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Car stutters and stops - fuel pump problem?

@Joolzy are the gasket between the intake manifold and the carb ok?
have you the reference of what kit you bought?

IMG_20210910_072723.jpg
 
Andy McGhee said:
- Does it make any difference if you remove the fuel filler cap?
- As jcarruthers2 mentions above, it's critical to ensure that the arrowed pipe/restrictor/manifold connection/rocker cover are really clean (it looks as though your car - and perhaps all Portuguese GTLs - has a different restrictor system; on UK cars/vans the restrictor is in the pipe):

View attachment 29274

Could you post a few photos of your carb/distributor area?
Click to expand...
- starts worse without filler cap

- photos below:

re the distributor: what make is it? And how do I approach changing the points? Not come across one before with a metal plate.

the restrictor photos - the red one is what‘s on it and the silver one is what I received when I ordered one.

2AF8A3AA-ACDC-4148-9AB2-F5B1001A24E7.jpeg 7F3F1759-4D04-43C4-A7A6-CDDE31A7C66D.jpeg AB58AAB5-7274-4AA7-A699-0872A9F75553.jpeg 6C8F257C-E7B4-49D6-841C-5ACBA802E672.jpeg 58E3487B-387F-4B18-8A76-341F5793DB5E.jpeg DC182BF1-CFB7-47CE-910D-2A2A39FADCDD.jpeg
 
I've re-read your earlier posts, with a view to seeing if I'm missing something.... When you say that the car runs "for a few minutes" then stops, is this staring the engine from cold when you start the car after it's stood say, overnight that it runs for a few minutes? Is the choke out when the engine is running and have you had the engine running without the choke?

If you can have the engine running, try spraying WD40 on the carburettor; if the engine speed changes, there's an air leak there!
 
Sometimes it starts from cold on the choke, when the engine is warm put choke off and it’ll run fine and then just stops as if you’ve turned it off. Other times from cold, like this morning, it started on choke, run for less than a minute, spluttered and stopped. Choke or no choke it made no difference.

Then on other occasions it runs for say 10 mins, I think it’s ok and then it splutters, misses and cuts out. Then it can be difficult to start.

in general, sometimes it will pick up again when I give it some throttle but it still cuts out eventually. Other times it doesn’t respond to the throttle at all.

Yes WD40 on carb was one of the first things I tried, no change in engine speed.
 
Joolzy said:
- starts worse without filler cap

- photos below:

re the distributor: what make is it? And how do I approach changing the points? Not come across one before with a metal plate.

the restrictor photos - the red one is what‘s on it and the silver one is what I received when I ordered one.

View attachment 29280 View attachment 29281 View attachment 29282 View attachment 29283 View attachment 29284 View attachment 29285
Click to expand...
It's a Femsa distributor - points maintenance/changing is much more of a hassle than with Ducelliers. There's an excellent page on them here:

Changing Distributor Contact Points (renault4.co.uk)
 
Need for engine to run, fuel and ignition.
if problem with fuel. Check if pump delivers fuel when engine stop. Take fuel line of close to carburetor crank engine if no to tiny fuel comes then you know if problem is before or carburetor. If no or tiny fuel comes check filters before pump.
If there is plenty of fuel coming then problem is in the carburetor. (Remember not get fuel on hot exhaustmanifold).
Dont know what climate you have but icing in carburetor throat can be a problem from +10degree C. When car halts take off airfilter and check down in the throat if some ice is visible then you know why engine stops.
if that’s the problem it often occurs after 10-30min driving car go worse and worse until it halts or you stop trying. And after car been standing 5-15min it starts like there is no problem (ice melts).
 
Homegrown said:
Need for engine to run, fuel and ignition.
if problem with fuel. Check if pump delivers fuel when engine stop. Take fuel line of close to carburetor crank engine if no to tiny fuel comes then you know if problem is before or carburetor. If no or tiny fuel comes check filters before pump.
If there is plenty of fuel coming then problem is in the carburetor. (Remember not get fuel on hot exhaustmanifold).
Dont know what climate you have but icing in carburetor throat can be a problem from +10degree C. When car halts take off airfilter and check down in the throat if some ice is visible then you know why engine stops.
if that’s the problem it often occurs after 10-30min driving car go worse and worse until it halts or you stop trying. And after car been standing 5-15min it starts like there is no problem (ice melts).
Click to expand...
Portugal so no icing problem here
 
Joolzy said:
Tried it just now and it ran worse
Click to expand...
Just a thought, and just checking - cylinder 1 is the one nearest the water pump (in your photo with the distributor cap off, the rotor arm is pointing at cylinder 4).
 
When you removed the fuel tank, did any rust come out with the petrol? Is there any chance that the filter on the fuel sender could be getting blocked by debris?
 
So, my thoughts:

Fuel does not seem to be getting to the engine.
The carb is clean and ‘seems’ to be working ok and all the movable parts are doing what they should be doing, but the fact remains that the car won’t run and I keep coming back to the fact that there is fuel starvation.

I’m thinking of buying a new carb.
piezasautosclasicos.com

Carburador Renault 4 Equivalente a Zenith 28 IF

Carburador Renault 4 Equivalente a Zenith 28 IF
piezasautosclasicos.com piezasautosclasicos.com

Plus also thinking can I do away with the air restrictor and just have a straight tube like on the U.K. engines? I bought a new restrictor and the car runs worse than with the old one.
 
What's the number on the side of your carb?
I ask because it can affect the float setting - on some 28IFs (like the one below), the setting is 8.9mm rather than 8.4mm. What setting did your manual give?
If you do go for a new (perhaps remanufactured...) or secondhand carb, it's important that the specification is right.


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