Intermittant Cut Out!

[philtastic55]

HI,

I own a 1953 P4 75 (2103cc) and I'm encountering problems with the engine dying.

The car always starts from cold and most days runs without issue over varying distances. However it will periodically cut out and not restart straight away. When it happened to me last week I had driven 10 miles without issue but having slowed for a corner on pressing the accellerator the engine cut out and failed to restart. That said after been left to cool for 20 minutes the engine started and drove home with no problem.

Over recent months to try and rectify the problem I have checked the cooling and fuel systems and replaced plugs, points, condenser, distributor cap, ignition leads and coil but all to no avail.

Has anybody experienced a similar problem with their car or any thoughts what may be the problem.

It is getting to the point that I no longer want to take it out due to the uncertainty of getting back home!

Any observations would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks

Phillip Hunt

[Vince]

Hi phil. Welcome.
Firstly - you may get a better respons posting this in the vehicle section. You have posted in have and wants.
Secondly - Could it be fuel vaporisation. I know that it can be a problem on the 4 cylinder models. I have a heat shield around the fuel pump to stop some of the exhaust heat boiling the fuel in the pipe to the carb.
Vince

[Paul Gregory]

I would suspect it to be somethin on the electrical side which is failing / breaking down once warm. I have had similar problems at times and have gone through changing various ignition components in an effort to resolve it. Unfortunately there isn't necessarily any one sngle thing which it has always been. Have you replaced the rotor arm? Don't think it is in the list of items which you have changed - they can warm up and then fail through shorting out. Once they have cooled off they can start to work again. The quality of many ingition parts these days seems to be quite poor - I have very much reached a point of considerng condensors to be disposable items rather than things which will give reliable service for many years.
Paul

[Phil - Nottingham]

See answer in P4 section