Help required with a stalling engine.

There is fuel right to the carb too when it stalls. I have heard of vapour locking the pipework but surely if your starving the engine of fuel it will decline all the way to a stop? Mine seems to be ok apart from the lull but when you change the revs up or down it stalls
 
Probably totally unrelated due to location of the fuel pump but I had a motorbike that would intermittently splutter and die when hot and would start again when cooled. Other times it would run fine. Spent many hours trying to find the fault till one day it clicked, It never conked on cold days or when the fuel tank was full. My problem turned out to be the fuel pump which is mounted inside the fuel tank overheating but when cold outside or full of fuel to keep it cool, it didn't.
 
jaysparticus said:
BPR6ES are the right ones for the MK2 Escort which i believe the 1.6 crossflow engine represents.

if its fuel then do you recommend removing the carb and getting it looked at professionally ?

its strange how it runs sweet for 50 mins then starts missing every so often? would a fuel problem symbolise this also?
Click to expand...

The 50 minutes could be a red herring though if the engine is running cool, i.e. earlier post about raw water cooling. I would definitely check the carbs and even go as far as doing a carb rebuild. The packs are generally cheap enough, mine for a merc 2BBL were under £40 and the packs usually will come with instructions. Apart from this, as I mentioned earlier re resistance changes to stoichiometric ratio, heat and pressure, check that the HT leads and suppressor caps aren't shorting out under load too. Look for carbon leaders along the suppressor cap or black pin prick holes in the HT leads, though these are more likely to cause intermitent misfires rather than flat out refusal to start.

However if you are convinced it is neither spark nor ignition check for bad earths. The bane of all boats. Many an issue in my experience has turned out not to be the engine at all but the electrics surrounding them.
 
Faults like this are a pain, but in my experience most faults are minor. I had a similar fault with a newish 4 stroke outboard and spent ages checking everything to no avail. Decided on a systematic replacement process and started with the plug. A new plug solved the problem but could not see anything wrong with the old one. You definitely have a duff plug. Replace it. Don't over think it.
 
It sounds like a Ford Cortina engine, marinised by Watermota (Sea Tiger)

These have a mechanical fuel pump bolted on the side of the engine. It's a ten minute job to replace it, so chuck one on, while you're at it, make sure the oil isn't contaminated by fuel (Fuel pump diaphragm causes this!)

This is a simple robust engine which will run well normally unless something obvious is wrong!

Also, check the wire from the coil to the distributer with a wiggle test. it could be internally broken, held together just by the plastic covering.
 
Still sounds like a thermal issue.

I'd be changing all the electrical side of things. It's sensible to do it anyway. Plugs, leads, coil, condenser, rotor arm, points and cap. They can all fail in mysterious ways. There should be a thin braided wire between the distributor case and points base I think. Long time since I touched a cross flow...

If it's fuel vapourising then look at where the fuel lines run. They can surely be insulated. Or go faster so the fuel cools the pipes.
 
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There is a good chance a new set of plugs will sort it (don't replace just the damaged one). Is the engine raw water cooled? If it runs at a lower temperature you might need a plug with a different heat rating to a car, probably ok with the 6 though.
 
No Regrets said:
It sounds like a Ford Cortina engine, marinised by Watermota (Sea Tiger)

These have a mechanical fuel pump bolted on the side of the engine. It's a ten minute job to replace it, so chuck one on, while you're at it, make sure the oil isn't contaminated by fuel (Fuel pump diaphragm causes this!)

This is a simple robust engine which will run well normally unless something obvious is wrong!

Also, check the wire from the coil to the distributer with a wiggle test. it could be internally broken, held together just by the plastic covering.
Click to expand...

If my memory serves me right - on the old cortina engine it also had a ballast wire connected to the ignition system which if faulty would cause intermittent starting/firing - I remember this from when I had an early mk4 Cortina as this happened to me.
 
