Im stumped, It's missing and ticking.

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Crank it up at night time to see if you see any sparks jumping! also while running pull sparkplug wires off one at a time to see if the sound of the engine changes or starts missing on that cylinder you pull the wire off of! If you run across a cylinder that does not change the sound of the engine or cause the engine to miss even more,use a replacememt plug! and a Wire! and see if that solves the problem.If it doesent check the distributor cap on that wire,maybe even switch caps to see if it helps! If none of that changes I would say do a compression check on all cylinders and pay special attention to the one that does not change the sound of the engine when running! could be a valve not sealing off all the way and a compression test will tell you for sure. I would do all this before tearing the front of the engine down! You may also want to drop in another distributor just to check that also. If by doing all this and you find nothing then it will be time to start tearing things apart.Also you might want to check for a leak! Get a can of starting fluid and spray it slightly around the base of the carb! around the intake gaskets! A Can of WD40 works also but I like the starting fluid! Also do you have stock exhaust manifolds ,if so pull the heat riser open and wire it open temoporarily! that could be the ticking you hear possibly. Hope by doing some of this you find the problem and it is a really easy fix. Keep us informed on your progress.

Bobby
 
So far I have...

-replaced the cap, rotor, plugs, wires
-installed a brand new eddy carb that I had on the shelf.
-pulled the valvecovers.
-Rechecked the timing about 4 times
-sprayed wd40 allover
-changed the fuel pump and filter
-done a compression test
-I have the intake gaskets on order so I can pull the intake this week.(I don't want to!)

Nothing has changed it is still running like **** and and everything checks out normal. Im ready to cut the car up into little peices and buy a honda!!! Just start throwing ideas at me no matter how small or stupid, I need to get this fixed this weekend.
 
At this point from what you have done already :sad: ...I would agree with others and try out another distrbutor & pick-up. It happened to me. Wish you good luck on this one :thumbup:
 
360scamp said:
Nothing has changed it is still running like **** and and everything checks out normal. Im ready to cut the car up into little peices and buy a honda!!! Just start throwing ideas at me no matter how small or stupid, I need to get this fixed this weekend.
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Bud! Don't do it! I have nothing against foriegn cars but youll really be sorry man. :)

Have you checked the ballast resistor? I had a ballast resistor go out on me because it was shorted out, not an open circuit. It drove me nuts for about two weeks. It will overheat the coil. Hope this is all it is. Nasty *** gas can do the same thing. Got fresh fuel in there or have you had the same tankfull for over 90 days?
 
Jim has a good suggestion there about the dist. Also check/replace the ignition box if you have a spare.

Another thing is it looks like in your pix that you have your spark plug wires connected together by wire ties. If that's the case that's a no-no. You could have 2 that are arcing between them and since their tied so close together you won't be able to see it. They should be seperated via wire dividers. I've also read that wires can possibly magnetically cross fire causing a missfire when tied together like that.
 
Try touching a long rod or screwdriver or mechanic's stethescope if you have one to the top of the fuel pump while it is running and see what you hear. I have seen pump arms break where they pull on the diaphragm causing noises and loss of fuel pressure.... Did you check fuel pressure? Also.. did you happen to get fuel anytime close to when this occured? If the tanker was there anytime soon you have probably picked up water and who knows what else in your fuel system.

BD
 
ramcharger said:
Got fresh fuel in there or have you had the same tankfull for over 90 days?
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Hey there's another good suggestion. Did you just fill it up? Maybe you got a bad tank of gas. Happened to me back in 90 and drove me crazy trying to figure out why my car was running crappy. Finally after a week of trying stuff and driving it I run it down low on gas. Went and filled it up and within 5-6 miles it was running great again.
 
Just look at that...you say your going to cut up your wheels!!! Nothing now but a line up of suggestions coming in. :tongue9: :thumbup:
 
The distributer isn't that old I just replaced it with a over the counter remanned one but I think I will try a different one.

The plug wires weren't tie strapped togeather when this first started. I have been running tie strap like that for years with no problems but Im going to get some wire deviders tomorrow just to make sure.

I think that it has about a half tank in it right now. I filled it with Shell gas before this started and I drive.....DROVE it every day so I top it off about once a week. Im going to get some of that water evaporater junk and dump it in the tank just to make sure.

