Stalling When Cold

[Ian B]

My Land Rover (1976, Series 111, 2.25 petrol, 109) has developed an annoying problem of stalling when cold. Once the engine is warm there is no problem, but as my journey to work is only 4 miles I spend my time doing RiverDance on the pedals to keep the engine running! At traffic lights I have to feather the accelerator so that it doesn’t stall. If I put the fan on to clear the windscreen it seems to make the stalling problem worse. I used to be able to put the choke in after about half a mile but now it takes the full trip to work before it stops stalling.
What is likely to be the problem?
Many thanks in advance.

[fish]

Just a good tune and reset of idle screw by the sound of things

[Ian B]

fish said:

Just a good tune and reset of idle screw by the sound of things

If I adjust the idle screw won't that make it idle too fast when warm? Currently it runs fine once warmed up.

[fish]

Yes it would. It would therefore indicate out of tune or a choke problem. Unfortunately I don't know much about those carbs to help.

[darthdicky]

I'd check and clean out the idle jets in the carb - when the Weber on my 2.5 does that a quick blast out with an air line sorts it and its back to running fine again.

Richard

[JSG]

darthdicky said:

I'd check and clean out the idle jets in the carb - when the Weber on my 2.5 does that a quick blast out with an air line sorts it and its back to running fine again. Richard

Hello Richard

[Denis O]

Are you sure you're not suffering from Carb Icing. I had a Series 11A which would do the same until it warmed up. I don't know if there's a way round it except to route some warm air from the manifolds up to the carb.
I currently have a V8 90 and in the summer put on a 4 barrel weber. It makes a huge difference to performance but once we got the first cold snap it conked out after about 2 miles. Left it for a couple of minutes and it started and ran OK. This recent cold weather (anything below about 4 degrees) and the carb will ice and cause rough running. If I pull over and let the engine warm up when stationary, as soon as the stat opens and warm water hits the radiator, everything is fine. If cold air is hitting the carb it plays up.
I'll have to put on electric fans which may solve the problem or alternatively route hot air to the carbs. The twin SU or Stromberg set up on the V8 already has the warm air from the manifold set up in place.
I was told that in the past, where people have had trouble with carb icing, they would rig up a small 12 volt bulb in the carb which has just enough warmth to stop the icing. Sounds a bit far fetched to me but you never know.

[Ian B]

I sorted out the problem at the weekend. A good clean out of the carb and it works fine now. While I was in the mood, I changed the oil in the air-cleaner and cleaned the filter ... I've been putting that off for ages.

[darthdicky]

JSG said:

Hello Richard

Hello John

Glad you sorted it Ian, mine's done that two or three times now and its a real pain, although I guess it still runs until I can sort it. Could be worse!