Loss of power- suddenly ?

[freddie]

I have recently experienced a wierd occurrance in my 77 Beta Coupe . I will be travelling along nicely and all of a sudden the power just drops to zero.
As I slow down and try to depress the accellerator the car starts to kangaroo hop as if there is no paower at all. Once stopped though it will idle well but when you start off it tries to stall again.

I've discovered that if you stop and turn the engine off for say 5 minutes once you start up again it goes back to normal. I always use the same fuel supplier since different fuels have different additives, I'm told.

So what could cause this ?. Is it a dirty fuel tank - carbrettor issues - power shortage - Any ideas guys ?.

I drive the car on average 1 every 10 days. Another problem I've noticed is that it does'nt accellerate smoothly especially in 2nd and 3rd gear. It tends to have some stagered flat spots. I don't know if this is related.

Hope someone can give me some insight.

[Simon T]

I have only had this once in my VX, it was caused by carburettor icing. There was enough of a gap left to idle, but no more. After letting it idle for about 5 mins, then it was enough to melt the ice and all was well again.
It was about 2:00 AM with a thick fog and an air temperature of around 2 deg C. (Induction heating was not connected - it doesn't get cold in Australia ;) )

It came on fairly quickly. One minute it seemed fine, the next the power had dropped right off. The car could not maintain speed, and slowed gradually from 110 km/h to barely above walking pace at full throttle over a few minutes.

Just an idea - it could be this - or heaps of other reasons...

[Jim Keller]

My first thoughts are the fuel pump is over heating, if you have an electric pump that is, my other thought is the coil pickup but I am pretty sure you have points not electronic ignition??

Ouir 87 Escort GT would run fine for a while then only idle and stall out if you tried to go, shut it off for a while and it would run fine again for a short time, turned out to be the "in tank" fuel pump. I have had Zagato's do the same thing, but they cough and sputter, jerk around when the FI pumps go or simply just seize and don't work at all, I don't have a boat load of Lancia carb experiance to be honest.

[freddie]

So is the fuel pump located in the fuel tank or at the back nera the fuel tank ?.
Is the pump readily available and what should it cost.

The other problem I have is that it does'nt accellerate freely. I'm comparing to my previous Fiat 124 cc 1800. This really rev'd freely and was very smooth.

Could it be that not enough fuel is getting to the carbi's.

[mikeymikemcmike]

I had something similar in my VX Coupe. In my case it was fuel starvation caused by a clogged up filter inside the petrol tank. The pump just couldn't get enough fuel through from the tank for normal driving but the low requirements of idling seemed to be just about ok. In the end I had to remove the tank and spend many hours "back-flushing" the fuel tank outlet using Gunk and then high pressure water via a hose. Eventually after doing this many times the flow of liquid out of the fuel supply pipe was unrestricted. I put it all back and it's fine now.

Mikey

[Jim Keller]

The pump on the 79 and all the 81's and 82's I have had are at center in front of the tank on top of the rear suspension assembly, filter is over by right frame rail just past the pump. Ther may still be a shield covering it, it's a pain to change but doable.
Not accellerating well is probably related to either the pump or a plugged filter as previously mentioned, that I totally hosed and failed to consider! LOL!

[freddie]

THanks Guys. I'll first look at the filter and then the pump and see how we go.

Is the filter readily accessable - are there after market filters that can be used.

[KeppelmanJ]

I had this chronically for awhile with a 77 HPE, same symptoms. I found it was fuel starvation, which in my case was in the steel fuel line under the car. I opened both ends and compressed air solved the problem, blew out the junk. Fuel pump and filter would also be suspect. Had the problem also with a 1.6 Fulvia which ran ok except under full throttle. I put a pressure guage into the fuel line and slid that under a windshield wiper blade and drove the car. In that case it was possible to see that the pressure dropped under a minimum at full fhrottle starving the engine. In that case I had to adjust up the fuel flow a bit with an inline regulator.

[Shane Taylor]

Hi Freddie, Firstly i'd check that fuel is getting into the carb, if that i ok, i'd look at electrical. If you are using points in your dizzy, try replacing the condensor & points, I had a similar problem couple of years ago. Believe it or not a condensor from a Holden will do the same job as a genuine Lancia part only cheaper, my '76 coupe is still going.

[Jim Fierst]

Hello Freddie,
I am with the rest of the group that says you probably have a plugged fuel filter. Because of the age of these cars and the infrequency they get driven you may have the beginnings of a rusty tank. I would install a clear plastic in line fuel filter in the engine compartment and see if it shows rust or is not delivering fuel. Some previous owner did that in my '79 and it was real helpful when I had a relay fail.