Ok, this is wierd...bad gas?

I'm guessing it's in the ballast resistor;...possibly the coil;...last but not least, turn the fuel pressure down just a little. The reason most fuel lines leak is because the fuel pressure is too high. It doesn't have to be much; just too high. Just a thought or two. Hope you solve it soon! Good Luck!

 

The ballast wasn't even getting warm . I was getting about 1.5 volts drop through the ballast.
I will check it out, I have as spare.
There is only one vac line on the car. I checked that one, seems OK. The secondary carbs are closed up nice and tight with no leaks, I shot starter fluid all over, no RPM change.
Fuel pressure has never been an issue, it never gets over 3.5 pounds. It has been that way for the life of the car. I have no fuel leaks.
I have the original condensor I could put back on if need be. Will look at that.

Most of you guys are leaning toward electrical. But the plugs look nice.I'd think if there were an electrical issue, the plugs would look terrible. But, I will look into it., I have all day today to fiddledink around with it. Lets just say I have my fingers crossed...
Mark

 

my 39 chevy with a 327 motor was doing the same thing...i had a older gentlemen tell me to start the car let it idle..then clamp the rubber gas line off till the car ran out of gas..when it runs out of gas have someone get inside and crank the car while you at the same time take off the clamp off the rubber gas line..this will clean out the needle and seat with a strong burst of fuel...damn thing started running great after i did it...you could have a very small peice of trash and cant see it with a naked eye in the needle and seat

 

I had a brand new Mallory condenser go bad. Of course I changed the coil first..

 

Slammed, good idea. I did take apart the Carb though, and blew everything out. It shoots when you hit the accelerator, so the accel pump is working. It has fuel coming from the spray bars evenly when running.
I am with you though, it doesn't seem to me to be electrical unless its a part that puked overnight. Condensor or coil maybe. Points look to be fine, and adjusted right. Car might have 5 hours on it since getting it all together, I doubt it's points.
Could be coil/condensor, bad gas, or a hidden vac leak maybe......
If I can't figure it out, I'll tear apart the carb yet again, and go through it one more time.

Thanks for the help and hints....

Mark

 

Ok, well.......
I went ahead and put fresh fuel in the completely empty system. Tried running it, no dice, couldnt keep it running.
Went through the carb again. There is nothing out of whack in the carb at all,everything works well.
It isn't the fuel. It has to be something else.When I had the center carb off, the manifold had a bit of wetness to it, so I know it's getting fuel.

Started looking at other things.
Pulled all the plugs again. Number 4 was soaked with raw fuel.
The way I see things, it has to be a bad plug, plug wire, or cap.
I tried checking the continuity of the wire but got nothing.
I put the NOS cap on that I had handy. Them things are tough to find
Thats where I left off. I will make up a new wire tomorrow from the red transparent wiring I have ( I was waiting to make a complete set of trans red wires till I get the looms back from the chromers). Won't match the wires on the car, but might prove a point. I also grabbed a new plug and condensor (just in case I need it).

Will post results.

Also, put some of that 11o in the Jetta, just to make sure thats not the cause. Wow, Jetta runs great

Mark

 

If one of your plugs was soaked, I would check compression on that cylinder. You might have broken a valve spring. That will get progressively worse because the broken spring halves eventually twist together creating more and more slop. Happened to me twice in one month on a motor that sat for a long time. If it feels like the spark is cutting out intermittently, it may be that the condenser is not screwed tightly to the distributor and not grounding properly. If it runs better at high speed than idling, it may be a bad coil which will probably heat up too. Also, on multicarb setups, if you are idling on a center carb only make sure that the front and rear throttle plates are really closed. If it smokes a lot when it runs, I would say its gagging on fuel. Look down into all of the carbs when running to see if gas is dripping into the carb throat. Other than that... I have no idea.

 

I'll do a compression check, good idea.
Thing is, all plugs look OK but that one.
I DID look at the condensor and make sure it's tight, which it is.
Coil is brand new, Mallory 58,000 volt unit. If it was bad, I doubt I would have 7 clean plugs.
The secondary carbs are sealed up nice with hand-lapped throttle plates. Aint no air getting through those.

I bet it's a bad cap, wire, plug, or valve spring. Hopefully, it's a cap wire or plug.

Mark

 

No backfiring... and one wet plug isn't going to keep it from running. You missed something in the ignition or it's got a real bad vacuum leak. Can you run a wire directly from the battery (nowhere else) to coil +? Start the car immediately and see if it runs better. It sounds like maybe low coil input voltage. Don't leave that wire hooked up once you've done the test or you WILL be buying another coil. Also, crank it over with the coil disconnected and the cap and rotor off. Does the dist. shaft look like it's moving around in there?

