Quelle horreur

[Mothman]

Took the TGS in to the garage to have the mixture adjusted, that all sorted and they didnt charge me but to my suprise there was steam coming from the bottom of the rad the base of which was all wet!!
Seem like i will need a new rad but will try some K seal first.
Oh the pleasure of owning old motor[s]. Another thing, front wheel trim fell off on route to the garage, on picking it up someone had driven over it!! Such is life! Whats next to go wrong??

Andy

[Tim Leech]

A new rad for a BX 16 isnt that much money and a doddle to fit Andy.

[Way2go]

This may be a silly question, but are you sure the rad is leaking?

If you only drove a short distance to the garage maybe it was just condensation due to the high water content in the air at this time of year even when its not actually raining.

It may be a good plan to flush the cooling system using Barr's Professional flush (GSF) first and then check the integrity of the whole system.

Its best really to then repair or replace any deficiencies rather than use K-Seal. K-Seal is best kept in reserve only for emergencies such as a get-you-home if you spring a leak many miles from home as it possibly can introduce other problems of its own.

[Dollywobbler]

If the coolant isn't dropping, I wouldn't panic and I certainly wouldn't just chuck K-Seal in. More likely to result in a rad change AND heater matrix change being needed...

[Mickey taker]

It's throwing a tantrum because you won't buy a splitter for it Andy

[Mothman]

Nah Mick, no splitter for this one.
Thanks for the help guys, think i will sort a new rad, not difficult as ive already done the n/a diesel.
deffo not right as i gave her the Italian tune up before i got to the garage to get her up to temp for the gas readout. Rad certainly leaking.

Andy

[electrokid]

If the carb appears to need adjustment it's usually a sign that something else is wrong - auto choke not functioning correctly due to warm coolant not reaching the auto choke system with enough flow - or a small perforation in one of the carb diaphrams - usually the anti-stall.

So if the mixture is incorrect the first thing to do is check the temp of the water at the auto choke - if too low then flush and backflush the coolant system until the water runs clear. Check visually that the choke vane is moving correctly.

If that's ok then check the carb diaphrams or just replace them - buy a carb recon kit and just fit all the bits in the kit.

[citronut]

if it were related to auto choke problems the mixture would be high as it would be over choking,

Andy's car was way to lean its amazing it was running at all going by the result at the MOT test,

regards malcolm

[electrokid]

You're right of course Malcolm - lean running is a different animal altogether. I'm still inclined to think that it could be a sign of something else happening but I can't for the life of me think what that might be right now - I'll continue to scratch my head over it

The Granny was running very lean at it's MOT a week or so ago and it didn't bother me at all - no action to be taken - in fact with that particular Pierburg carb with its 7 jets it's actually a bloomin' miracle but then the sooty exhaust pipe and a fuel gauge needle that moves faster than all the other instruments tells the true story.

Emissions are only checked at tickover on petrol engines so I'm wondering if there might be errors at other parts of the rev / load curve - colour of the exhaust pipe is possibly the best guide to overall mixture.

[mat_fenwick]

colour of the exhaust pipe is possibly the best guide to overall mixture.

Mine's always very black!

[Philip Chidlow]

colour of the exhaust pipe is possibly the best guide to overall mixture.

Mine's always very black!

Not to mention the whole rear bumper...

(Mind you I think my 806 would give 'Old Smokey' a run for its money in the sooty stakes

[electrokid]

TBH the only car I spent the time on and got close to 100% right was a 2 litre Granny with 160K on the clock. It took 4 chemical flushes and the whole of a Saturday flushing and back flushing before I was happy there was no more crud in the cooling system - the driveway was temporarily brown tarmac. The auto choke mechanism needed a bit of grease and the anti-stall diaphram needed replacing. I set the (Weber) carb close to the limit for emissions - I remember the figure was 4.75 and the limit was 4.8 or 5.0. In fact I remember the guy at the garage (who I know quite well) when I popped in for a quick emissions test - he smirked when I said it should be close to the limit - he looked at me quite strangely when the actual figure poped up on the screen

The inside of the tailpipe became almost white and the fuel economy was ridiculously good.

[Geoffrey Gould]

Hi I think that the colour of the tail pipe now a days can be miss leading a bit, grey used to be the aim and black was pointing to something too rich, but the grey was caused by the lead content in the fuel. But now a L-O-T less lead and the grey has gone, black is more normal now it seems. Could be talking a load of b=ll but worth a bit of a think. Perhaps people a lot more up on these things would like to comment?
G.

[MULLEY]

Who knows with modern cars, the mini has slightly black tailpipes, but then again it does scream to nearly 7k when required

[mat_fenwick]

My understanding is that with emissions controls, engine run at exactly the right ratio of fuel to air and hence you never get the lighter colour corresponding to an engine running lean.