capt_furious Posted February 25, 2009 Share Posted February 25, 2009 I've had this happen a few times this month. Car's running fine, no issues, suddenly stumbles to a halt and flat out DIES. Starter fluid down the bores, no go. Pull the coil wire, ground to the chassis, hot spark. Last night I was driving home, car was running great...turned a corner, got a slight misfire, kept running fine...got down the road about 1/4 mile, and it puked its guts...started running like garbage, misfiring all over the place. I pulled into a parking lot to troubleshoot it, and it idled fine, no issues, but as soon as gave it even a little throttle, it would miss like mad, getting one or two good hits, freewheeling, another hit or two, backfire out the pipe, etc. It finally died and wouldn't restart. As I said, I verified that it's getting the critical three - gas, air, spark - and nothing happens. When it died, I was getting sufficient fuel pressure at the gauge I put in the line just before the carbs, so I'm positive the pump is all right. At this point I'm betting the ignition module is out of sync. That's the only explanation I can come up with. It's been running without issues for a long time until this month. The distributor is on tight, the cap and rotor look good. Details on my setup: L28, N42 block & head, '70 round tops, electric pump at the tank, filter before the pump and at the block, fuel visible in the filter at the block, Chrysler ECU setup. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ezzzzzzz Posted February 25, 2009 Share Posted February 25, 2009 I'd bet on ignition too based on back firing through exhaust. Does it only rear it's head when you turn a corner? If so, I'd look at connections (loose, broken, pinched, etc). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capt_furious Posted February 25, 2009 Author Share Posted February 25, 2009 I just threw the corner part in there, doesn't seem to make a difference. It ran like crap in a straight line. Those ECUs have doubled in price since the last time I had one die. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pharaohabq Posted February 25, 2009 Share Posted February 25, 2009 Well, might be time for Megasquirt is the ECU's are too much... You might check your ingnition timing, sounds like your distrib might have moved or much worse you may have slipped a tooth on your timing chain. my S30 did that a few years ago not happy... I'd be looking for a bad ground since you say you've got good spark if it's not the timing.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capt_furious Posted February 25, 2009 Author Share Posted February 25, 2009 Would it even be possible for the car to run with a slipped timing chain? I would think it would die without stumbling. I desperately need the car this weekend and don't want to throw yet another couple thousand into it(yeah, I'm getting raped by my mechanic, but with no friends nearby and no garage or driveway to work in, you do what you have to) An MS ECU isn't going to do a carbed car much good. I can't afford an EFI conversion...I'm running on empty money wise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJLamberson Posted February 25, 2009 Share Posted February 25, 2009 Try throwing a new/good battery in there, my l28 will run like ♥♥♥♥, if at all when I have a battery that doesnt hold good charge in it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woldson Posted February 25, 2009 Share Posted February 25, 2009 Slipped chain would be consistent. Probably not. Ignition moduel, or wiring short is my 2ct. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capt_furious Posted February 26, 2009 Author Share Posted February 26, 2009 Just swapped the ignition module. The old one makes rattling noises when you shake it. I get a nice hot blue spark with the new one. However, the car still doesn't run. I'm dreading a skipped timing chain. Don't have the resources, time or money to fix it. Next step is to try to find TDC without tools and see where the distributor is sitting. Thinking back on the past month, the ignition has been rough / cut out on a number of occasions. I had the car fade out at a stoplight once and thought I'd run it out of fuel. I waited for AAA to show up, put some fuel in the tank, and she fired back up. I thought I was out of fuel, now I'm thinking otherwise. It happened again a few days later, and the same 'fix' seemed to work. Back at the start of last month, it began to run rough as if the plugs were fouled, and changing them out magically fixed it. Will a Z start / run with a dead alternator? Mine's been making ugly noises for a while but it's charged and held charge all right. I've got another I could swap it with. I really have absolutely no idea what's going on with my car. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S130Z Posted February 26, 2009 Share Posted February 26, 2009 My ZX would do this same exact thing. It would only happen during the summer after I swapped to the non webbed intake and if the car ran for more than 10 minutes. It ended up being vapor lock in the fuel lines. Good luck. -Adam Silver Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capt_furious Posted February 26, 2009 Author Share Posted February 26, 2009 Just checked TDC and I can get the piston on #1 at what looks like the top and have the rotor point at #1. Definitely not vapor lock, I'm dumping starter fluid down the bores and it's not catching. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zedman240 Posted February 26, 2009 Share Posted February 26, 2009 I had a L20B motor in a Bluebird do similar things....running fine, cough splutter, me pumping the gas just to keep it going then stall! Pull to the side, restart and was like nothing happened. Turns out it was corrosion on the HT lead from the coil to the distributor. Have you checked all the HT leads for any corrosion? Just a guess; hope it helps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capt_furious Posted February 26, 2009 Author Share Posted February 26, 2009 I'm an idiot. Bad cap and rotor. I pulled the rotor up on its shaft into an unworn area of the cap and she lit right off and ran 'round the neighborhood with no issues whatsoever. Can you believe the Air Force trusts me to service and repair $88,000,000 weapons systems? If only they knew... [i']Let this be a lesson to you all that this organization does not tolerate incompetence.[/i] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woldson Posted February 26, 2009 Share Posted February 26, 2009 One thing that I've found in life, the more info I gain the more I will over think the problem. I always check the obvious "on purpose" to avoid having to smack my head later. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJLamberson Posted February 26, 2009 Share Posted February 26, 2009 Ive been started having some problems with my engine sputtering yesterday and you just gave me a wake up call to check the obvious, thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pharaohabq Posted February 26, 2009 Share Posted February 26, 2009 Hah! there you go. I guess you should be Capt Obvious, since none of us thought to have you check the cap and rotor. I'm glad it's fixed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capt_furious Posted February 26, 2009 Author Share Posted February 26, 2009 It's always better to learn from observing the mistakes of others than by firsthand experience. ...and I'm betting I'm gonna get a title change. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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