 

No leaks, like I said, I shot starter fluid all over and never got any RPM change.
Lets see what happens after I replace the plug, wire and cap.
Adter that I'll drop in the new condensor. After that, Coil and resistor.
I did check the ballast for continuity and it was good.

I can run that wire, no problem. Thanks for the tip.

Mark

 

I hope it was the last thing you changed, and you still aren't trying to fix it after you fixed it.(jk)

 

If it were the coil, wouldn't it have wet/black plugs here and there?
If it were the valve spring, wouldn't I have backfire?

 

Alright the experts have all spoken but they missed one thing you said, the guy form mad fab was showing up right?........your car is just camera shy ! Tell him he won't be on TV he'll be fine ....

 

A broken valve spring wouldn't necessarily backfire because backfiring occurs when the fuel ignites while one of the valves is partially held open, usually due to bad timing or a stuck valve. With a broken valve spring, the ignition of the fuel will slam the valve shut because the spring can't hold it down any more. It will have a knocking sound rather than backfiring. If you are getting compression in that cylinder, then the valves are OK.

 

this may be off the wall, but being a older build, does it need lead additive for the fuel?

 

Me thinks (and I'm not trying to be a smart-ass here but) do a compression test and post the results!

The bad gas "train of thought" is prolly just a coincidence. You have one plug wet and it could be valve train related. Broken spring or cam or cam chain.

The suspense is killing me!!

 

ha ha- that or it didn't want to have to do donuts!!

'

 

this is not what I expected this thread to be about liiking at the title... I was hoping for something chili related.

I am interested to see where it goes.

 

Sounds ignition/timing related.
Have you put a light to it?
Maybe the timing chain or gears have a problem?
r

 

sounds like when my alternator wasnt charging and my battery was dying...

 

Well, like I said, I have ruled out the gas as jsut a bad coincidence.

That said, I have to do a compression test. Hopefully Wednesday. I will pull the right valve cover and have a peek too.

I don't think it is timing related,it ran fine when I parked it the night before. The timing needs aren't going to change overnight.

I have always run octane booster and a small amount of lead additive.

I rule out carburation, I went through that too many times, it squirts, and it's functining properly , even OUT of the car.Points are good. Dizzy spins fine. Dwell is right.

It can be:
Valvetrain
Coil
Condensor
Cap
Plug wire
Plug
Timing chain?

I'll post after tomorrow.
Mark

 

I'll put in a vote for the condenser. I had one go bad and it started out as just a bit of a miss and within a few miles went to popping and banging and not running at all.

 

SOunds like the same thing. Started out with a couple misses, then a lot, then barely runs, now hard to get to even start.
Had the same thing happen when I got bad gas in an 82 Mustang GT 302. Started running bad, barley got the mile home.
Just coincidence I put gas in this thing right before it ran bad....

I have a condensor coming. Odd that I would only get 5 or so hours before puking one .

Mark

 

It can be:
Valvetrain
Coil
Condensor
Cap
Plug wire
Plug
Timing chain?

I'll post after tomorrow.
Mark[/quote]

Don't forget to make sure you have good input voltage to the coil. I'd try the bypass wire and fire it, just to be SURE....

 

I had the same thing happen and found it was dizzy related.
I changed every component in there but the wire to the points which are well hid on a flatty dizzy. try replacing that wire even if it looks good as a last resort. You have an electrical problem for sure that is related to the proper firing by vacuum leakage or timing change from some source.
My moneys on the dizzy though...

 

i kinda have the same problems right now, i havent tore into it yet but i know i have a leak between my intake and head on the driver side. i took my car out the other nite and ran great for a while then all of a sudden it didnt want to run for shit. it started running so bad it wouldnt spin the tires when i dumped the clutch, no power at all! so i popped the hood and and noticed water bubbling up between the intake and head. the parts store sold me cheap intake gaskets i'm hoping somethings wrong with them, what else could it be, warped intake? anyone else had this problem?

 

Petejoe.... every 6 months or so I see 'Be Careful' and click on it, because I am curious.

Gets me every time.

 

I vote on the condencer, had the same kind of problem with a brand new mallory condencer.

 

When I have really bad gas, I usually miss, stumble and fall a couple times after the misses hits me in the back of the head.

Kermit

 

sounds like a bad condenser.