New Owner(s) of a DAF 44!

[dafquestion]

Hi there, my name's Ian and I have recently purchased a DAF 44 from Scooters on here for the princely sum of £530! Its in a lovely shade of purple/maroon and in decent condition. We actually split in three ways between myself, my wife Lilly, and one of our mutual friends Scotty.

The car has been running well and we've taken it to a couple of shows where it has generated a lot of interest. It made it down from Edinburgh to Leeds no problem and it always makes me smile when I'm driving.

A couple of questions though, it doesn't seem to like sitting in traffic at all. We actually broke down today at a car show just getting into the venue. Slightly embarrassing. It seems like it is overfuelling as a good blast on the accelerator clears up the problem.

There is also quite a lot of grey / white smoke when pulling away after being stuck in traffic - is that down to overfuelling too?

When idling the car seems to either want to stall or pull away under its own steam - is that normal?

Is there something we can adjust easily to sort out the idle / fuelling issue?

There is an oil leak which has been discussed before, seems to be from the front. We were all up for replacing the crankshaft oil seal, but I just read that the car may have had the seal replaced recently.

Me and Scotty are not averse to getting our hands dirty, but some pointers as to where things are and what to look at would help us!

We don't have any massive plans for the car, just to get it running properly and to tidy the bodywork and then to enjoy it.

We bought it on a bit of a whim really, we weren't looking for anything in particular, just a cheap interesting classic and the 44 ticks all the boxes!

Cheers

Ian

[dafdaffer]

sounds like it is over fuelling to me as well,

it sounds like it is choking up, when you press the brake pedal does the engine revs rise? if it doesnt then the mixture screw may be badly adjusted.

what is the air filter like?

is the choke all the way in and is the flap on the carb fully open?

is the fuel cut off solenoid tight on the carb ( thing with the wire on)

is the float in the carb working and cutting the fuel off?

let me know what you find we have some spare carbs if a big problem.

[dafquestion]

Wow thanks for the fast reply, much appreciated.

The choke is definitely all the way in and the flap is fully open on the carb.

Not sure when it last had an air filter, will check that.

Will also check the solenoid wire - thanks for pointing out where it is attached and the float in the carb.

Will definitely get back to you once I have had a chance to check the above.

Whereabout is the mixture screw, I will have a look at that. My 205 GTI has a screw on the air flow metre, which sounds like it is the same thing, only more modern. I assume tightening the screw a little will be what I need to do?

[dafective]

I think it is overfuelling. There is black smoke coming out of the back whilst it is idling which is probably because of too much fuel.

I think the white smoke is just because not all the breather pipes are on as well as they could be. A few of them are pretty loose. A short amount of time with some hoseclips will hopefully sort out the white smoke. Once cam off completely when i was out in it the other week and it sorted itself once i had put it back on properly. They are all attached at the mo but could probably be better.

Its the black smoke on idle which indicates its overfuelling i think. Going to spend an afternoon on it next weekend i thing and just give it a bit of a service and see if it sorts itself out.

Scotty

[dafdaffer]

its possible that the wire has come off the solenoid or it has come off at some point, the normal thing that people do is adjust the mixture to compensate.

without looking but pretty sure... the screw is at the back of the carb with a spring on it,

if you screw it all the way in then 2 turns out you should be close. you can use the low switch to help if you push the switch the engine revs should rise by about 100 rpm when you achieve this then you are about the right setting.

the daf owners cub have airfilters for sale just send them an email.

i know this car fairly well as we got it from alan the guy who had it for years, he was a fantastic engineer and that was the fastest 44 id ever been in ;D

where abouts are you? leeds?

Paul

[pauldaf44]

I agree sounds like overfueling but as with nearly all rough running issues on DAFs I would say its worth checking the vaccum pipes for leaks. 6 under the bonnet 4 on the vario

[dafdaffer]

allthough i agree that rough running can be an issue caused by vac pipes it tends to cause weak running due to an increase in air intake

[Bob Scrivens]

Hi Ian, if you take vac pipe off the intake manifold and put a rubber pipe with a bolt in it to seal it, then tune up the engine without any external effect.
Once you have got the engine running OK, no smoke picks up and does not stall on closing the throttle, then connect the vacuum pipe back up to the inlet manifold.
If it then starts running rough then you have a problem with the vario vacuum system.

Bob.

[dafective]

Cool will look at all these things at the weekend. Bit caught up at the mo so it will have to wait a few days unless Ian can spare the time but its always SOOOO much easier when there are 2 people.

Thanks for the pointers everyone.

[dafquestion]

Thanks for all the helpful replies, I am certain that we will get her running properly this weekend now.

And Scotty, I will give you a hand mate don't worry

[dafquestion]

Had a look at it tonight.

Tightened as many vacuum pipes as I could access (although if one is loose its probably going to be one that's hard to get to eh?).

Took the airfilter out, looked clean but i'm going to give it a proper clean at the weekend. There was a bit of oil? leaking into the base of it though.

Tightened on the solenoid connection which seemed to be a bit loose.

I screwed the mixture screw all the way in and then out by two turns.

Checked the carb flap was fully open.

Took her for a spin and the smoke was gone (I think - it was dark by then so hard to tell).

Problem now seems to be the opposite to before, it stalls when I stop the car, so I think it might be running a little lean? Starts up no problem with a prod of the throttle.

To stop it stalling at idle I tried switching the "hill ascending button" and / or pulling the choke out a little and that seems to cure it, so I'm guessing I need to take the mixture screw out another half turn or something? It seemed to be quite a long way out before I adjusted it.

Sorry about all the questions - am a little clueless when it comes to engines.

Ian

[dafdaffer]

what you should get is......... when you press either the low raito button or brake pedal the engine revs should rise a couple of hundred rpm, adjust out the mixture screw untill this happends.

between each time you try an adjustment rev up the engine a bit to make a difference, if you just adjust it then you wont be able to tell the difference. you may also have to speed up the tick over untill you get a good balance, 2 turns out is a rough guess depending on timing settings and fuel used.

Paul

[dafquestion]

Ah right I getcha. That's brilliant. I don't think I am too far away from the ideal setting.

[pauldaf44]

I had the exact same problem with mine stalling at junctions. 3 1/4 turns was right for mine

[Onne]

I never had that sort of trouble with that car. It was always the elctrobic thing on the side of the carb that had rattled loose

[dafquestion]

Sept 21, 2010 7:49:56 GMT Onne said:

I never had that sort of trouble with that car. It was always the elctrobic thing on the side of the carb that had rattled loose

The electrobic thing had rattled loose, so I tightened it back on. Then turned my hand to the mixture screw. Should have probably adjusted one thing at a time eh? ;D

[Onne]

Definately, see if you can turn it back....

[dafquestion]

Hey guys, sorry its been a while since we updated. I locked the garage keys in the garage for a week or so which held me back a bit ;D !

Anyway, its now running really sweetly, got the adjustment just about right, not cutting out at junctions, but okay in traffic.

Next up on the list of things to sort is a non-working fuel guage. Checked that the sender is connected and cleaned the terminals and also checked the fuse, but no joy. Scotty has got my multimeter though so can't check the sender itself. Are they available / cheap?