Ignition thing

On a journey my Amazon started to misfire a little, this got gradually worse where it ran pretty damn rough at low revs but OK at higher revs. If felt like an ignition timing thing, once had the exact same thing on a MG, but i'm not discounting anything. Made it home but now it won't start and I'll admit to being foxed: It's trying to fire, but spits back through the carb, a smokey puff. Sparks present on all 4 plugs. Swapped in new leads & plugs anyway. Coil reads 9.25k ohms, seems ballpark? Points set to 18 thou Distributor hasn't moved Bobweights seem to move OK, at least sucking on the vac tube makes them move Plenty of fuel at the carb. Carb seems OK, slide is good and free, choke OK. Points and condenser are about a year old. Could it be the condenser? I thought a duff consenser wouldn't prevent it from starting, but am open to suggestions. Any ideas appreciated ... cheers Bill

Water in the fuel?

I know very little about Amazons so this is a complete shot in the dark - but didn't the Amazon engine have a strange (paxolyene or similar) cam timing sproket - on which the teeth disintegrate eventually. (a simple 'no' will suffice for a reply!)

Thanks gents. Don't think its water because of the gradual way the misfire increased. Started as a very mild, occasional misfire at tickover. About 4 miles / 15 mins of rush hour traffic later it was in this very rough/misfire tickover but OK at revs condition. By the time I got home it wouldn't tick over without pedalling. There's a fibre timing gear indeed. Hm. Could it break up that quickly I wonder.

When my timing gear started to break up (actually the fibre gear-ring started to separate from the steel hub), the car did give out symptoms like yours BUT it also sounded like a tank on cobbles. Mine drove for about 20 miles like this, but the mechanical rattling was so noisy I knew something was up. If you take the alloy timing cover off the front of the engine ( a messy job, meaning rad, dynamo and bottom pulley - a high-torque nut, removal), see if the large fibre gear appears loose at its perimeter on its shaft, yet still firm where bolted on. Paul

Mine's very quiet mechanically, or was when it last ran, but thanks for that, good info.

If you put a nice big ring spanner or socket on the front pulley nut and then watch the rotor while you move the crank both ways the rotor should move smoothly in both directions i.e. they should appear to be directly geared together, which is what they should be. If you can move the pulley for a noticeable amount before the rotor moves you can then start to get worried. Easier to check if the plugs are out. If you're not hearing any suspicious noises from the front of the engine or what sounds like dodgy big ends when driving I'd put timing gears at the bottom of the list. A part not changed is the dizzy cap. It might have a crack somewhere. Symptoms also sounded as if the points might have closed right up, but you say you've checked them?

Ta, I'll double check the pulley etc though think it's OK because I've turned it today and all seemed smooth / unison as described. Tried in vain to locate timing marks, probably under some rust & crud. The points were a bit tight, I reset them at 18 thou dead with dizzy out of the car. Ran out of light then so I'll check them tomorrow in situ. The points cam is definitely opening them up. Think I'll have a closer look at the dizzy tomorrow as well, though the weights seemed to be OK. Edit: dizzy cap is new, squeaky clean condition.

I would change the condensor.

Going to order points, condenser, cap on Monday. Cheap stuff and never hurts to have spares too.