Losing power.... continuously.... back in the game!!
Turbo Mini Forums

Hello again..

Just mot'd the car and it drove there perfectly... on the way home it started losing power and had to pull over a few times.. once I got going again I found that only 1st and 2nd gear was it drivable... again pulled over, had a look at the engine and all looked intact.

Kind of felt like a big build up of air and had to rev the shit out of it... but it does start every time. Its kind of hard for me to explain how it felt but does anyone think they know what I mean or what to start looking at??

Cheers...

Edited by evad1980 on 24th Nov, 2017.

That sucks - what car is it and specs?

Pull the leads off one by one and see if it makes any difference. I used to always have issues with plugs fouling up.

In the 13's at last!.. Just

All sorted lads.. no oil in dashpot!! doh!!

I checked it the other night and it was fine. I had an issue with the carb pissing fuel since then and had it off.. but... I had forgot about that and thats why I didn't consider it before writing this post first..

School boy error... thanks again.

Im getting looks from everyone driving it.. its great!!

Ok... not so sorted!.. Took the missus out for a spin.. all going well and same thing after about 6 or 7 miles.

Manage to pull in off the main road... a bloke walking by asked if he could help and said he had some 3 in 1 oil... so... put that in the carb and it drove me home great again..

Hmmmmmm... surely after topping up the first time it should have been fine. I did use carb oil that was brought from minispares (probably 2ish years ago)..

Now that I've experienced this problem, should I remove all oil in the dashpot and start again? Do you think the old oil may be too old or what d'ya reckon folks? Cant see why the old stuff failed.. or even seem to disappear so quickly...?

its been an age since ive worked on an SU but had an e-type with strombergs recently that was doing the same on 2 of the carburettors. long story is on the strombergs the needle is adjustable thro the dashpot and there is a seal at the bottom of the dashpot, an it was knackered. I dont recall SU's especially the later ones, having adjustable needles but if I were you I'd be dismantling the dashpot and having a noesy, you shouldnt be loosing oil. I'd also suggest a thicker oil like ATF.

turbo 16v k-series 11.9@118.9 :)

Denis O'Brien.

Ok thanks.. for sure I'll be dismantilling it tomo for a nosey. What about 3 in 1 oil, that stuff any good cos it drove great after I put that in... must be losing the oil somehow, I'll check all seals.. cheers..

You want something thick in with a turbo.

Engine oil will be better than the SU stuff.

I use diff oil it's even thicker.

Was going to say dashpot oil before i ready any comments..
I put some fresh dashpot oil in the other week in prep for this weekend.. and broke down whilst out wednesday out for test drive exact same symptoms! Fingered the back my carb and the what-ja-ma-call-it fell down wayyyy too quickly! Tipped it out Put some engine oil in it cured it!

3in1 is to thin, and the standard SU oil has never worked for me either. 20/50 almost always seems to work better.

Phil.

WWW.TURBO-MINI.COM

So thought I had the problem solved.. obviously not.

Broke down about 2 miles from home today, just before I got on the M11 thankfully.. losing power all the time.

Yesterday I adjusted the fuel pressure regulator by increasing to around 7psi (yes, nearly twice the required pressure I know) but it ran fine and even had it on the motorway giving it beans.. problem solved so I thought.. this morning was back to its same old tricks... what could I have messed up since it was rolling roaded?

Oil in dashpot, starts and idles every time and revs fine. Under load, she's not interested! I know if I got in it now she would start and I'd drive it for a few miles and then bang! No power!

Are the seregno regulators known for failing? Something in the carb getting stuck? Where to look next?

P'eed off with it now.

Annoying but you need to fault find in a methodical way.
Is it an estate by any chance? Years ago I had one that would do a similar trick. It was the fuel pick up pipe into the tank restricted.

It won't be the FPR, the symptoms you have can't be caused by an FPR fault. I'd adjust the pressure back to 4ish psi.

Is the part throttle lean-off pipe in good condition? A leak in that causes all sorts of problems like you're experiencing.

Fastest 998 mini in the world? 13.05 1/4 mile 106mph

www.twin-turbo.co.uk

Is it time for the T piece trick?

Tom's suggestion triggered me; are you running an inline fuel filter?
I have had one partially obstructed so it wasn't filling the fuel bowl fast enough and losing power when bowl was empty.

Dazed and Confused....

Yeah annoying as hell. Yes it is/was an estate. How did you sort that Tom?

Yes wil it's all new pipe but I'll inspect it again to make sure.

Just reading up about the 't piece trick' too....

Ah ha.... yes I am... I'm using the one from minispares. The one with the 8mm inlet and outlet. Designed for use with a turbo..

Not sure if that has a dedicated in and out but did you put it in right way round?
Maybe elimminate it as the problem by temporarily replacing it with a peice of tube?

Dazed and Confused....

With mine it was a short bit of tube with the union into the tank, it had a kink in, I replaced it with another one without the kink which sorted it.

Yeah I'll inspect all of those possible causes..

What gets me though is the night before setting off for Brighton, I thought I had it sussed and went out and did 20 odd miles in it with no problems.. can't figure out why that is..

My estate was sucking up the crap in the tank and blocking the pickup so I removed gauze and put a inline filter

do the van/ estate tanks have the filter on the pickup pipe in the tank like the saloon tanks? just wonder if that could be clogged if its an old tank.

when its cutting out or out of power, what is the AFR telling you?

I can't remember what's the setup in the tank, was ages ago I had it off. I may have to start there by pulling it off again and doing an inspection. I may need to replace the float anyway...

I don't have an AFR gauge... maybe one of those would help me out here...

How have you plumbed in the tank? Have you got a lifter pump? or a swirl pot? or anything spangly like that?

Fastest 998 mini in the world? 13.05 1/4 mile 106mph

www.twin-turbo.co.uk

So from tank to inline fuel pump, one of these...

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=fuel+pump...7NoJK4up1iW5fM:

To fuel filter, one of these...

http://www.minispares.com/product/Classic/...k%20to%20search

to fuel regulator...

Not too fancy no....