68 318 ignition seems to be randomly misfiring

[scottlanes]

So I'm fixing up a satellite as a driver. In the spring I replaced everything from the distributor to the plugs. Rebuilt distro, new accel wires, cap, rotor, breaker (single) and coil.

Its been running like a champ all summer. Last week it began to be hard to start in the morning, this week i was in traffic and it started running very rough like the timing was way off. Pulled the cap and a bit of the metal tab on top of the rotor was broken off. Got it home , put in a new cap and rotor.and using a timing light i could see that the number 1 plug was missing a lot and the engine would stall as soon as the rpm went above idle.

Over a couple days troubleshooting i replaced plugs, wires, points, coil, and rotor. Still have the same symptoms and it still wont idle or take any load without stalling.

With the exception of the timing everything seems like its ok, even the points are at 28 degrees of dwell..

any ideas?


-scott

 

[69 Runner]

Maybe the bushings in the distributor are already worn and the shaft is wobbling around. You pull the distributor and check it?

 

[scottlanes]

yeah, I put a rebuilt one on in march. I suppose it could be that I got a bad one though. There doesnt seem to be any play in it except for the expected few degrees of rotation at the rotor

-scott

 

[69 Runner]

Could be a carb problem. If it's not pulling fuel through the main boost venturis when you throttle up it could have the symptoms you describe. A carb problem could also explain the bad idle condition

 

[scottlanes]

ok, got it figured out. Turns out I got a bad rebuilt distro back in march. There was some slop in the shaft (left/righ slop, not rotational slop) so i got another one and it fixed the problem entirely.

woo hoo!

 

[69 Runner]

wish I'd thought of that. Wait. I DID:grin:

glad you got it fixed:HappyNewYear:

 

[scottlanes]

wish I'd thought of that. Wait. I DID:grin:

glad you got it fixed:HappyNewYear:

I know, I should have listened earlier!