Pulled the Mess that was my Timing Chain....
Due to an event at school today, I only got limited time to fiddle with my car. Had the former shop teacher fiddle with my idle screw. Started up great, immediate, was running good but really high for idle (1000-1200). So, as he slowly began to decrease the idle, it began to run rougher and rougher, shaking more. He had me tap the gas and let off, where the idle set itself lower, like it should. It did that three times, then it died once when I hit the gas. We turned it back on, did it again one more time, where it decreased idle, and then second time it died. Inconsistent. Turns right back on, but after some time (with the lower idle now) it just dies.
Points are set to .017". I checked underneath the distributor cap and, uh-oh, the carbon center is worn down to partial metal, and it looks like there are sparkles around the points on the cap. Could that possibly be causing arc in the current for problems? Mind you, I just replaced this no more than the day before I got it running! Points are smooth all around, and I didn't sense any much movement from the shaft horizontally. There is, however, some movement up and down on the shaft, which a lot of people found odd.
I will check the ballast too.....once I get the coolant back into the car. >.< I came back after class to see he already drained the coolant, wanting me to tear apart the front of the car to get the timing chain! I want to do these tests first before I dig into an hour and a half worth of work.
Due to an event at school today, I only got limited time to fiddle with my car. Had the former shop teacher fiddle with my idle screw. Started up great, immediate, was running good but really high for idle (1000-1200). So, as he slowly began to decrease the idle, it began to run rougher and rougher, shaking more. He had me tap the gas and let off, where the idle set itself lower, like it should. It did that three times, then it died once when I hit the gas. We turned it back on, did it again one more time, where it decreased idle, and then second time it died. Inconsistent. Turns right back on, but after some time (with the lower idle now) it just dies.
Points are set to .017". I checked underneath the distributor cap and, uh-oh, the carbon center is worn down to partial metal, and it looks like there are sparkles around the points on the cap. Could that possibly be causing arc in the current for problems? Mind you, I just replaced this no more than the day before I got it running! Points are smooth all around, and I didn't sense any much movement from the shaft horizontally. There is, however, some movement up and down on the shaft, which a lot of people found odd.
I will check the ballast too.....once I get the coolant back into the car. >.< I came back after class to see he already drained the coolant, wanting me to tear apart the front of the car to get the timing chain! I want to do these tests first before I dig into an hour and a half worth of work.
