I've recently acquired the '81 Acadiane that was brought back to life by Neil. Its been running fantastic until it developed a little issue that has me, and the AA flummoxed. Sorry for the long post but I'm a bit stuck!

I was coming over the brow of hill and was stuck behind a quarry lorry, so was revving the car quite hard. Once it came over the brow it started spluttering like mad, I suspected an ignition problem, I'd just fitted 123 ignition to it so thought that might be the culprit. It wasn't as the accelerator pedal went really hard, then really soft, as if the linkage had broke. I managed to coast it down the hill as I couldn't restart it and left it and went to work.

On return there was nothing blocking the accelerator cable or hampering it any way, it had just gone completely slack and the 2nd choke was wedged open on full throttle. It just wouldn't budge. It was only travelling through 1/3 of its motion then hitting something hard. I ended up calling the AA as I was completely baffled, even after taking the top of the carb off to look for blockages.

The AA fella did the same, as he took it off he noticed a 5mm ball bearing just loose by the carb in the engine bay. No idea where it had come from. The butterfly still wouldn't open, he went round to the other side of the carb and just flicked the end of the linkage, circled in red, and the butterfly closed up back to normal with a loud ping. Started it up and its fine, in fact its running much better than before, the temp guage is staying at half rather than at 2/3 and the car has a bit more low end power.



I'm completely stuck, it works fine, but having had no experience of the Solex carb I'm just worried that its shed some parts and will go again? Has anyone ever heard of this happening or know of where a 5mm ball bearing may have come from? I've also not tampered with the carb since I bought it, I promise...! Maybe I opened the throttle too wide and it retaliated...

Again apologies for the ramble but it would great if any of you knowledgable people could shed some light on this. I think I'm going to run it to a specialist (I've been recommended Ken Hanna in Selby) to give it a once over.

cheers everyone,

Joe

I had a *similar* problem once where the throttle would jam wide open. I eventually found that the same linkage as you've circled in red was jamming on the accelerator pump lever thingy it operates.

I found that the "roller" bit that linkages runs against on the accelerator pump lever had seized and a rut had had worn in it snagging the throttle and holding it open. Got to be worth a look at?

Hope that makes some sort of sense to you?

What Jon said up there ^

Ive had similar on a 2CV, Held flat on the A1 whilst towing a trialer i had similar jamming of that shaft, did it one or two times after that as well. Short term fix was ping it back and squirt ends of the spindle with wd40. On proper inspection It was a combination of worn bits as said above and also worn carb body causing the shaft to 'jam' when held open for a while.

I dont recognise the bright metal bit you have circled in red - neither of our A series, and indeed a carb I sold recently, have this piece on them and, unless it actually is holding anything, I would remove it. I guess when you have floored the pedal it has opened the the cam on the accelerator pump and this has wedged against the non oem piece of kit.

That carb pictured is a totally standard twin choke solex Nelsthebass. If that cam peice (as the shiny metal bit is) wasnt there, the carb wouldnt work.

Noooo....I know what the cam is! The circle on my picture is around a bit of bright metal on the left rear of the carb which is not the cam!

Here is a pic of my own acad's carb (although its known to be an 80's 2CV lump complete)



Now its a lot grubbier, but the same part is fitted. I do not know its exact purpose, to my mind it does nothing more than provides a positive 'stop' to the spindle closing.

I can tell you most of the 2CV twin choke carbs ive seen do have it fitted. Having said that upon investigation one of the 4 loose carbs ive got in a box in the shed doesnt have it.

So, i dunno

DOH! Im stupid (we all knew) Its got an adjustment on it hasnt it? a screw in thread to allow that spindle to sit open slightly?

Im even more non plussed as ive never adjusted a carb there before.

Cheers for the help! Much appreciated.

I haven't had time to go and have a proper look yet, Matt yours is identical to mine, but when I do I'm going to see if I can get the cam to stick open with my hand and see if it gets stuck on anything. The AA man thought there was a home made part on it but I disagree, its def the right part judging by your photo. Its more likely to be worn or getting stuck than anything I agree.

I'm still confused as to where a 5mm ball bearing has come from though!

[quote="Matt S"]

Aha! I've got it! The problem is actually quite obvious when you compare the two photos.

Joe's van is just far too clean. They're not meant to be that clean. Being clean _scares_ the poor things. They're just yokels at heart, and really quite like rolling about in mud.