Clementine's Garage
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Yellow R4
 
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No tickover

Mike from Spain

Enthusiast
Messages
134
Hi all, not been on here for ages due to events beyond my control meaning I had to leave the Yellow Peril parked up for 18 months. When I finally got her started after renewing points, plugs, condenser and resetting the timing she just won't tickover. To keep her running I have to either have the choke out fully which means she's over revving or I have to prod the throttle to squirt juice in via the accelerator pump. I've stripped the carb twice so it's all clean. I can hear what I think is a vacuum leak but I can't find it. It does seem she's starved of fuel at low revs. Anyone had a similar problem?
 
haven't said what carburettor you have got guessing it is a zenith 32 if
have you cleaned out the idle jet it can also fall out the same with the mixture screw also known to disappear it is also possible you have a split in the small rubber hose which fits on the inlet manifold and goes up to a t piece on the oil breather
 
Thanks Andy, sorry, yes it's a 321F. All is clean! Where is the idle jet! Don't think anything has fallen out! All tubes to carb have been renewed.
 
Ah you may have forgotten about the restrictor that suppose to live in the pipe from manifold up to t piece going to breather
try blocking the pipe completely with a m8 bolt 13mm so no air gets in to manifold
 
You hero! That cured it! Thank you. Problem is that I ditched the old tube with the restrictor. Are they still available? If not what does the restrictor look like? I'm sure I could make one! The other problem I'm left with is it's ticking over too fast. The throttle stop is backed right off. The idle screw is nearly all the way in but at a guess I'd say the tickover is probably around 1200 rpm! I feel I could lower it by altering the timing but as I've just set it with a strobe I'm reluctant to do that! Any suggestions?
 
glad to be of help this was a very common problem since renault decided tohide a tiny piece of plastic with a small hole drilled in it in the middle of a rubber pipe which falls to pieces the well meaning replace the pipe as you did forgetting all about the plastic piece end result lots of customers coming in insisting that they need a new carburettor
also resulting in having to ria just everything back to how it should be after they have been fiddling with everything else
try using a white marker pen and marked it distributor to the block and back timing off and see if it will slow down
i presume you haven't altereded the choke fast idle setting as this will prevent throttle fully returning to stop
timing ideally wood need to be done using a strobe with the engine idling correctly however most old renault prefer the timing by ear method which involves advancing slightly until pinching occurs then retarded 2 stop it lots of road tests needed white paint markt very useful as reference setting timing with manufacturers recommendations doesn't always produce best running with old cars on new petrol
regarding making a restrictor seem to remember it being a 1.6 millimetre hole have used the end of ball point pen be4 best bet would be to get a piece of studding and drill a small hole in it
 
Thanks again. Will try to make a restrictor but I'm wondering if it's really necessary as emissions won't be checked as it's now a classic? Didn't know anything about the choke fast idle setting!!! Will have a look tomorrow. When I did the timing I took the unleaded setting into account as per the instructions on this site.
 
the reason for the restrictor is too take some of the positive pressure from the crankcase breather system and allegedly stop oil leaks
that's what i've read somewhere anyway 13 mill bolt in the pipe works just as well i think
no doubt it would lose you points on a concourse competition
did you use a strobe 4 timing as that must be set with engine idling at 8 900 rpmor was it set before you forgot about the restrictor lol
 
Haha, yes, a strobe and before I threw the pipe away and with the vacuum pipe disconnected! Will look for choke setting later.
 
Couldn't find a setting screw for the choke and couldn't see how it could be affecting the butterfly closure! Turned the dizzy clockwise until tickover was low enough but coughed a little when revved up. Turned back dizzy and got a happy (well, less than really) medium. Not taken it out on the road yet. Also, the fuel has been in it for 6 months and has been contaminated with water and baked in 40 degrees through the summer so maybe new fuel will help!! Thanks again for all your help!
 
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