Grey motor problems

Devilrod · Post by **Devilrod** » Thu Sep 24, 2009 7:28 pm

Maybe drain the tank and put fresh fuel in. Also have you checked the plugs?

FB Cruiser · Post by **FB Cruiser** » Thu Sep 24, 2009 8:38 pm

thanks DR, I put the tank in myself and have put new fuel in eveytime I drive her( fuel gauge is buggered). Plugs were new, done less than 1000 miles. I going to replace dizzy cap and rotor button next, pull plugs and check them and then Ill see what happens, cheers Pat

dutchpig · Post by **dutchpig** » Thu Sep 24, 2009 10:23 pm

i had a simler problem in my EK, but it only happened on cold mornings it turned out to be the heat exchange flap on the exhaust manifold to be seized thus the carby was freezing up.tell tail sign is lots of condensation around base of carby?

Devilrod · Post by **Devilrod** » Thu Sep 24, 2009 10:24 pm

Good plan. Fuels aint what they used to be. A few years back I got a bad tankfull in the roadster, drove down to the Island for the Kustom Nats on a Friday arvo. Really struggled to get home that night. Missing and stalling and all sorts of weird shit. Completely stripped the carb and new filter. Still no good. Filled up Sunday, little better then coming home came good again

makes it too friggin' hard these days. Too many variables...

FB Cruiser · Post by **FB Cruiser** » Fri Sep 25, 2009 7:45 pm

Just went to Autobarn to get dizzy cap and stuff, got talking to one of the salesman, who knows his stuff. Turns out the condenser I had was faulty, when it got hot it lost spark and made it run like crap. Put another one on and she seems to be running fine. Lets see if this works. thanks for all the help., cheers Pat

Sputzwagon · Post by **Sputzwagon** » Fri Sep 25, 2009 8:19 pm

Another thing to find could be 'Ballast resistance' (wire it think in an EK)..had a same problem with an HQ my missus owned. She had an ignition key moved to the dash by an auto sparky but forgot to re fit the Ballast resistor wire....It'd drive fine until it heated up, then it killed condensers. Took ages to work out what was going wrong.

Scotty.

Devilrod · Post by **Devilrod** » Sat Sep 26, 2009 9:10 am

FB Cruiser wrote:Just went to Autobarn to get dizzy cap and stuff, got talking to one of the salesman, who knows his stuff.

Man you got lucky, 9 times out of 10 they usually have no idea!

FB Cruiser · Post by **FB Cruiser** » Sat Sep 26, 2009 2:35 pm

Thanks guys, yeah Devilrod, this bloke is a mecanic and doesnt try and sell you a sterio or seat covers

. I took her for a good run today with a condenser I found sitting in ther shed. She was running like a gem. Tuesday Ill pick up the new one and fit it. If this all goes well we'll be taking her to the Cora lyn show next week. Cheers Pat

rosco · Post by **rosco** » Mon Sep 28, 2009 2:56 pm

Yes Pat,
you would have got there eventually - but with this chap's help, it came sooner than later..... well done - forum take note!

For a little "insight" into the condensor -
it's job is to receive the residual current between the negative of the coil and the contact breaker points - as the points begin to open, contact is "broken" leaving a "charge" of low voltage in the circuit to the negative terminal of the coil.

By providing this temporary "reservoir" for the electricity to go to and hide momentarily - this charge is very quickly absorbed leaving the coil without an "earth".......

The high voltage built up in the coil now looks for an earth - and it does this through the HT lead, distributor, rotor button, plug leads and plug....

It won't get this until the rotor button lines up with the terminal in the distributor cap.....

When the points close again - the stored current in the condensor gets grounded and dissipates..... ready to receive the next charge....... all this at 220 times per second at max rpms for our old engines.....

Guess we'd all have trouble trying to switch on and off the coil at that rate.....

When a condensor becomes faulty, it can leave some or all of this current in this low tension circuit (points, wire to coil negative and primary winding of coil)..... resulting in a varying "switching" of the high tension (central lead in coil) through to the spark plug..... hence the missing and backfiring etc.. etc... etc....
Oil, grease, water and condensation will also give this result..... hence the importance of keeping leads, terminals and points clean and dry.....

Condensors are known to fail - but not often...... like any electrical device - they can become intermittent.... hence Pat's ignition fault.....

frats,
Rosco

Devilrod · Post by **Devilrod** » Mon Sep 28, 2009 5:45 pm

I was once told by a mechanic that if your points are going blueish or getting what looks like a powderish residue your condenser is on its way out.

fbekholden.com

Grey motor problems

coils & condensors