73 413 keeps stalling

[daveukm]

Hi all
My 73 Indian keeps stalling at junctions. Been running great for the last 1000 miles but suddenly doesn’t like stopping.
Left it for a few hours to cool then tried again and it now struggles to start. You need to crank 3 or 4 times to get it to fire up. I used to pump the throttle a couple times before turning the key and it would fire first time every time. Now not so much.
Are you thinking a carb tweak? Dodgy fuel pump? Or maybe crappy fuel? I ran on the auxiliary for the first time a few days ago.


What you thinking??

[Rickf1985]

Clogged fuel filter and crappy fuel. you may have had water in that other tank.

[LJ-TJ]

If you haven't had any trouble until you changed over to the aux tank, my vote goes with Rick. Crappy fuel plus fuel filter. Hm?

[tmsnyder]

Dave are you in the US??? 


I hadn't heard that you made it over the pond and bought an RV for your big trip!


Where are you located?


What Rick said;  check fuel filter.  If it's been sitting for a while and now you are driving it a bunch, you may be stirring up residue in the fuel tank and that has been making its way to your filter and plugging it up. 

[Rickf1985]

I didn't realize who I was talking to, yes, if you just bought this and started driving it especially on old gas you need to stock up on a supply of good quality fuel filters. You want them to clog and shut you down before the stuff gets through and gunks up the carb. The problem is that if it was water or even worse, ethanol, it is already in the carb and that will need to come off and be rebuilt. You probably don't have to deal with ethanol in your gas in England but we are stuck with it here and if it sits in the tank for more and a couple months the chances of the alcohol separating out are pretty good. The resulting mixture is deadly for gas tanks, lines and especially carburetors.


Here is what it does to a carburetor after a year sitting.

[daveukm]

You're right! I think the Ethanol is what caused a problem. The Needle & Seat needed replacing - the seal had gone completely flat so fuel was leaking around the sides. Which explains why it was running so rich and stank of fuel. Was a half hour fix.
The garage told me to run on the premium fuel if I can so I've switched from 87 to 93.


You're right about the UK - we don't have any ethanol in our fuel. Plus our regular gas is 93 with Premium 98 or sometimes 99!

[Rickf1985]

Running on premium will not gain you anything but a much lighter wallet unless that engine has high compression! If it is not pinging then it is better to run on regular, the people that say premium runs better do not have a clue what premium gas is for or how it works. The alcohol in the gas is actually a fantastic cleaner/solvent so if you are running it regularly it will clean out the entire fuel system. That means frequent filter changes. If you have to let it sit for long periods there are several things you can do, I will not get into that right now since you are not planning on sitting anytime soon.

[tmsnyder]

Well at least it's getting fuel, that's good.   


Pictures!!