I don't have a ballast resistor or ignition box anymore, Im running a chevy HEI 4 pin unit and a MSD blaster 2 coil. Been doing it for years on several mopars with no problems. I have swapped out the hei unit and coil and there was no change.

Right now I think that the best bet is swapping out the distributer and getting it checked or trying a new one. I hope I hope I hope!!!
 
If it is bad gas would the water evaporater junk work or is there something else I should get? I have one guy at work that is betting that it's bad gas and another that says that it's just beeing a mopar....he's a ford guy.
 
Back in the day when I was a "Goodwrench" mechanic I had an HEI go south because of the hall effect switch under the weight assy getting oil soaked and the magnets basically dissolved causing an intermittant problem. Dunno if this applies to your issue or not but a bunch of guys had looked at this vehicle and not found it's illness.
 
360scamp said:
If it is bad gas would the water evaporater junk work or is there something else I should get? I have one guy at work that is betting that it's bad gas and another that says that it's just beeing a mopar....he's a ford guy.
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I doubt it. That stuff is mostly for clearing out moisture in the system. Not if your system is contaminated badly.

What you can do is to pump some out in a clear jar for inspection. If it's contaminated you should be able to tell by the look. Water and petroleum products don't mix well.

Sounds like the ferd guy isn't much of a mechanic if that's all the better he can come up with.:toothy7:
 
LOL yeah it's kinda funny, he's a ford guy that drives a toyota. I pretty much ignore him most of the time.
 
Does you manifold till have the heat riser on the right side? I have had intermittant leaks there sound similar to arcing wires. I've also had the rattle.
 
Sorry...it was all I could think of. You must be overlooking something... Maybe take a break for a little while..let the smoke clear as it were.
 
just for the heck of it have u ran the car with a vacume gauge?plug into a intake vacume source an check a good check would be about 15!check that youll learn alot about the vacume gauge

MIKEY
 
I dont know the exact name of it but REDLINE makes a great fuel additive that cleans the fuel system great ive used it on my 91 Wrangle an 95 intrepid!

MIKEY
 
Start cheap. Mabey swap a new set of plugs in it. Could have a broken porcelain plug that really does not show itself, but the spark travels up and out insulator on ocassion. One other thought is a leaking intake gasket? Have you sprayed any carb cleaner around the carb base gasket or intake ports?
 
Well I think I got it!!!
I got another distributer today wnd threw it in when I got home, fired it up and it was still doing it, so when I loosened it up to adjust the timing I grabbed the dist. to turn it and something zapped the **** out of my hand. It turns out that one of the wires in the male/female connector for the dist. was all brittle and frayed right where the plug end is molded around the 2 wires. I found another connector in my box of wires (I grabb every one of those connectors I can find, they used the same ones on the parking lights sometimes too) fixed it and it was running a little better. Then I remembered that I took out the distributer/oild pump gear and moved it two teeth over so I could have some clearance for the vacume advance pot and the back of my intake. I moved it back one tooth and retimed everything and it seems to be running pretty well. Im letting it cool all the way down before I start it again just to make sure.
What gets me is that it was running fine with the gear moved 2 teeth over the problems sorta just snuck up on me with in a couple of weeks.

Thanks for all your help guys, it looks like Im not going to cut the car up....yet.

Oh yeah and the weird sound that Im getting from the front of the motor I think might me the alternator berrings, I hope!
 
Shock Therapy has helped a great deal in my life too ;) Glad you found it. When I read you had replaced everything, and looked (literally) at everything you could, I fingured you had to overlook something. Happens to me more than I'd like to admit.

The absolute worst spark hit I ever took was from a Jacobs setup. Those are multispark, but they sense the voltage required to fire the plug, and if the first spark isn't strong enough, they get stronger for each subsequent one, up to 8 hits per cylinder under 3500 rpm. My arm was numb for 10 minutes, luckily it went "in and out" the same sweaty arm. Direct ignitions can kill you.
 
moper said:
The absolute worst spark hit I ever took ......
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Not to hijack this, but I got zapped with an HEI system where I was JUST TOUCHING the fender with my groin area (guess EXACTLY where... )and that's where I felt the arc.

You can't pay for a sensation like that.
 
My dad got caught in an electric fence when he was a little kid. It was on a 3 second intervul so every 3 seconds he got zapped while his brother ran for help. Iv been zapped by an HEI ignition more time than I can remember but never in the junk.
 
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