Have you checked the tank? I had a similar problem on a Trophy and it turned out to be a lump of something rolling about in the bottom of the fuel tank and then getting sucked up to the intake pipe, which didn't have a proper set of holes drilled in the side of the tube to avoid this sort of thing. Problems are often simpler than we make them!
 
Hello to anyone who is still following this thread !!!

Ok i have been offshore working for three weeks and i have returned and tried loads of different things on the boat. Firstly i changed the spark plug that was damaged and the other 3 as well. I had an issue getting the BPR6ES plugs so i went with BP6ES instead. (remember this... it may answer a later question!). after changing the plugs the engine stopped lulling after 55 mins and seemed to run a lot better and smoother until i knocked it out of gear and the revs dropped right off to 350 rpm and stalled the engine and again it wouldnt start. i noticed that when this happened that the oil light came on and the pressure dropped to 6 psi which is pretty low so i decided to go down that route thinking that the engine may have stalled on low oil pressure.( can this happen?? why would it start straight back up??). having checked the oil i noticed it was very thin and just on the low line of the dipstick and then i couldnt remember if the mechanic who fitted then engine said he had put "break in" oil in as it was a new engine. i have changed the oil out now and put a heavier 20/50w grade in and it has made a massive improvement to the oil pressure! win!! its stars of at 40 psi but still drops down to 10 - 12 psi when out of gear but its not causing any issues! i do have a new issue though... i cannot get the engine to run smoothly !! it appears to be hunting massively when out of gear or just engaged. i have tried alter the mixture and it seems to run better very lean at idle but when i give it some revs it prefers to run richer! if i have it set richer for running then when i knock it out of gear it is all over the place 900 rpm down to 300 rpm until i alter the mixture again. i do believe that it may still be doing this at higher revs but i just cant notice it as much. also on the increase of revs it srtuggles to get up to where it wants to be.. ?? i thought maybe its because it had the wrong spark plugs in? possible?? also its as if the timing is completely out too. and that why it is running so poorly. could it be possible that the engine was tuned up to a broken spark plug and now i have replaced it the timing needs redoing? any help on this very confusing matter will be greatly appreciate :-) Also as a side thought, it runs a whole lot better in idle if the revs are up at 1200 rpm but that is no goo dfor engaging the Z drive as i believe it only want 800 rpm
 
The R in the plug means it has a resistance in it, I think this is to do with radio suppression and shouldn't make any difference to the engine.
Is it drawing air anywhere? Manifold to head or carb to manifold? Check the mechanical advance in the distributor is working ok, if you turn the rotor arm does it move ok and spring back ok? If the advance is working ok (and there isn't a lot of play) check the static timing with a bulb tester (not a strobe) at a guess about 9 deg btdc but check.
 
I have had similar problems with a Ford Fiesta which I think was about the same vintage as your engine. This was due to dirt in the fuel return line where it left the carburettor. The pressure from the fuel pump could overcome the float needle and the engine would flood when idling.
 
well i have an update!

thanks for all your advice guys. i am actively doing all the suggested posts.
i have removed the Carb today (Weber 32/36 DGV) and i have notice that there is petrol on the gasket? like all over it? am i right in thinking that if there is a problem with gasket then it will pull a vacuum? why would i have fuel all over the gasket?
this could answer why my engine is running so bad at idle etc??
 
If the gasket isn't sealing as it should it will draw air in through the gasket rather than through the carb making the mixture weak. This will cause poor running and stalling at low speeds.
 
Hello Don't know if you are still having problems as this thread is 4 years old. I have just been through the same exercise with my freeman 23. Ploughed through electrics, Carb jets FLoat needle etc. THEN remembered Weber carb has a small filter at the infeed. Undid this & the Nut "bowl" and filter completely rammed with metal particles from the tank. So the small amount of fuel permitted to be held in the filter, heavily reduced. As the Carb heats with engine temp this progressively evaporates starving the engine. An engine mounted suction fuel pump & the presence of Ethanol in fuel these days makes this worse. I have fitted A sachet pressure pump dumped the filter in the carb in favour of a visible in-line filter & all well
 
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