405 1.6 GL Carb woes

[nudger2802]

Hi, Just brought a very tidy 1992 405 GL Estate 1.6 Petrol with only 55,000 on the clock and full history.

Only got 2 problems with the car so far: Number 1... Hopefully the easy one.... the sunroof although not leaking and working fine sits a bit low on the off side rear corner. Can I adjust its height? Do I just loosen off the torx screws round the inner edge of the glass and lift it to the right height or is it not adjustable?

Number 2.... The SOLEX Z1 carburretor......... what a peice of @£&~ I have give the car a full service, checked the ignition timing, changed the leads, rotor arm and dizzy cap and yesterday checked and set the mixture to the correct 1.5% which has improved things slightly but the car still seems to have a serious liking for petrol stations. To be honest I havent actually filled the tank yet but after putting £20 in yesterday I drove about 30 miles and the fuel light come back on. Don't get me wrong the mixture was miles out at nearly 3% before I weakened it back off yesterday and doing that has improved things from only 20 miles before the fuel light came on but surely I should be getting better economy than that with an empty car apart from me and the Mrs and driving in a relatively conservative manor on open country roads shouldn't I? Or is it that the fuel guages on the series 1 405's are a bit inaccurate below the half tank mark and its telling me the tank is empty when infact there is still about £15 worth still in there? I have checked the operation of the auto choke and its working perfectly so no problems there, but before and after adjusting the mixture the car starts great from cold but once warmed up is an absolute pig to start and when it does finally fire up sounds like its running on 3 cylinders till it clears itself out after about 20 seconds of holding the throttle slightly open. Also it occasionally runs on after shutting it down when its warm. All this seems to point to the mixture or ignition timing or even a sticky choke but all is now spot on and the problems are still there?

Does anyone know of a Peugeot fitted with Webber carb that I could try and get hold of and retrofit to mine, as from previous experience they are far superior to the solex. I have got a price of a Webber conversion which I would love and is still available but at £300 thats twice what I paid for the car so I would rather look round for a second hand one if they exist???

Any constructive suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks,

Nige

[oldpug]

That Solex was a nightmare,bin it! Some 405`s did have a webber carb`as standard,if you can find a "GOOD" 2nd hand one great,try Dean Hunter.The Webber part no is 32/34 DRTC and if you go online to a few you can get the price down to 200-250,thats a lot of dosh but by your story you will get it back on petrol!

[nudger2802]

Thanks for that mate. Think your right about the Webber paying for itself. When I brought the car It came with a brand new manual choke conversion kit, sealed in its box, the guy said he thought about fitting it years ago but it was a bit beyond him and figured it not worth the hassle for the small amount he used the car, I dont know weather to mess fitting this before going to the extent of buying a new Webber. I am a fully qualified mechanic so the spanners side doesn't bother me its just the money side that does lol.

I priced the conversion kit up direct from webcon who make the kits up for Webber as we use them occasionally where I work and they quoted me just under £300 plus the vat.

Touch wood the last few days apart from the crap hot starting and rough initial running it hasn't been too bad on fuel compared to usual but thats probably just trying to lul me into a false sense of security.

Can't make my mind up weather that choke is sticking occasionally but working perfect whenever I check it.

I was told by a local Peugeot/Citroen specialist that all the Webber's fitted to the 405 were single choke carbs and manual choke, and very few and far between. I found one of these single choke versions on ebay but can only see that causing me to end up with a sluggish old dog that couldn't pull the skin off a rice puddin without the second choke though??? By the spec of Webber you suggest though the two numbers suggest it being twin choke (the numbers being the choke sizes)

Has anyone got any suggestions on the sunroof adjustment?

Many thanks,

Nige

[frank]

just slacken the torx screws and push it up for the sunroof.

[nudger2802]

Thanks Frank, thought it would be but was worried incase it caused it to come off the runners or anything. Will give it a go over the weekend hopefully.

Going to take the manual choke kit out of the box in a min and see what I get.

Looking at the car its had the fuel pump and what looks like some sort of level / fuel height chamber bolted to a bracket that holds it to the front of the carb (white plastic cylinder with in and out pipes in the fuel feed from the pump & after the filter) replaced, but never had the auto choke touched.

I would say from the evidence there has been a fuel problem for a long time with the car but like I say when I take the intake air feed pipe off the top of the carb and watch from cold the auto choke works perfectly.

The carb is really clean and not covered in gunk that would cause it to seize up or anything, it hasn't even got any varnishing or gunky deposits on the choke flap or inside the venturi's or anything. Its almost like a brand new carb but you can tell from the aging of the metal along with the rest of the engine bay that its the original item and by the look of it never been off the car.

I checked the co again at work today and its still exactly as I set it at 1.5%.

I might just fill the tank and see if the guage is a bit more accurate and slower to fall.

Nige

[nudger2802]

Well just to keep you all posted, I have left the auto choke on and she seems to be running ok now. I went on a 180 mile round trip on mainly dual carriagways and motorway to blow a few cobwebs out of it and it seems to have done the world of good.

The fuel economy is a hell of a lot better and the ony probs I have now are occasional crap starting when the engine is warm and whenever you start it from cold it still sounds like its running on 3 cylinders for the first 20 seconds or so, I think its flooding.

Replaced the rear handbrake cables today and the handbrake was working lovely till I packed everything away in the garage got in the car moved it round the corner pulled on the handbrake and the end snapped off the primary cable. Thats the law of the sod for ya lol! Oh well looks like I got a nice job to not look forward to next weekend dont it.

Nige