Engine trouble. Need help urgently!

[chan]

as long as the locks are connected to the locking mechanism in the door it will be fine mate

hope you get the engine running sweet today! lovely weather down here sunny!

if you havent changed rear shoes before i suggest its best to take a picture of the drum assembly as theres a few springs and pins that if you didnt know how it goes back together you would never know lol

its fairly straight forward though so you should be ok.

[Ginger_boy]

Depending on what age your SJ is the strip down of the brakes in the haynes manuly may not resemble anything like what you have behined the hubs. My 92 samuri wasn't. Take pics or do one wheel at a time so you can check which way every thing should go

If you are wanting to know how to install central locking have a look at my lweb site i did a right up on installing ithttp://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/shillingworl ... ocking.htm it may give you some ideas

[gsommo]

Cheers ginger boy.

Also I will take some more photos of the car tomorrow, interior and brake changing may come in useful for someone trying to do it int he future.

[ben_moto501]

Hi, Back to your first question, when you got it idling on its own was it running on all 4 cylinders? Sometimes it can sound quite smooth on just 3 but as soon as you rev it it goes all to shit! If you are unsure double check you have your HT leads the right way round as if it is out the it can give you the misfires you describe. That can be an easy oversight if you don't work out which way the rotor arm turns when setting your HT leads to the 1-3-4-2 firing order! If this is all ok I would then agree with possibilities of an air leak on the inlet or a dirty carb! The head gasket isn't bad on these engines but I would check everything else thoroughly first as it would be even more of a pain to do the gasket and have the same problem!
Hope this helps a little!

Ben

[gsommo]

Thanks very much ben,

I am heading to the car today and will try to sort the air leak, I will then try and get thing running and let you know how it goes.

When I revved it up it sounded really good though, like nothing was wrng with it at all, then for some unknown reason it died. at this point I pulled the choke and tried to rev it also with choke out, but it still died. Ill let you know how it goes.

Cheers

G

[ben_moto501]

That sounds almost like it's being starved of fuel! Make sure your fuel tank breather is clear, if you are unsure take the fuel cap off and try again! Also if you had water in the tank this can create a problem but it is very easy to pull off the fuel line from the fuel pump inlet and attach another on which goes straight into a fuel can of fresh clean fuel! That's how I narrowed it down to when I had water in my fuel tank!
Again I hope this is of some help! I know how much of a pain it is when they don't run right!

Ben

[gsommo]

So I know how before I said that I thought that my head gasket had gone and that there ws loads of mayo type stuff under oil cap, however the other day I put new clips on some of the cooling system hoses as they where leaking (all good now) and I took the carb off put in 3 in 1 oil into dash pot (SU) and also vaselined up the gasket to give me a better seal. It now runs like a dream, revs stay the same the whole time and I am sure that it is cooling properly (hard to tell exactly as temp gauge is broken). My only issue now is being able to start it again.

I got it going and had it running (mainly just sat, not driving) for about 30 mins, the battery was totally flat so left it to gain some charge, turned it off and it would not start and it seemed like there was very little charge (the battery was completely dead before though). All the lights and heater stuff etc worked and I had them on for a bit while the engine was off, about 5 mins later out of curiosity I turned the key and it started straight away. Now this seemed strange to me as just after I turned it off with no electrics on it would not turn over or start, 10 mins later after having lights etc on for a bit it turned over first time and started. Does this just sound like a battery issue or coiuld it be something more sinister within the wiring circuits???

Also if battery has been totally dead, how long should the car be left on for in order for it to get some good charge into the battery??

[ben_moto501]

If the battery is drained completely it can damage it as the lead plates inside can warp but if it started fine on another occasion it sounds more like a dodgy earth! Nothing too difficult to sort out as it sounds like it's on the starter circuit! Make sure all your earth leads are in place! There should be one from the starter to the engine block (normally on a starter mounting bolt), one from the chassis to the engine block and one from the chassis (same mounting point) straight back to the battery! If all of these are there have a look at the starter... Or if you have a spare swap it over and see if that cures it. My old starter would be fine most the time but every now and then wouldn't turn it over at all! I put a huge new battery in thinking it was that but it turned out to be a dodgy solenoid, Even after stripping and cleaning it did the same! Get a starter on there you are positive works properly!

Ben

[gsommo]

The thing is that I have only recently changed my starter, it was for a second hand one, but it seems to be working, right now im putting it down to dodge battery. I will try to get it started again and leave it on for a good while then see if it starts again etc. If I still have an issue I will no doubt post again. Thanks for your help mate I will check all the earths too.

[gsommo]

So the engine was running beautifully the past few times that I have had it going. When I turn it off however and then come back to it and try to start it again it sometimes will and sometimes wont start. It mainly sounds like there is not enough power getting to the starter to turn the engine properly. The battery had been dead for a week or so but left the car on a few times for ages to try and get some charge back into it. So erractic starting is the first thing. Second thing is that I fixed a couple of leaking pipes in the colling system and from then on engine seemed to idle really well when started, (before when it got warm the revs would keep on rising for some reason. I opened up the rad cap and there where some really small bubbles and also a distinct smell of fuel, so I am guessing that this means the head gasket has gone??? I also sprung a small leak in the rad but patched it up, will I have to eventually replace this too.

I think my next step is to just do a compression test as I guess that way I will get a definitive answer, but what else could it be, or does this sound like the issue??