rolls royce trouble

dbmauser

have an 80 rolls royce shadow 2 and she wont start,has me driven mad.getting fuel to the carbs,spark at the plugs ,good compression.fresh petrol and battery on a booster to give an extra kick and still no firing. have sprayed easy start into the throttle and not even a backfire,took out the plugs and no smell of either on them,tried deoderant for an extra scent and nothing on the plugs. on turn over there isnt a great pull of air into the carbs which suggested to me maybe snapped timing chain but ditributor is turning and valves seem to be opening(rocker cover off) with a plug out when i place my finger over the plug hole i get a good compression pop but dont get a strong suction

and help apreciated lads because iv been at this 2 hours allready and want to tear my hair out!!

Technoprisoner

has the car been lieing up? or has it just had work done? was it driving up to this? did you do a compression test?

drunkmonkey

Is the fuel pump working? Can you hear it, is it empty after changing fuel, could be stuck?

Bigus

dbmauser wrote: »

have an 80 rolls royce shadow 2 and she wont start,has me driven mad.getting fuel to the carbs,spark at the plugs ,good compression.fresh petrol and battery on a booster to give an extra kick and still no firing. have sprayed easy start into the throttle and not even a backfire,took out the plugs and no smell of either on them,tried deoderant for an extra scent and nothing on the plugs. on turn over there isnt a great pull of air into the carbs which suggested to me maybe snapped timing chain but ditributor is turning and valves seem to be opening(rocker cover off) with a plug out when i place my finger over the plug hole i get a good compression pop but dont get a strong suction

and help apreciated lads because iv been at this 2 hours allready and want to tear my hair out!!

You've done all the right stuff so far,


If you have a spark , the next thing I'd try is some way to heat the whole block , maybe two hair dryers for 30 mins with the bonnet down, worked for me on a v8 jag before, finish by heating the intake manifold.

Bigus

drunkmonkey wrote: »

Is the fuel pump working? Can you hear it, is it empty after changing fuel, could be stuck?

Easy start will overcome no fuel delivery.

dbmauser

fuel pumps are working,delivering fuel at strong pressure
have to put on a compression tester but by feel its good.

car was running bad and smelled petrol was stail so drained fuel and refilled with fresh petrol,ran for a while then wouldnt run.car has never failed to start in 10 years so is very unusual.im thinkin carb relaited problem since either isnt making it to the plugs

Bigus

dbmauser wrote: »

fuel pumps are working,delivering fuel at strong pressure
have to put on a compression tester but by feel its good.

car was running bad and smelled petrol was stail so drained fuel and refilled with fresh petrol,ran for a while then wouldnt run.car has never failed to start in 10 years so is very unusual.im thinkin carb relaited problem since either isnt making it to the plugs

Water in the float bowl ?

dbmauser

Bigus wrote: »

You've done all the right stuff so far,


If you have a spark , the next thing I'd try is some way to heat the whole block , maybe two hair dryers for 30 mins with the bonnet down, worked for me on a v8 jag before, finish by heating the intake manifold.

good strong blue/purple spark on all plugs,might take the plugs out and leave a hot gun down each cylinder

dbmauser

Bigus wrote: »

Water in the float bowl ?

had the driver side carb off and no water in it,jet was clean as was the needle,its broke,its just british haha

Bigus

dbmauser wrote: »

good strong blue/purple spark on all plugs,might take the plugs out and leave a hot gun down each cylinder

Warmth will stop the fuel vapour condensing on all the cold surfaces, but the bowls on them su carbs are easy to remove and clean and fill with fresh petrol first.

Kevin_Herron

If you have fuel getting to the carburetters and you have a spark at the plugs-
Your problem lies in the Automatic choke system.

Bigus

On a badly flooded engine the petrol will wash the oil past the rings and lose compression, another reason to heat the block, hair dryer not heat gun !

dbmauser

Kevin_Herron wrote: »

If you have fuel getting to the carburetters and you have a spark at the plugs-
Your problem lies in the Automatic choke system.

i have the auto choke moving by hand and still no difference unfortunately:mad:

dbmauser

Bigus wrote: »

Warmth will stop the fuel vapour condensing on all the cold surfaces, but the bowls on them su carbs are easy to remove and clean and fill with fresh petrol first.

she has filled the carb up herself with a few clicks of the ignition,i didnt take the plugs back out yet to see what there doing ,if getting fuel or not,ill whip em out tomorow after work and put a hair dryer on the engine,would i be best of doing this with the plugs out yeah?

Kevin_Herron

dbmauser wrote: »

i have the auto choke moving by hand and still no difference unfortunately:mad:

It is controlled on a Shadow 2 by the small solenoid you can see, thats wired into the starter relay and only after warming up does the bi-metal coil move the butterfly. after the solenoid cuts out.

dbmauser

Kevin_Herron wrote: »

It is controlled on a Shadow 2 by the small solenoid you can see, thats wired into the starter relay and only after warming up does the bi-metal coil move the butterfly. after the solenoid cuts out.

at idle it should be closed and after warm up its fully open?
at present its closed at cold

Basil Fawlty

Sounds like an electrical problem. Remove and clean all the engines earth straps. Check the mounting the for the coil also. Dont forget to check your timing too.

Bigus

dbmauser wrote: »

she has filled the carb up herself with a few clicks of the ignition,i didnt take the plugs back out yet to see what there doing ,if getting fuel or not,ill whip em out tomorow after work and put a hair dryer on the engine,would i be best of doing this with the plugs out yeah?

Won't matter if you get it warmed up enough, I couldn't get the plugs out on the jag hence the warming, jag problem was serious lack of compression due to fuel washing past rings, (newish low miles car)

When its warmed up put the hair dryer down the intake as you turn over as well,

Heating will achieve a good few things,

Thin out oil to increase turn over speed

Stop condensing of fuel on cold surfaces

Encourage better compression through expansion

Stop condensing of fuel on plugs

Think of it like glow plugs on a diesel

I'd be trying easy start too in case it's a fuel delivery problem, but at least if it fires you can go about diagnosing exact cause.

Good luck

Kevin_Herron

dbmauser wrote: »

at idle it should be closed and after warm up its fully open?
at present its closed at cold

The solenoid energises when you are cranking the car.
The 'lever' that operates the butterfly should be down when the choke is closed/on.

cornascriebe

There is a possibility that the diaphragms may be shot. Did you try to cover the carb air intake, obviously with air filter removed, during starting to see if it would draw any fuel into the engine?

hi5

Did you have the distributer out and maybe drop it back in 'out' by 180 degrees? Make sure its on the compression stroke and not the exhaust stroke.
Either way, I'd check for spark at TDC.

If its not pulling air into the engine, it could be a vacuum leak, check all your pipes going to the inlet manifold, one may have fallen off or there may be a split somewhere.

mb1725

Check the plug wires too, sometimes it's too easy to put them back on wrong! (ahem) ;-) :rolleyes:

dbmauser

plug leads are good and the distributor hasnt been moved since it was last running,i started it today and it ran for 2mns,touched the throttle and it died.did anyone know rolls royces dont break down? they just fail to procede

Stained Class

Could be air getting in the intake manifold.

Might be no harm checking the gaskets in that area.

Only a guess mind.

Bigus

Stained Class wrote: »

Could be air getting in the intake manifold.

Might be no harm checking the gaskets in that area.

Only a guess mind.

Good point, easy way to check is to spray easy start to find air draw or cracks in vacuum pipes , ( it'll run faster)have fire extinguisher to hand.