"Andy Luckman" wrote in message
...

I have had a Rialto come in for some attention. I'm pretty happy about my
diagnosis, but would appreciate a second opinion.

Does this have a water heated inlet manifold? Could be sucking water in to
ithe combustion chambers to give you the snow effect...although I'd expect
plugs to be cleaned in this case, not fouled.
Not familiar with this lump. Is it an Ally head on an old Austin seven
unit...should come off easy enough.
Jonners

In article , Jon Tilson
wrote:

Does this have a water heated inlet manifold?

Yes it does.

Could be sucking water in to
ithe combustion chambers to give you the snow effect.

Interesting idea.

although I'd expect
plugs to be cleaned in this case, not fouled.

It's an interesting deposit.


Not familiar with this lump. Is it an Ally head on an old Austin seven
unit...should come off easy enough.

No, it's an all alloy conventional engine, vaguely modelled on a BMC A
series, but the right way round. :-)

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In article , PJML
URL:mailto
It's an interesting deposit.

Could it be oxidised aluminium from part-cremated
piston-crowns?

I can see one valve through the plughole which has the same deposit. I have
taken a picture of the plugs, but FTP access to my website seems to be down
at the moment, so I can't upload it. I could always email it if anyone was
*that* interested. :-)

It turns out that this engine was serviced less than three months ago and
the fault appeared since. The customer also complains about a lack of
acceleration, something the Rialto is not usually faulted for.

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AJL Electronics (G6FGO) : Satellite and TV aerial systems
http://www.classicmicrocars.co.uk : http://www.ajlelectronics.co.uk

Andy Luckman wrote:
In article , PJML
URL:mailto

It's an interesting deposit.

Could it be oxidised aluminium from part-cremated
piston-crowns?


I can see one valve through the plughole which has the same deposit. I have
taken a picture of the plugs, but FTP access to my website seems to be down
at the moment, so I can't upload it. I could always email it if anyone was
*that* interested. :-)

It turns out that this engine was serviced less than three months ago and
the fault appeared since. The customer also complains about a lack of
acceleration, something the Rialto is not usually faulted for.

Loss of power. Hmmm....

Symptomatic of weak mixture or seriously-retarded
ignition perhaps? Both problems which would also
cause the engine to run hot and put extra load on
the cooling-system?

In article , PJML
URL:mailto
I can see one valve through the plughole which has the same deposit. I have
taken a picture of the plugs, but FTP access to my website seems to be down
at the moment, so I can't upload it. I could always email it if anyone was
*that* interested. :-)

Picture now available on http://www.spews.co.uk/plugs.jpg

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AJL Electronics (G6FGO) : Satellite and TV aerial systems
http://www.classicmicrocars.co.uk : http://www.ajlelectronics.co.uk

Andy Luckman wrote:

In article , PJML
URL:mailto
I can see one valve through the plughole which has the same deposit. I have
taken a picture of the plugs, but FTP access to my website seems to be down
at the moment, so I can't upload it. I could always email it if anyone was
*that* interested. :-)


Picture now available on http://www.spews.co.uk/plugs.jpg

The 3 do look suspiciously white. Which to me is symptomatic
of excessively-lean/hot running - though why the fourth one
looks vaguely the way I'd expect a plug to look [though I'd
still say it was possibly a bit weak] I couldnt tell.

You havent got a manifold air-leak have you? Crankcase
breather-valve stuck open? Oil-filler-cap missing/leaky/
wrong? {I recall a SAAB which had terrible running
problems until I tightened the oil-filler cap: it was
sucking in air through the loose cap and this was
screwing up the mixture].

In article , Dave Baker
URL:mailto
Picture now available on http://www.spews.co.uk/plugs.jpg


What fuel is this running on and are any additives being used?
Like unleaded additive etc. This appears to be a fouling problem
from something other than normal fuel.

Standard LRP. Owned by an OAP and servicing entrusted to a
local garage until now. They were the ones that fitted these
strange plugs.

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AJL Electronics (G6FGO) : Satellite and TV aerial systems
http://www.classicmicrocars.co.uk : http://www.ajlelectronics.co.uk