My engine is dying in the heat - remedies?

[alan.barker]

If your car has a ballast resistor i suggest you throw it in the bin and fit 12volt coil
Alan

[Maulden7]

Fuel vaporisation is only likely if you have seen the coolant temperature rise considerably before the engine stops - been there seen that. Otherwise the other solutions seem to be more helpful.

Dave M.

[vstibbard]

My experiences

1. Fuel tank breather blocked which can get to point where the pump is unable to pull the fuel against the vacuum forming in the fuel tank. I had this problem occur with a Fulvia Zagaot that I used to drive between London and Manchester years ago, it had been hit in rear an repaired, the breather line had a kink that on hot long drives would seal.... I'd lose power and end up running the carburettors dry.... I found out the hard way, after placing all the electrics then fuel pump, resetting carb's.... took cap off when it happened one day and heard the vacuum release

2. Fuel pump failing

3. Vapourisation, unlikely based on my experiences, the amount of air flowing through the engine bay when moving I'd only expect this to occur in extreme conditions sitting stationery for a good while. My last Elan was on the dyno on hot Sydney summer day, the fuel lines to carburettors were steel braided with steel line from to back, when on the dyno the braided lines to carbs were behind the radiator so exposed to full radiator temp and to hot to touch, the car did not faulter, it did however lose about 8-10 HP over the earlier runs, we corrected this by covering the braided line with fire proof tube which restored the lost HP as the fuel temp was lower, not other changes.

Hope this helps as way of diagnosing.

V

[mmatthej1]

Thanks for further comments - it does seem consensus that fuel vapourisation is unlikely to be the issue; yes, I did think of possible vacuum in tank if breather had failed but no suck-in noise when I popped the cap and, actually, I don't think the seal is that great anyway!

I'm pinning hopes on new coil !

[mmatthej1]

Well, new coil & ballast resistor duly fitted and engine starts, runs & accelerates !

I took it for a drive this morning, happily without any problems through various traffic conditions, including the inevitable traffic queues - seems ok, though I think weather was just slightly cooler than last weeks. Still, happy days thus far !