Famed stock-car racer Smokey Yunick once observed that 90% of carburetor problems are in the ignition.
On 10/18/25 06:29, Tony Duell via cctalk wrote: > On Sat, Oct 18, 2025 at 12:02 PM David Wade via cctalk > <[email protected]> wrote: > > >>> But I do not regard Lucas as significantly less reliable than other >>> manufacturers. >> Their (mechanical) fuel injection systems as fitted to the UK Triumph >> TR5 and TR6 were really bad. >> When I first came to work in Manchester I lived in a shared house. The >> owner had a TR6 with Lucas fuel injection. >> He was always having it serviced, but it still seemed to take ages to >> get it running on a morning. > Never worked on it, although I have read the 'real' manual for it, the > one that covers dismantling and rebuilding the metering distributor. > It should work properly. There is an 'overfuel' lever on the metering > distributor which pulls back the shuttle stop and gives a rich mixture > for cold starting -- was all that all set up and working correctly? > Was the fuel pump drawing the right current (bad connections causing > voltage drop?). Fuel pressure correct at the input to the metering > distributor? And before touching the fuel injection system, you should > check the ignition, valve clearances, compression, etc. > > BUT.. several times I've been told that $system is > unreliable/difficult to service/never works properly/... Three > examples I can instantly think of are : Citroen hydropneumatic > suspension; The Prestor Reflex shutter in the Pentina camera (which I > will admit has quality-control issues); Philips V2000 video recorders. > > Without exception I've had no problems with them. The problems seem to > stem from the fact that they are all very different from their > competitors. If you attack any of them based on a knowledge of so-say > similar systems (spring/damper car suspension; Compur camera shutter; > VHS video recorders) you will have no end of problems. If you sit down > with the service manuals, really understand how they work, and then > repair them 'properly' you wll have no problems at all. > > One of my father's secrets to not having breakdowns in his cars was to > NEVER allow a mechanic within 50 feet of the vehicle! We both > regard(ed) such people as being one level below computer Field > Service. And from conversations with current-day ones, alas my views > have not changed. I've yet to meet one who can logically diagnose a > fault -- you know, measuring things before changing anything. > > -tony
