QuestionHI, I have a 1976 1500 mg midget. I bought it as seen got fifty miles dowwn the road and it started to over heat and lose power. I stopped it well before it overheated, let it coll but it would not start. Called garage, towed in, new distributor cap, points and rotor arm and all sorted. Collected car 100 miles later same problem although does start its running on 1 mabye 2 cylinders. Also before second brakedown could not go over 45/50mph without car getting hot=, at 40 mph temp fine. Please help
AnswerHi John. Before you do anything else, get the compressions checked. So long as they are all over 120 psi, the actual figure doesn't matter, but all 4 cylinders should be within 10 psi of each other. If the compressions are outside this range, get back to me.
The ignition timing is critical. Too little advance and the engine overheats, too much and it pinks (pings). Also check the gap on the new points. These can close up after 100 miles, which would alter the timing and eventually stop the car.
If the compressions and the timing are OK, then I would turn my attention to the fuel system. Do you have one or two carburetters? If you have two, then the rear one may be set much too weak.
If the car runs well at 40 mph but will not go faster, it could be that your fuel pump is getting old and lazy. Overheating is a symptom of fuel starvation.
Finally, I have recently heard from several owners of older cars, where the engine appears to overheat and then just stops. Our current theory is that the problem lies with today's fuel, and that some cars with old-fashioned carburetters do not work well with fuels that have Bio-Ethanol in them. Try to avoid fuel which is described as E10 or Bio-E10.
