V8 that stops when hot

[New V8 Boy]

I own a 1989 90V8 CSW which has been going really well until recently when I ground to a halt on a local road. I thought I had simlpy run out of petrol as tha land rover showed no sign of starting. Once the engine had cooled down it started no problem and ran as normal. The fault has continued and I have tried a different coil and tried a new lead between the distributor and coil ( I used one of the other HT leads). One problem that puzzles me is that the rotor arm can be lifted and moved round and can sit 180 degrees from its normal position. Is this normal? Any ideas?

[Raggylad]

Could be fuel vapourisation - the fuel line to the carbs is only black rubber and runs pretty close to the LH exhaust manifold.

I had vapourisation problems on my '83 110 V8 SW (recognised the symptoms from a long-ago kit car build); cured by replacing the entire fuel line with stainless braided hose a bit longer than the OE hose, so that I could run it as clear of hot spots as possible. Has worked fine.

Not sure about your rotor arm question - others (much more expert than me) on the forum will probably be able to help.

[Kiwistage1V8]

Electronic ignition?

I had a similar problem, cleaned the lens on the thingamawhatsit in the dizzy, hey presto!

I have no idea why mine was doing it once it got hot though? A mystery. But hey, at least it was a mystery solved. LOL

[stirlsilver]

What i'm a little sus on is how you said you can turn the rotor arm of your distributor 180 degrees. There is a mechanical advance on the distributor which does allow it to rotate to a degree. Does it stay in this this 180 degree position or does it spring back? One thing you could try is replacing the low voltage lead that runs from your distributor to the coil. Also, are you running electronic ignition?
Stirling

[Larosto]

Hi,

I had a similar problem with my Stage One. The reason was a sticky temperature-compensator on both carbs. This caused that the mixture got much to rich when the engine has got hot.The problem came after driving about 50 km. Then there came black smoke out of the exhaust-pipe, there was no power, and the engine stoped. After cleaning the temperature-compensators the probleme had gone. Hope this helps you.

good luck

horst

[New V8 Boy]

Thanks so much for all your ideas. Fuel vaporisation was something I considered, but on trying to start the V8 once it had stopped I found I had no spark, so ruled out any kind of fuel problem. Also when I turned over the engine there was a strong smell of petrol from the exhaust.

As far as the rotor arm is concerned I thought I would be able to remove this, but when I tried it remained in position, but I found I could turn it round 360 degrees. At certain point it would almost sit back in its place, but it was not possible to put the distibutor cap back on. In the 180 degree position it was possible to snap shut the distibutor, but the engine will not run in this position. Once the arm is back in its normal position and pushed in place then there is a small amount of movement.

I will try replacing the lead as you suggest. The vehicle has electronic ignition.

Many thanks once again. I will let you know how I get on.

[stirlsilver]

That rotor arm sounds suspect, it has a key on the base which engages the oil pump at the end. And you can actually put the distributor in 180degrees out if you want but as you found out it wont start (actually it normally backfires).

You shouldn't be able to spin the rotor around unless you remove the clamp at the base of the distributor and lift the whole assembly up to disengage it from the gear. But then again you may have a distributor which allows this somehow, not sure why tho. I would imagine it is ok because if it was a mechanical problem like that one there is no way your engine would run at all since the timing would be all over the shop.

The intermittent fault is likely to be electronic, the heat may be causing a cracked cable to disconnect and kill the engine. Also I think some of the electronic dizzy components can break down under high heat but I don't know anything specific, I guess it will be down to troubleshooting. Check to see which cables have power on them or are connected to ground by using a multimeter when the engine is cold and then when it cuts out on you do the same tests to see if anything has become open circuit.