HELP NEEDED FOR POORLY RANGE ROVER

[Garth]

Hi All

Just had my Dad on the phone.  He is away on holiday and his 1991 RRC 3.9 Auto has developed problems.

Put £10 of cheap petrol in ran but very hot and pinking slightly.  Filled tank at a national brand filling station and problems started.  Ticked over OK apply throttle engine starts fluffing and misfiring and stops.  Wait a couple of minutes does same again.  Leave ticking over and was fine for 20 Min's touch throttle and starts fluffing and misfiring and stops.  
Now wont start at all and is gently backfiring through air filter emitting a cloud of black smoke.

Fitted spare coil and ECU no difference.  100% certain it was a petrol pump and smells like petrol.

Any ideas anybody

Thanks

[gtomo2]

yea sounds like cr*p in the fuel filter or something blocking the fuel pipe. take filter off and clean it out. but with the bad fuel still in you may have to do it a few times til it cleans it self out

[Garth]

Hi all

Checked fuel filter and it was clean (no debris at all but it is quite new)

[clbarclay]

How cheap was the cheap petrol. I'm not 100% on petrols, but sounds a bit like the octain rating of the cheap petrol was too low.

Have you tried draining out all the petrol from the tank and the system (probably still have cheap fuel in the pipes etc) trying again with high octain petrol. Drain the fuel into a suitable container so that either you can put it back into the RRC or keep it for degreasing components during any future repairs.

[Garth]

Due to being on a caravan site in Yorkshire draining the tank is not an option.  

Is it worth adding some "octane booster" fuel additive??

[bullfrog]

Might be worth a go but this could be an unrelated problem.
Try hotwiring the airflow metre by supplying a + feed to the purple wire.
The car should run fine like this( tickover ) It should allow you to rev it lightly.
if this does then airflow metre faulty.
Hope you get it sorted :?

[smog]

Personally I would check the LT cable around where the rubber grommet goes into the dizzy on the side, if it looks ok check again then check again the rubber perishes and it directly shorts most times it looks ok but it only takes the once.

Take my word for it I checked too any times before I found this fault and it was giving me the same symptoms as what you describe albeit a 3.5L and a manual not that I suspect much difference.

Hey what do I know though? :roll:

[Garth]

Well still wont run.  So RRC coming home on flat bed and I am going down to tow caravan home in morning

[gtomo2]

Sorry to hear that not a good way to spend your holiday fixing a car. I know i have been there done that and tryed to find a waterpump on a easter sunday :x . Hope you sort it out

[deranged rover]

Don't suppose there is the possibility that DIESEL was put in the tank. Have you checked the receipt from the filling station?. I had this on a mates RR and it ran fine on tickover but rev it and popping, backfiring etc  together with the smoke! it wasn't til i asked if he had just filled it up, the penny dropped! the fule could also be contaminated, always a possibility when the tanker driver fills the wrong tanks....it would still smell of petrol. Best bet is to try pumping from a can of fresh petrol at least ot would rule out the fuel as a prob.

Scott

[Garth]

Checked the receipt and it says petrol but that means nowt as they put diesel in the wrong tank at a local station a couple of years ago.

Draining the tank and putting fresh in will be the first job

[deranged rover]

Good luck with the job, let us know how you got on and what the prob is/was if you get it fixed.

Scott

[Merlin]

Thanks for all the tips, back home now & will start tomorrow on it. Going to drain the tank(!!!!! full up £45 grrr), fit new line from the top of the tank(fuel pump) to past the filter. The line is a mixture of rubber flexy & steel with ordinary jubilee clips.  Will fit new filter as well & some new petrol & see what happens then.--Will keep you posted.
PS--What do you do with £45 worth of un-wanted fuel(petrol I hope) as I am not putting it back in the tank, especially in this hot hot weather??.

[mud-club-matty]

Sorry to hear that not a good way to spend your holiday fixing a car. I know i have been there done that and tryed to find a waterpump on a easter sunday :x . Hope you sort it out

the pump we helped you find gtomo

[Merlin]

SORTED, it was one of these three --Air flow contacts(sprayes them with elec.cleaner)  Stepper switch contacts sprayed them as well OR when I took the stepper switch off the fibre washer fell apart & the switch wasn't tight anyway.  New fibre washer, locktite on the threads & now back to normal.
Bl--dy RRC's, they certainly try your patience but still wouldnt change it.
Thanks again for all your help---Merlin