indeed coming from the water pump.  Turned the car off and gave the pulley a wiggle and there's play in the water pump bearing.  That would have taken me forever to find.  I'll find a replacement and get it ordered.  Annoyingly, the pump that's on has only lasted a couple of years, I put a new one on back in 2013 because the one that came on the car had a bearing that sounded like it was full of gravel.

[vulgalour]

Huh, that was easy.  £15 delivered.

[PhilA]

I think reman bearings are made from low grade materials these days, then they seem to lack lubrication. My water pump had done about 5000 miles before failing.

 

Phil

[vulgalour]

I wouldn't be surprised if they were using Tic Tacs instead of steel.

 

Let's have an update. The recent hot weather, which I'm lead to believe is something called 'Summer', has put paid to me wanting to don protective gear and do welding. Especially so, in fact, because the unit has this amazing property where on a hot day it's hotter inside and on a cold day it's colder inside. Probably something to do with it being an ex-RAF hanger with no insulation. Anyway, I digress.

All has been running fairly smoothly, with a couple of niggles. The dieseling/running-on problem I had seems to have been down to the fuel mix being a tiny bit lean and knackered spark plugs, having sorted out both these things I appear to have fixed that problem, even in the really hot weather we've been having. Then, a little while ago the fuel gauge wouldn't read more than 7/8ths full which led to me overfilling the tank and spilling petrol all down the side of the car because I was sure it should take more fuel. More recently, the fuel gauge started going up and down at random and yesterday it stopped working altogether. Today I determined to start fault finding and naturally the fuel gauge was working again, sort of. There's 3/4 of a tank of fuel in the car at the moment but the gauge read here.
20180701-11 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

It bobbed up and down a bit when idling, I turned it off, had a bit of a think of what I might check without removing the dashboard, and then went back to it. The gauge then decided it wanted to work normally, but only up to half tank. I suspect it's a faulty gauge or voltage regulator. both known issues on these, and I've already replaced the regulator once when the previous one failed randomly. It's a dash out job to investigate and since I want to refinish the dashboard to match the interior properly, I decided to order some veneer and have a go at doing that rather than painting it. I've never done veneer work before but the theory seems simple enough if I take my time and given the simple flat shape of the dashboard, I'm hoping it doesn't give me too much grief to spruce up. If it does give me too much grief I've always got my fallback option of paint.

The other irritation was discovering the occasional knocking noise is actually a failed waterpump bearing, on a waterpump that's not more than 6 years old since it was one of the first things I replaced when I got the car. Fortunately, they're not too difficult to get hold of and a new one was delivered for a total cost of £15. I've not fitted it yet because it's been too darned hot and it's difficult to swear at annoying bolts when there's sweat running into your eyes. I've been keeping an eye on leaks too, and it wouldn't be a BL product if it didn't leave its moniker everywhere it stopped. That said, it's a very small moniker these days, so I'm just choosing to live with it and deal with bigger problems.
20180701-10 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

The summer has been less kind on the rear window stickers, which it is steadily destroying. The Leyland Princess one hasn't been in there very long, the Autoshite one a few years and is now suitably foxed, and the RR one has been in there pretty much since 2012 and appears to be slowly catching fire.
20180701-09 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

20180701-08 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

It's also been seriously dusty here lately. Car seems to need washing daily, but nobody has time for that. Look at the state of this.
20180701-07 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

So mostly all I've been doing is driving the car and using it as a car. I'm enjoying it too. It's been a little while, so here's where we are with the bodywork and paint. I actually repainted the rear driver's side wing today when the weather had cooled down a bit and it turned out okay, even though there's welding work still needed on that panel. Having more of the car in the correct colours makes the work to do seem much less daunting and I'm looking forward to cracking on with the welding and last bits of paint once the weather has cooled down a little bit.

20180701-01 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

20180701-02 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

20180701-03 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

20180701-04 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

20180701-05 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

20180701-06 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

Might do the water pump tomorrow, we'll see how I get on.

[SiC]

Has Mike got a variable resistor in his box of electrical stuff? It could be then set to known resistances (service manual) using a multimeter and then connecting across the fuel sender lines at the tank. That way you should find if it's the sender or at the dash end.

 

I suspect it may be a stuck sender. My MGB got stuck at quarter of a tank a lot of the time. Turned out the resistive wire had a ridge in, bunched up and pulled off. This caused it to stick.

[Video]

[purplebargeken]

Had a pounds shillings and pence till in reserve too, just in case the metric system didn't catch on. 

 

I remember as a smol kid being in the local butchers on Lodge Lane in Liverpool. There was an old lady in there saying that she was going to stay with her daughter in Wales where they wouldn't have funny bloody new coins. I hope she was right.

[vulgalour]

If it the sender then that is An Problem because it'll mean faffing with that stupid locking ring that doesn't lock properly again.  So let's hope it is the dash stuff as suspected.  It could just be a loose connection, or just that the Princess is having one of her moments.