Engine having trouble under load

[MJ]

I had this last week when I went out, but on the return journey things seemed fine so I put it down to the powerwash I'd given it a day or so before, but last night I had the same symptoms.

btw the car is a 1.7

She started alright, and idle was okish, but when I tried to pull away she really struggled and shook. Once moving at a cruise she was fine, but pust the throttle to much and again she stuggled. It felt almost like when you try to roll allong in first at tick over, a shake forwards and backwards.

I had to use a lot of clutch slip to pull away and get up our drive when we came back which was worrying. We only went about a mile each way with about 2h in between at about 6ish, so a bit damp I guess.

I'm no mechanic so I guess we'll have to take it into the garage to be looked at, but after reading a couple of the damp start threads I'm suspecting the distributer cap. How difficult is it to remove the cap to make sure it's dry? Haynes says three screws but gave it a 3 out of 5 difficulty rating. I've heard it's good to spray WD40 in there...

This seems dangerous with all the electrics, do you have to disconect the battery? If it's too hard I'll leave it as I'm not used to fiddling with cars, but if it's simple I may as well try it.

Thanks

[Chris_C]

Dizzy cap on 1.7's is tucked nicely out of the way mate, it's not a difficult thing at all in terms of the job, but positioning makes it fun.... Have a check, when did it last get a new cap and arm? As to the dangerous side, put the keeys in your pocket so no one can start it when you have it off

And then do as Dai as suggested and replace the screws with bolts, so you can do the job easy with a spanner next time. You are looking for whitey green deposits in the cap, which will have some (Kar's has got some, and is only 6 weeks old...)but if you can't see copper/black (depending on what the terminals are made of) that would be a problem. A spray of WD won't hurt whatever.

[Chris_C]

Actually, Steve just reminded me of something, I've had this on a bit of supermarket petrol before...

[SteveP]

Maybe a tad simpler.. I had something like this (albeit to a lesser extent) a couple of days ago (in the snow, on the m6 - lovely). Now it's gone.. and I've had it before on my black car when I'd been to dodgy brand petrol stations. Just a thought, but did you fill up with supermarket fuel or something?

But.. given that it's been over a week, it certainly does sound ignition related - and the dizzy cap, rotor arm and leads would be the things to check.

EDIT: Damn, Chris beat me!

[MJ]

We filled it up on Shell a week or two back, although I do think it's happier with the Optimax, but that was sold out. We often alternate between regular and optimax, and never had this before

Sounds like taking the distributor cap off shouldn't be too hard so I may take a peak this afternoon

Thanks for the ideas guys

[MJ]

Thanks for your help guys, the problem has been located

I went out to look at the distributor but I couldn't see how I could get to the third bolt as it was hidden under some tube going into the carb. I went in to tell dad and as soon as I open the door, the phone rings, typical!

Luckilly though it was a friend of my dad's who works in a local garage wanted to speak to him about something, so he mentioned the problem and spoke to her husband (the main mechanic) and he said he'd have a quick look, so off we went.

They've got all the tools there so he was able to get as it, although it was tricky. It turns out it was held on by bolts already instead of screws. My dad says that there was a bit of trouble with the car when new, so perhaps the bolts were put on then...

Anyway I couldn't see any white or green, just a black bit in the middle which he reckoned was shot. he didn't want to rub too much off, but he sprayed in some oil stuff and said we needed a new cap.

She started immediatly after that and on the way home she only missed one or two beats, now a new Volvo cap is on it's way

Thanks again