Common Fault In Damp Weather?

[Matt Cole]

This has been bugging me for years, and has plagued every gt i have had (cij) and both my bros cars. Its when the weather is like this, wet/damp, car starts ok and runs no prob untill it starts to warm up/medium temp off the choke. Then it starts to miss/loose power, judder and eventually bring you to a halt but may still run on maybe 2 cylinders eventually cutting out off throttle. Try and re-start, exactly the same. Now if you leave the car for 5mins and re start, its perfectly fine!! Drive no prob and not have another problem all day. My theory is dampness in the dizzy cap? Condensation build up when the engine starts to warm up, or it could be in the coil pack? Has anyone ever had this fault and rectified it??

[michael tierney]

my car only did this when it was damp and very cold and when i had the inlet manifold bi-passed(water),so reconnecting the i/manifold sorted it!! maybe your manifold is blocked?

[Matt Cole]

my car only did this when it was damp and very cold and when i had the inlet manifold bi-passed(water),so reconnecting the i/manifold sorted it!! maybe your manifold is blocked?

Its not carb freeze michael, it electrical i think. Plus it aint really cold enough to affect the fuel.

[Brigsy]

Damp in the dizzy cap mate. I had the same problem on my 11t years ago, used to come to a halt in the same place every morning on the way to work, really annoying.

I cured this by fitting the clear plastic cover that goes under the rotor arm, most gtt's have this missing. Also renew the cap/arm if its knocking on, they don't seem to last 5 mins for me, a couple of thousand miles if im lucky.

I also had this problem when i had a distributor with one screw snapped off/missing. Also check the dizzy cap for cracks.

[dangerous dave]

carbfreeze? mine did it will standard fitment alloy coolers but never the standard one, it did it just like you say, im sure the stat opens flooding the engine carb etc with cold water thats been getting shed loads of air flow. once the car was totally warmed up it was spot in.............................unless i was on the motorway doing 60-70 off boost, in which case id conk out again wind rain or just mild cold, for me damp wasn't an issue..

i binned the cooler, problem never came back..

i now have a huge cooler ready to go onto my 5 and im 100% carb freeze will hit me at the first sign of a chilly day..

[Matt Cole]

Damp in the dizzy cap mate. I had the same problem on my 11t years ago, used to come to a halt in the same place every morning on the way to work, really annoying.

I cured this by fitting the clear plastic cover that goes under the rotor arm, most gtt's have this missing. Also renew the cap/arm if its knocking on, they don't seem to last 5 mins for me, a couple of thousand miles if im lucky.

I also had this problem when i had a distributor with one screw snapped off/missing. Also check the dizzy cap for cracks.

nail on the head Briggsy!!

[Mart]

Its not carb freeze michael

You defo sure about that Matthew?

[Sparkie]

driving back from chepstow this evening, set off at 8.30pm, a steady 55mph, after about 30mins, power loss, down to 3 cylinders, then 2, then 3. accelerate in 5th and the engine starts to shake....

i have the single core pace intercooler....

only way to combat it was to get heat into the intercooler. so i dropped it down a gear, accelerate sharply up to 90, then coast down to 50, then accelerate again up to 90-100. seemed to sort it for a good 20mins or so.

definately carb freeze. i put my hand out the window, it was damp and very cold, and my fingers started to get frozen very quickly.....

if it got worse the rubber mat was gonna get cable tied to the front of the intercooler.

[raj]

I cured this by fitting the clear plastic cover that goes under the rotor arm, most gtt's have this missing.

interesting brigsy! i was thinking about this earlier today. where did you get this plastic coverfrom.?

my car is sat in the garage and not on the road yet and i have to say everytime i look at the area the dizzy cap fits to its always wet! it made me think if there was a seal or something missing that would fit between the dizzy base and drive gear?

[Matt Cole]

You defo sure about that Matthew?

I've been known to be wrong once or twice!

[Ashy]

I had this on my old raider, wasnt carb freeze as I was sat in traffic... Never cured it but would think Brigsys spot on with what he's said!

[sphinX]

driving back from chepstow this evening, set off at 8.30pm, a steady 55mph, after about 30mins, power loss, down to 3 cylinders, then 2, then 3. accelerate in 5th and the engine starts to shake....

i have the single core pace intercooler....

only way to combat it was to get heat into the intercooler. so i dropped it down a gear, accelerate sharply up to 90, then coast down to 50, then accelerate again up to 90-100. seemed to sort it for a good 20mins or so.

definately carb freeze. i put my hand out the window, it was damp and very cold, and my fingers started to get frozen very quickly.....

if it got worse the rubber mat was gonna get cable tied to the front of the intercooler.

Exactly what I do, driving along at 70mph and I start to lose power so I drop a gear, full throttle until the car stops juddering and picks up power again, let the car slow down and repeat.

[Misky]

When does carb freeze come into affect?
Does the actual area of the intercooler matter & is there a max area of intercooler you could go upto with it happening, or is it all car dependant?

[DaveMayGTT]

Is it a good idea booting it to 90 when in effect your cars fueling is completely up the spout? b interesting if someone with an AFR gauge could tell us what happens when carb freeze kicks in?

[Brigsy]

interesting brigsy! i was thinking about this earlier today. where did you get this plastic coverfrom.?

my car is sat in the garage and not on the road yet and i have to say everytime i look at the area the dizzy cap fits to its always wet! it made me think if there was a seal or something missing that would fit between the dizzy base and drive gear?

Its an original renault part mate. Ive only ever seen a couple, they break really easy so most people take it off. Probably only available with a new distributor! A small bead of sealant around the base of the cap would do the trick. The dizzy caps i always get seem to be a piss poor fit, thats where the problem lies.

Its not to be confused with carb freeze, in my experience that only happens on a motorway when off boost for long periods of time. I never get it in the van, although most of the time its on boost so no chance of it No harm in booting it to sort it out, as far as im aware the fuelling goes mega rich, black smoke galore.

[Matt Cole]

If it is carb freeze then Reno should be laughing at us all for wedging that flap in the cooler open!!

[Andrew Cooke]

If it is carb freeze then Reno should be laughing at us all for wedging that flap in the cooler open!!

They are....

Carb freeze is most likely on foggy days, it's the moisture in the air that gives more of a problem than the cold. This is perfect carb freeze weather, and a nice small venturi is just what you want for making ice.

[Sparkie]

Is it a good idea booting it to 90 when in effect your cars fueling is completely up the spout? b interesting if someone with an AFR gauge could tell us what happens when carb freeze kicks in?

im running a standard carb, with standard jets for fuel economy.

the air going into the carb gets that cold the fuel droplets arent able to turn into vapour....even though im still running inlet manifold and carb heating.

i wonder if putting the OE thermostat would help raise the engines running temp. Obviously the OE intercooler, complete with flap does have its uses!

[sphinX]

hmm today was very wierd..i put 99ron tesco in the car from empty (as local tesco finally got it). The car felt completely different...responsive, smooth and comfortable. Also it didnt once judder at all, when before it did when using shell v power....?!?

Obviously going to continue using 99ron as the car seems to love the stuff

[michael tierney]

If it is carb freeze then Reno should be laughing at us all for wedging that flap in the cooler open!!

the tuners should really be laughing at people buying and fitting FMC's