[Poita]

Hi all,

My Vitara is running very lean. See the below pic of the spark plug. I am struggling to find anyone in Adelaide who will take the care to tune the carby correctly. Can the air/fuel ratio's even be adjusted on our carbies? I can see 3 screws and know one is the idle speed but don't know what the others are.

Can anyone suggest a decent old school mechanic that knows their way around a carby? The Sprints joint on Bridge road shut down 2 weeks ago

I know it could also be a air leak somewhere and will be trying to fault find that on the weekend given my limited skills. But I would like the peace of mind that the carby is adjusted correctly.

[Chop]

I had my Sierra carby's done by Auto Carburettor Services at marion, they alway's ran so much better after being there.

Edit- just seen that pic. Thats nasty!

[atari4x4]

was just googling that mob for peter... he did a gas rebuild & tune on the maverick carby & it was awesome up until the day i sold it,.

http://www.truelocal.com.au/business/au ... ltd/marion

[Chop]

Stay away from Carbitune and efi services! Bad!

[Poita]

Wow that was fast! Sounds like a great place, but on the other side of town. Is it a long job? I am prepared to sit in the waiting room for a couple hours if needed... I live out North.

The carby was rebuilt about 20,000km ago, so that should be fine. I know there may be a blocked jet but I assume that this joint would be able to look at all that?

EDIT: Gave them a ring. Full day job. They remove the factory plug to make the air/fuel adjustable and will check for vacuum leaks etc as well. So will book it in. Will get some new leads, dizzy cap and rotor, spark plugs and air filter to make sure it's all reasonable for the tune.

It needs a rebuild, using a bit of oil, probably 500ml every 3 weeks so not too bad but hopefully this sorts the lean problem out.

Thanks guys!

[atari4x4]

yep he's been around for years & years too, shame that sprints have closed up shop as they also had a really good wrap. they had my car overnight so they could play with the choke settings when it was properly cold in the morning.

with the air leak try capping the snorkel head with a plastic bag with it idling, it should either stall out, suck the snorkel inside out or keep running if the air leaks are bad. if it's well seal be careful as i will want to implode the snorkel so be quick.

if it is leaking badly try spraying some crc around the joins etc to see if the rev's pick up with a little extra fuel.

[Poita]

Yeah will be grabbing some Start Ya Bastard on the weekend and spraying it around to try to find the leak. Will also be spraying some carby cleaner in the top of the carby just in case there is anything blocking the jets.

[atari4x4]

when you've got the air filter off

give it a few berries & with the revs up smother the carby with your hand & a wadded up rag til it almost stalls to get it suck what ever shit is in the jets through. aka mexican/french tune up

the other one is reversing a couple plug leads & make it back fire through the carby, but i don't really like it as it's a bit rough.

[Poita]

Who needs a mechanic when you guys are here LOL Will give all of the above a shot tomorrow night hopefully.

Sweet very much appreciated! Guess who I will be turning to when I am stuck rebuilding it! Want some more beer and cake?? haha

[JrZook]

Hows the car run in general? Can you get a better pic of the plug directly facing the center electrode? To me it just looks like a shit load of deposits on that plug rather than lean running as the ground strap is still in tact. If it was severely lean and run hard it would have melted it off. How much oil does you vehicle burn?

[Poita]

I don't have any more pics of that one as that was taken about 8000kms ago when I changed the plugs. The current set aren't as bad (the one pictured was 20,000km old).

Oil... never really measured it, but I would say 500ml every 3 weeks?? But I only drive it to work and back (12km each way) probably 3 times a week.

[murcod]

Don't forget to get a new fuel filter too.

[johnmath]

Poita wrote:

I don't have any more pics of that one as that was taken about 8000kms ago when I changed the plugs. The current set aren't as bad (the one pictured was 20,000km old).

Oil... never really measured it, but I would say 500ml every 3 weeks?? But I only drive it to work and back (12km each way) probably 3 times a week.

Sounds like a lot of oil... You picture of the plug corresponds to "oil entering combustion chamber" see here: http://www.cyclepedia.com/spark-plug-troubleshooting/

[JrZook]

^^ Yup! On the same lines as I was thinking.