Originally Posted by Oily Fingers
Hello,
I need help. My Dad and me own a 1969 series 2a Landy. The other week it acquired bad miss fire. We replaced all the spark plugs, leads, points, distributor cap, condenser and coil lead. We also checked the tappets and they were in order.

oops - 2 eyes / 1 mouth - unfortunately 8 fingers!)

Not sure whether you have sussed your problem out yet but I had a very similar issue with a 21/4 petrol series 11a last year. Turned out to be a blown copper head gasket between 2&3 (probably the original one) so no loss of fluids but major loss of compression - check it out. It won't explain your internittent spark but it will explain your misfire and non-firing. I reckon the previous owner had run it on unleaded and the heat caused the gasket to blow at the weakspot. Good luck!

WOOOOHOOOOOOOOO
Its alive (only just). Got the landy running out of its coma today which is superb. But it has got a misfire still we suspect that the key switch is to blame as a fellow series2club member susgested a while ago. Also when the eninge was hot (normal temp) we switched it off but when we came to starting it agian (straight after turning it off) it was difficult to start, took two appemts at turning the key but it did start agian but with the faint misfire still there.
What do you lot reakon about the missfire adn difficult starting ??

p.s we are just really pleased it has fainly decided to wake up, even if it is a bit we'rey

ad be looking at ign timing still..although fuel could be the problem; it just sound more like ign problems to me...hot wire straight to the coil from the battery and see what its like.

hello again. Started the landy up again today (very surprised it mangaged to start) but it was missfiring like the other time. I looked under the bonnet and the Weber carb was really iced up. But as the engine warmed up the ice was goin away slightly and it started to run nicely after. If we were to invest in a New Zenith carb wud this help??

my Series 3 had a bad misfire and I went through much similar pain. In the end, it was a worn carb. Invest in a refurbished carb - I had mine professionally done - like a new engine when done.

Hi,

There is a company called Greenways who refurbished my Zenith and did a very nice job of it. It worked flawlessly for 3 years, which is quite good for a Zenith, mine at least. One thing to consider if you are buying a new carb is how much you want to play with it. I have found the Zenith prone to undocumented features. It has a larger ventury than the Webber and is actually a better carb for my money, but there are a few design flaws that make it a bit of a character to live with. If you buy a second hand one be aware... They tend to suffer from warping between the top and bottom halves reputedly due to poor heat treatment when some were made. A tell tale for this is when the revs change when the vehicle is sitting on a slope, they drop significantly. Often when you crank down the 4 corner housing screws you can hear it sort itself out. Greenways skimmed mine and it sorted it for ages. The other feature is the 'O' ring, which can be a pain leaking in a similar manner to the warping. It just messes up the mixture. Fitting the new ring is a delicate affair and the slight seam on the o-ring is not a moulding mark it's a design feature don't twist the ring!

The weber I had was pretty reliable, but contrary to popular folk lore I found I got more power out of a Zenith with my SII cylinder head. There is also an SU that can be fitted which is supposed to be excellent, but it's more of a project...

Cheers

Rob

I have just bought a series 2a with a webber on it. I certinly has a smaller venturi - not quite big enough IMHO. I've heard this from elsewhere too. The smaller venturi has a throttling effect and causes the engine to lack power over a certain rev range. That said, and having taken the thing apart to clean it (it was seized up having stood with the landy in a field for 2 years), the Webber is BETTER engineered than the Zenith.

However, given that the designer of Series 3's opted for the Zentih, then I stick with that. They are less well engineered, but a really good overhaul improves this by boring out and bushing spindle bearings etc. The lack of bushes in the original means that wear takes place fairly rapidly. Air is then drawn in resulting in a weak mix and rough running as the mix is too lean.

If the carb is stuffed you will never get the ingnition timing right. My only way out of the mess was to sort plugs, points, condenser, rotor arm and carb.

The baby runs like a greyhound now, compared to the misfiring, backfiring and farting mess she was.

Carbuerettor Exchange link FYI.

Carburetter Exchange

Hi,

I agree 100%, the webber is much better engineered. I had one for a while, it did fail eventually but on the whole was a lot more reliable. The Zenith is a nice idea badly implemented (mainly due to "cost cutting"), but has the features needed... Alas all too common in Landrover products I fear. I just wish they would spend the extra money on making them as reliable as Toyotas... my god what a vehicle that would be!!!

Cheers,

Rob

WOO, it now lives once again. Put the new ignition switch on and before we new wat was happening it was purring away like a cat next to a warm fire. So it did turn out t was the switch afterall. Thanks again everyone for your help and advice.