misfire maladies

[mowf]

Hi there,

Just writing on behalf of my father-in-law and his beautiful but temperamental Series 2 E-type.
When started from cold, it fires up quite happily and idles very nicely; however if you touch the throttle whilst cold it conks out; possibly some sort of fuel starvation issue?

Once the engine is warm, it runs perfectly for a while and then starts to get a slight misfire which is our cue to get the car home as quickly as possible. I've not replaced any ignition components; I cleaned the rotor arm, which helped slightly.

It's going in for a service with a classic Jaguar specialist soon, but I'm slightly concerned about the chances of getting it there without breaking down!

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks,

Mowf.

[mystery type]

There are so many possible causes, but you need to start somewhere first! So i would start with a check on the ignition side. Assuming the points are set correctly, and the condenser good, spark plug gaps correct, and leads in good order and timing is correct. If the above are all checked to be OK, it could be that when warm, there is a tracking issue. Have a visual check of the engine in the dark when running, see if you can see any tracking to earth. There's nothing worse than having no faith in your car, so i hope we can sort this for you. Good luck.

[ChrisC]

I lean towards the coil being the issue - see if you can borrow one before splashing out any cash.

[caveman]

Don't forget rotor arm, mine tracked out with similar symptoms. There are some poor quality ones out there, Ive used Lucas for years now without further trouble.