Engine's Cut Out & Won't Start

[hiltow]

My car (Mk2 1.6 GT / Pierburg Carb / 25k miles on engine) hasn't been used for a year, although it has been started up every few weeks whilst off the road.

Back in the summer, whilst running it the engine idle suddenly became slower and eventually cut out and wouldn't restart. I posted the problem on the forum (see 'engine won't start'), but despite the suggestions i still couldn't get te car to start. In the end I ended up having it trailered to a garage for repair.

They took the carb off to check for any leak in the mountings or crud in it and there wasn't a problem. However, once the carb had been refitted the car started fine!

Since then I've had it out of the garage to run the engine without problems until today when the exact same thing's happened again!

Engine hot (been running for 20 minutes), then the idle slowly dropped from 950rpm to about 700rpm and then the engine died with a couple of 'pop's and a 'tap' sound from under the bonnet.

When I turn it over, it will sometimes try to fire or run very weakly for a couple of seconds and give out a pop.
Has anyone any new suggestions as to what it could be?

[Nate]

did they strip the carb, or just take it off? wondering if the float has stuck and just the movement from taking it off freed it. it sounds like a fuel starvation problem, so it's probably worth starting with the usual culprits - filler neck rust and crud in the bottom of the tank and then work your way forwards. which carb is on this one? is it the 2E2?

[hiltow]

Carb was removed whole and not stripped down. The carb's a 2E2. I replaced the fuel filler neck with a brand new one three years ago, although to be honest the rust on the old one was surface rust and not rusted right through.

[Nate]

if you disconnect the fuel inlet into the carb, do you get a good flow of fuel when cranking it over? can you get it to fire by pouring a teaspoon of fuel down the carb? (assuming you've checked for a spark!) float stuck in the carb maybe, so not letting fuel in - when the removed the carb the shaking around it got, or being banged onto the workbench shocked it free. only a guess mind.

if you pm me your email address i can send you the manual for the carb.

[hiltow]

I'll check for a supply of fuel at the weekend, although when the same problem happenned before the fuel supply to carb was fine.

The carb seems to be the main source of the proble here (float sticking). That said, I'm curious as to why this should start being a problem now as I've had no problems with the carb for years - it's one of those Pierburg carbs that does actually work properly. What could cause the float to start sticking?Presumably the carb might have to be taken off and stripped & cleaned??

I hate tinkering with carbs as I've always believed that they're a bit like a Swiss watch - something you shouldn't mess with unless you REALLY know what you're doing. Problem there's nobody in the area (Gtr Manchester) who seems to have any expertise with Pierburg carbs.