Poor running after lay up

[WokingWedger]

I have been working on the chassis for about 7 weeks and replaced sump gasket that was leaking.

The car (97 Chim 500) started fine and seemed alright in the garage, but driving to work it became apparant all was not well.

It doesn't seem to pull as well as it did, and is popping more on even a slight over run.

I think it may not be firing on all 8. 7/8 is not as easy to detect as 3/4 if you know what I mean.( especially when you haven't driven it for 7 weeks)

Any thoughts what to check first ?

It was absolutely fine before the lay up.

[Hut49]

How much fuel is there in the tank? It may have deteriorated over that time, particularly if there was a lot of air space above it. Before fiddling with things that were apparently fine before the lay up, dump as much high octane as you can get in there and drive it around for a while.

[jdharris]

I found I was firing on 7 the other day - it felt lumpy at tickover and held back when I gave it some welly. Check the plug leads where they attach to the spark plugs. One of mine was loose and wouldn't 'lock' onto the plug. A new lead sorted it. To my knowledge they should all be solidly clamped on the plugs to any looseness may be the cause... Happens all the time according to Brian at Fernies.

[tobeee]

jdharris said:

I found I was firing on 7 the other day - it felt lumpy at tickover and held back when I gave it some welly. Check the plug leads where they attach to the spark plugs. One of mine was loose and wouldn't 'lock' onto the plug. A new lead sorted it. To my knowledge they should all be solidly clamped on the plugs to any looseness may be the cause... Happens all the time according to Brian at Fernies.

Yep, I would check this too as one did come loose whilst that was my car! As I recall, it was one on the driver's side, and was fine after the end of the lead was squashed up a bit to make a tighter fit onto the plug.

[That Daddy]

Why mess about with em,change em at £25 a set its not going to break the bank

[WokingWedger]

Sorted.

Borrowed a no-contact thermometer from work and found that rear left exhaust manifold to be considerably cooler. Plug was wet.

Problem seemed to have been corrosion on distributor contact.

Never run so smoooooth now.