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Is there anything I can do to improve my 1986 Peugeot 205 GTI's rough running?

I have a soon-to-be-classic Peugeot 205 GTI, a 1986 C-reg that I've owned for 18 years. It's done 120,000 miles and is in generally good shape, but has an annoying problem of pinking and misfiring. It starts fine and the trouble never shows up when the engine is cold, or when ticking over or revving stationary, but only when the engine is warm and the car is under load. It becomes very unpredictable - sometimes accelerating away from a roundabout has the thing stuttering so much I think it might stall, but usually the problem can be cured by flooring it. Then, when lifting off or going back on the gas, it sometimes backfires. The sparks plugs look fine, the fuel filter is recently new and the fuel pump is a bit noisy but otherwise OK. Things seem to improve after a light spray of WD40, but it's not perfect. Could it be something as simple as needing a new distributor cap, or maybe more serious?

Asked on 10 August 2010 by italia

Answered by Honest John
They always did have a problem. There is a screw on the inlet manifold that adjusts this.
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