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Car Forum / UK Car Forums / Car Maintenance (UK group) / January 2007

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Vauxhall Carlton problems starting...

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Stevo - 22 Jan 2007 16:42 GMT
Hi

I recently bought a 1993 Vauxhall Carlton 2 litre 8 valve at auction
and it started and drove very well. Then one weekend, i left the car
running and after about 10 minutes of idling, i noticed it starting to
idle very rough. The car would shake and revs would drop then go upto
2k revs before coming down again. This would continue along with a
distinct smell of rotten eggs (excess unburnt fuel?).

I thought nothing of it at the time and it sat in my driveway for a
week. On trying to start the car the next week, it turned over and over

and did not fire up. I did it until the battery went dead. On
connecting jump leads i managed to get the car started after about 5
minutes of turning over and pumping the accelerator. Eventually it did
catch.

When started it misfires badly, occasionally stalls. Taking it for a
drive, sometimes there is no power (foot to the floor - car struggling
under 2k revs), sometimes there is full power.

If i turn ignition off and start again when hot, it has trouble
starting again and it will turn and turn until eventually catching.

Help! It was running fine a couple of weeks ago!

Having read previous threads, am i correct in thinking it could be the
ignition system which is at fault - HT leads, distributor, plugs etc or

could it be a sensor of some sort?

Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks

Steve
adder1969 - 22 Jan 2007 16:58 GMT
> Having read previous threads, am i correct in thinking it could be the
> ignition system which is at fault - HT leads, distributor, plugs etc or
>
> could it be a sensor of some sort?
>
> Any help would be much appreciated.

Bad idling one would normally say it's the idle control valve but poor
running yes it could be anything.  It could be the crank or cam sensors
if there are any.
AstraVanMan - 22 Jan 2007 17:03 GMT
>> Having read previous threads, am i correct in thinking it could be the
>> ignition system which is at fault - HT leads, distributor, plugs etc or
[quoted text clipped - 6 lines]
> running yes it could be anything.  It could be the crank or cam sensors
> if there are any.

Could be a number of things.  On one of the many 2L Carltons I had (in fact
it was the first one), I replaced the plugs, leads, dizzy cap, rotor arm,
king lead, even coil.  I even took the coil back thinking it was faulty.  In
the end it got to the point of refusing to start at all, and I checked the
crankshaft sensor, which was black (caked in some sort of carbon deposits),
cleaned it up to a nice shiny metal colour with some medium-ish grade
abrasive paper, and it fired up straight away.  So try that first - it's
free!

You'll find the crank sensor to the left of the engine as you look at it
from standing in front of the car - it's got a thick-ish wire coming out of
it and there's a small 10mm-headed bolt holding it in.

Signature

"For want of the price of tea and a slice, the old man died."

Stevo - 22 Jan 2007 19:05 GMT
I'll give it a try thanks.

Could it be a faulty lambda sensor? That would explain the rotten egg
smell.

Steve

> >> Having read previous threads, am i correct in thinking it could be the
> >> ignition system which is at fault - HT leads, distributor, plugs etc or
[quoted text clipped - 19 lines]
> from standing in front of the car - it's got a thick-ish wire coming out of
> it and there's a small 10mm-headed bolt holding it in.
Tim.. - 22 Jan 2007 19:14 GMT
> I'll give it a try thanks.
>
> Could it be a faulty lambda sensor? That would explain the rotten egg
> smell.

No.
Duncan Wood - 22 Jan 2007 22:12 GMT
>> I'll give it a try thanks.
>>
>> Could it be a faulty lambda sensor? That would explain the rotten egg
>> smell.
>
> No.

The rotten egg smell's the fuel.
Merryterry - 24 Jan 2007 16:49 GMT
> Hi
>
[quoted text clipped - 32 lines]
>
> Steve

Had exactly the same problems with my Carlton 2L. It was the idle
control valve gummed up. (Above the engine left hand side). The
crankcase breather pipe goes into the ICV and the oily sh.t from
crankcase gums it up. Fairly easy to remove but bottom bolt is a bit
awkward to put back in. Take the ICV out, degrease it using carb
cleaner. Dont use any tools on the inside of the valve as it has a very
tight tolerance. Continual problem and it may come back in the future.
I bought a spare from a breaker and always had a clean one to use if it
shitted up.
 
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