Had a breakdown and unsure if I've got one common problem with unintended consequences or two separate ones - and appreciate advice on a bodge I'm considering.
Had breakdown last week - seems was caused by dud wire from battery - a comnmon rail to distribute power to the loom in the engine bay.
Began by figuring that as there was only power getting thru to hazard lights, I'd best start by seeing why no power ws going to starter or anywhere else - which is when I found dud wire, covered in white powder corrosion which was broken, so replaced that which restored power to all systems - well I think, anyway.
Thinking great, easy fix turned it over on key to find it wouldnt fire at all - so checked all fuses, that its sparking, cleaned rotor arm, checked coil, whipped off air filter to check choke working - all these good. Then dropped egg cup full of petrol in carb which got it to fire before it died after using that up - so it looks like no fuel coming thru. Checked pump - seems ok, but theres no fuel being pumped through to the carb.
Then scratched my head and remembered a rogue screw I lost when I was putting the filler cap cover to replace the old broken one about 6 weeks ago - the COVER was held in with 2 screws, but as there wasnt space with the filler CAP in to do up the screws, I left cap off - and as I was running screws in, dropped one. I was sure it dropped onto the ground, but couldnt find it anywhere so just got by on the one screw.
Most likely thing I think - now - is the screw fell into the tank and wasnt a problem until I got towed off after breaking down, with the tank angled right back which may well have caused the screw to move and block one of the feed line union with the tank.
If this is case it should be get in and retrieve screw - guess if it needs dislodging use bit of stiff wire and then retrieve it which'll mean tank off job - which may or may not be pain.
Or...alternative bodge is dislodging screw in situ and then slapping decent magnet onto bottom of tank and using that to hold screw in place inside tank..? Drawbacks are the nagging doubt that have you definitely got screw trapped, and if so, will screw will stay in place or get loose and cause another breakdown at anytime or might it corrode over time putting rust in system - tho there is a fuel in line filter to pick out rubbish.
Pro for bodge is that I'm too busy for next couple months to have tank off (and find somewhere to store about 30 litres petrol) and cant afford garage rates to have tank off and refitted, consas above.
Or could it be that theres an archaic electrical fault somewhere linked to the original dud wire? Arrgh!
Had breakdown last week - seems was caused by dud wire from battery - a comnmon rail to distribute power to the loom in the engine bay.
Began by figuring that as there was only power getting thru to hazard lights, I'd best start by seeing why no power ws going to starter or anywhere else - which is when I found dud wire, covered in white powder corrosion which was broken, so replaced that which restored power to all systems - well I think, anyway.
Thinking great, easy fix turned it over on key to find it wouldnt fire at all - so checked all fuses, that its sparking, cleaned rotor arm, checked coil, whipped off air filter to check choke working - all these good. Then dropped egg cup full of petrol in carb which got it to fire before it died after using that up - so it looks like no fuel coming thru. Checked pump - seems ok, but theres no fuel being pumped through to the carb.
Then scratched my head and remembered a rogue screw I lost when I was putting the filler cap cover to replace the old broken one about 6 weeks ago - the COVER was held in with 2 screws, but as there wasnt space with the filler CAP in to do up the screws, I left cap off - and as I was running screws in, dropped one. I was sure it dropped onto the ground, but couldnt find it anywhere so just got by on the one screw.
Most likely thing I think - now - is the screw fell into the tank and wasnt a problem until I got towed off after breaking down, with the tank angled right back which may well have caused the screw to move and block one of the feed line union with the tank.
If this is case it should be get in and retrieve screw - guess if it needs dislodging use bit of stiff wire and then retrieve it which'll mean tank off job - which may or may not be pain.
Or...alternative bodge is dislodging screw in situ and then slapping decent magnet onto bottom of tank and using that to hold screw in place inside tank..? Drawbacks are the nagging doubt that have you definitely got screw trapped, and if so, will screw will stay in place or get loose and cause another breakdown at anytime or might it corrode over time putting rust in system - tho there is a fuel in line filter to pick out rubbish.
Pro for bodge is that I'm too busy for next couple months to have tank off (and find somewhere to store about 30 litres petrol) and cant afford garage rates to have tank off and refitted, consas above.
Or could it be that theres an archaic electrical fault somewhere linked to the original dud wire? Arrgh!
