fuel cut-off box

[Vart]

Hello all,

in my continuing look at why my car won't idle i've arrived at the fuel cut off box.

i've checked the operation of the idle solenoid and there is a voltage across it and it clicks as it should and when removed and placed against the manifold and the ignition turned on. i'm ruling this out for now.

the other electrical part of the carb, the throttle switch, doesn't have any voltage across it (although testing was short due to torrential rain). could a failure in this circuit be confusing the fuel cut off and preventing an idle?

or could a failure of the fuel cut off box cause idle problems?

if one was to unplug this box would anything tragic happen?

any thoughts anyone?

cheers

toby

[jtbo]

You should be able to rule that out by swapping pre heater element +12V lead with idle solenoid lead, or better is to make Y-joint to heater element lead and put that to solenoid and heater element, then at least it would get +12V whole time and if it still does not idle it is something else.

Like in my carb, everything seems to be in perfect working condition, but no idle, with bad warped carb it has idle

[Vart]

checked the throttle switch +0v when the throttle is closed +10v when open.

idle solenoid clicks and whirrs as it should. i go to crank it over, it complies after a while dies without throttle... choke useless....

open mixture 1.5 turns from fully closed, screw in throttle stop 1/2 a turn. car runs as if nothing wrong. b'stard machine...

anyway it idles ok - perhaps needs the settings tuned when its up to temperature. could a dirty throttle switch been the cause all along?

anyway - theres still smoke from that side of the engine but i bent the rocker cover out a while ago and i don't know how much oil escaped down there - how long do oil deposits take to burn off??

edit:- rocker cover since fixed - could smoke be a cracked block?

[jtbo]

Hmm, oil can smell quite some time, best would be to wash it away when it is not burned to manifold, but of course place and equipment can limit this.

Depending how much oil there is, it can take weeks if driving only short trips and if there is good pool of oil, however driving on motorway few hours can make miracles, just keep fire extinguisher nearby as oil can caught fire if heated above flaming point and it can't be put out easily with water.

[Vart]

i've a fire extinguisher under my seat just in case of that. trouble with the car at the road side and no driveway to use is getting to the manifold/block to clean it up. i'm tempted to take it to a garage to get them to do it on their ramps but it'll have to wait a week or so.

next job - see if the head gasket has failed - not sure there should be that much oil on the dipstick or mayo under the oil cap. perhaps should have had a head skimmed.... lesson learned.

cheers for info all the same.