Sprite playing the silly beggar

Sprite playing the silly beggar

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M3CHA-MONK3Y

Original Poster:

6,095 posts

201 months

Friday 16th May 2008
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Hi, basically having a problem with my MK 2 Sprite and wondered if anyone had any idea's to what could be causing the problem.

Driving back from rushhour traffic in Birmingham, down the dual carriage way. Moseying along when all of a sudden i dab the go faster pedal and the engine starts to lose revs. Take my foot back of and the idle returns to normal. Engine temperature was at a steady 95 degree's, with my electric fan on. Eventually ground to a halt by the side of the road. Opened the bonnet, checked fuel pump, HT leads, coil, oil and water. No problems on that end, so started the car again no problems but engine revs still died when i gave her throttle. Had a bit of a shake and tap with the distributar, coil and fuel pump. After 10 mins started it again and this time it would rev so jumped back in the car and limped home. 5 miles from home the same thing happened, revs died with accelerator. Again bonnet up and tapped and smacked everything in sight, this time to no effect. Took the dizzy cap off, made sure it was sparking ok, which it was, checked fuel again and pump. After taking the dizzy cap off for a third time to triple check, it started again. Got it home eventually but still have no definite ideas to the problem. Thought it could be a lose wire in the dizzy but i hit a few bumps on the way home (crappy Redditch roads) and it didnt cause a problem, maybe fuel evaporation?

Does anybody have any ideas? It's a pain in the backside because i use it as my everyday car and dont want to constantly be worried about losing power again, so any ideas would be greatly appreciated

wildoliver

8,958 posts

222 months

Friday 16th May 2008
quotequote all
It could be lots of things, start with a good service and set up and usually problems will show themselves, I would be thinking along the lines of air leak on the carbs, or a duff float chamber giving you only one carb working which will run fine at tick over and low revs but then cough and die as you open the throttle, it could be fuel pump on the way out, likewise very likely a blocked fuel filter.

It could be a loose dizzy, it could be a duff coil, it could even be a condenser, I have had all 3 give similar issues, but it would traditionally be a fuel problem so start on that side. I would say 80% it will be fuel filter or pump. Or a crack in the inlet line from tank to pump.

M3CHA-MONK3Y

Original Poster:

6,095 posts

201 months

Friday 16th May 2008
quotequote all
wildoliver said:
It could be lots of things, start with a good service and set up and usually problems will show themselves, I would be thinking along the lines of air leak on the carbs, or a duff float chamber giving you only one carb working which will run fine at tick over and low revs but then cough and die as you open the throttle, it could be fuel pump on the way out, likewise very likely a blocked fuel filter.

It could be a loose dizzy, it could be a duff coil, it could even be a condenser, I have had all 3 give similar issues, but it would traditionally be a fuel problem so start on that side. I would say 80% it will be fuel filter or pump. Or a crack in the inlet line from tank to pump.
Cheers, mate. Had my carbs done by Dominic over by Midlands classic not long ago, so they should be fine. I'll switch to my spare pump and change the fuel filter to see if that works. To be honest i'm more towards the dizzy as i had a problem with it a couple of months ago when an internal wire came loose. Might be worth whipping it out and checking it over. Cheers again

wildoliver

8,958 posts

222 months

Friday 16th May 2008
quotequote all
I'd lean more to filter than pump, it could be dizzy.....Unlikely but as you know mg's are anything but logical.