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First Wedding since December

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Petelang
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Joined: Sat Feb 13, 2016 10:23 am
Location: Nottingham
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First Wedding since December

Post by Petelang »

Well, at last the wedding business can get back in action! After a dormant period of six months my Daimler Fifteen was called to action on Saturday.
In preparation she was run and driven round the locality, new set of plugs, new points, oil and filters, coolant checked, brakes adjusted the week prior. Two days before, started and run up to warm and a quick nip round the block. All was well. What could possibly go wrong?
Well, I'll tell you. Sufficient fuel on the district but needed a top up so I intended to fuel on the way as there was a Shell garage on route, about 4 miles and just around the corner from pick up. Traffic was unusually heavy and temporary traffic lights at roadworks were unintended delay but still had time in hand. Car ran very well initially until I pulled into petrol station and she stalled, would not restart and stuck in the middle of the entrance was problematic. Fuel level in the glass indicated it wasn't pulling fuel. Copious amounts of priming lever pumping didn't make a difference until suddenly yes, it filled. I attempted a start and success! Pulled onto pump, filled up, started and away again breathing a sigh of relief. My second car was already there about to set off with bridesmaids on first of two runs. But arriving at the house she stalled again and this time was not intending to play ball.
Whilst the limo took a group, I'm furiously pulling the plugs and cleaning, checking fuel, points and getting nervous. Got it to run but dreadfully uneven. I was not confident so had to abandon and arrange the limo to detour before second trip back through all the bloody God forsaken traffic to get the Armstrong Siddeley out, then rush back.
Eventually, bride and rest of her entourage at church, 40 minutes late but extraordinary, everyone was very OK about it.
After a long trip back to the garage and initiate rescue of the Fifteen.
Of course, after standing there all day she started right away and seemed OK so I sent my Co driver home and headed likewise. She ran fine, you guessed, until those bloody roadworks and stalled in the queue!
I was blistering by then, about to strike a match....
Eventually home at 7pm, I resolved to go home and chill.
The investigation begins in earnest Monday!
I'm pretty sure it's fuel related. Probably that dreadful E5 crap, gone all sticky over the long lay up but my message is guys, you just can't be too careful. Despite my efforts to ensure she was fit, it just wasn't enough.
I need therapy and probably some tranquillisers now...
Peter Langridge
Cloud Nine Classic Weddings, Nottingham.

Brian-H
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Joined: Fri Aug 09, 2019 6:04 pm
Location: UK

Re: First Wedding since December

Post by Brian-H »

When was the last time you overhauled the fuel pump, or the seals in the carb ?

Also, do you carry a spare rotor arm in the car (red one) ?

Peter Grant
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Posts: 503
Joined: Thu Mar 10, 2016 10:02 pm
Location: Sydney, Australia

Re: First Wedding since December

Post by Peter Grant »

Hi Peter,
When I first got my DE back on the road it would run quite well and then with fuel starvation it would be problematic.
On a couple of occasions the car would arrive where I kept it, I would turn the engine off, it would then refuse to restart once the garage doors were opened for about 25 minutes.
This was diagnosed as a coil issue and with a new Bosch coil there were no more problems with that.
The fuel vapourisation does continue to be a problem.
So maybe add checking the coil to the list of things to eliminate!
Cheers
Peter Grant

HenryC
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Joined: Mon Feb 15, 2016 8:31 pm
Location: Surrey / East Hampshire

Re: First Wedding since December

Post by HenryC »

Worth replacing the condenser with a new one from Distributor Doctor - recommend you do this first of all.
Cheers, Henry Curwen
Registrar for Conquest & Century Saloons (DJ250/1, DJ256/7, DJ260/1)

Conquest (Drop Head) Coupe DJ252

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