What is causing my misfiring while driving ?

[bandit67]

I think oldbee was suggesting possible current draws when the car is shut down, Evan, are you familiar with using the amp setting on a volt meter to check for current draw when the ignition is off. Most suggest anything more than a 1/10 of 1 amp draw will pull a good battery down rather quick. But at this time of the year many weak batterys begin to fail. Remember , lead acid batteries love , love , love to be kept at 70 degrees, as the temps go down weak ones croak.......

 

[Mick56]

I had a car once where the trunk light was stuck on. Never thought to even look there.

 

[oldbee]

I had a car once where the trunk light was stuck on. Never thought to even look there.

Evan you can also put a test light between the unhooked neg. cable & battery. Almost anything drawing some amps will light ur test light.

 

[Evan Frucht]

Evan you can also put a test light between the unhooked neg. cable & battery. Almost anything drawing some amps will light ur test light.

Ok I'll try that. Just had AAA test the battery and they said it's good. The guy said his tester showed that my alternator is charging weak. But he tested it while the car was idling right after being started.

Maybe it's my alternator? But that was replaced recently about 6 months ago with a new one from NAPA.

 

[Evan Frucht]

Also NOW it's starting to want to die at idle and run rough. Rpms seem to jump around or something ?

I'm suspecting something keeps frying my condenser. IS THAT POSSIBLE???? IF SO WHAT COULD IT BE?

 

[Evan Frucht]

HERE IS A SUMMARY OF THE CURRENT SYMPTOMS

Went from running completely great to then starting to get a bunch of problems one after the next and am unsure how related all of the issues are.

- Idles OK in neutral but sometimes seems like Rpm are jumping around or fluttering
- Car wants to die right when I put into gear, if I put my foot down and kept the car moving I can keep it from dying. But at a STOP it does.
- Hard to start sometimes
- Most recently the battery has been dying after a day or two of sitting
- I replaced the condenser a few days ago ( that seemed to fix all my problems & car ran perfect ) but then battery died again and the problems started again.

Gas is good

Spark plugs are good

Carb has been sorted out, tuned over and over at this point. Unless in screwing something up big time ( which i dont think so ...) the carb is not the issue.

-The alternator is 6 month old NAPA unit. Its charging but the AAA guy said it was charging a little bit weak...

Brand NEW Spectra premium distributor from rockauto ( originally fixed my issues)

I think it may be something causing the condenser to keep failing... since a new distributor fixed my problems temporarily, and then a new condenser also seemed to fix it TEMPORARILY

I have no idea but I really need to figure this out ASAP

Do you think all these problems are connected or related? Charging system / battery dying / condensers keep failing/ rough random intermittent shitty running

Idle is at about 900 in NUetral

 

[Evan Frucht]

I'm starting to think maybe one of the diodes in my basically new alternator is shorted out? That would explain why its shows 14 or so volts like its charging ... but then the car also has a battery drain issue and doesnt seem to be charging right?

 

[Don Frelier]

Try disconnecting the battery when not in use. See if the batter still goes dead.

 

[Evan Frucht]

Another update. I turned up the IDLE speed screws.

Try disconnecting the battery when not in use. See if the batter still goes dead.

Ok I'll do that too.
Now I'm wondering if it even is charging related.
I turned up the idle speed screw a good bit its probabaly at about 1100 in nuetral now, I also turned out the idle mixture screws one addition half turn just for the hell of it.

After that I was able to drive it around for 20 minutes in circles around the block and it never died at the stop signs.... I thought "problem fixed"

But then once I stopped an turned off the key it felt really weird. It was like the car fired a couple more times on it's own. Now it seems to do this over and over. When I shut the key off it will fire a couple extra times before dying. It also is pretty hard to start now. I dont know if a 15 minute drive is enough for it to have charged the battery... but I started with about 11 volts (on ashtray voltmeter). It showed 13-14.5 volts while I was driving around, but then when I shut off key it now says only ~9 volts.

I guess that explains the hard starting now?

Why would it be showing 14.5 volts while meanwhile the battery is losing a charge?

The AAA guy said his machine said my battery was fine ? Idk if I should trust that

 

[khryslerkid]

But then once I stopped an turned off the key it felt really weird. It was like the car fired a couple more times on it's own.

That's running on or dieseling. The idle is high enough to let it run on after turning off the ignition. 1100 is too high in my opinion.

Remove the battery cable and place your meter or test light between it and the battery post to check for a drain.

 

[Evan Frucht]

That's running on or dieseling. The idle is high enough to let it run on after turning off the ignition. 1100 is too high in my opinion.

Remove the battery cable and place your meter or test light between it and the battery post to check for a drain.

Thanks, I will do that as soon as I can.

I agree 1100 is too high, but I just wanted to see if a higher idle would keep me from stalling out in gear.

1100 is a guesstimate as well. I dont have my timing light with me, and I just turned the speed screw up a turn or so. It was at 900 before, and was dying in gear at a stop, but if I kept the car moving it would stay running...

I am in the process of finishing a 2180cc stroker engine build for my VW bug by myself so I've been really busy and distracted working on that. I rely on this car now for my occasional transportation, errands and have my hands full so it's pretty frustrating. My bug used to be the reliable one! The engine build was inevitable but unexpected.

Soon I will be able to really focus on this car again and sort everything out I'm just trying to keep it putting along for the time being

 

[Evan Frucht]

That's running on or dieseling. The idle is high enough to let it run on after turning off the ignition. 1100 is too high in my opinion.

Remove the battery cable and place your meter or test light between it and the battery post to check for a drain.

Well... I broke down again. Was running great on the freeway... then sputtered out luckily while I was getting off. Limped it to the nearest good tow spot.... as I was trying to get it started again it backfired really loud and violently through the exhaust.... it is not sounding good.....

 

[Billccm]

Replace the entire wire from the coil to the points.

 

[Evan Frucht]

Replace the entire wire from the coil to the points.

I will do that ! Just curious tho what do you think is wrong with it?

Also could it be my new acell super stock yellow coil I bought from napa. My original one looked ancient so i replaced it.

 

[Glenwood]

That coil may need a full 12v and may be too much output for your points. Might want to consider converting to electronic ignition.

 

[66/440]

This is from another forum: https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/tpi/43605-accel-coil-problems-missing.html

 

[khryslerkid]

Also could it be my new acell super stock yellow coil I bought from napa. My original one looked ancient so i replaced it.

Is a coil like that suppose to work with points? I'd put a stock coil on it and see how she acts. Could be the reason it's eating condensers?

What's the ohms rating on that coil?

 

[khryslerkid]

If it's the 8140 looks like 1.4 or 1.8 ohms. Need to have the ballast resistor to match, 1.5 would work.

There's some reviews that didn't look real good for this coil lately because of it being made in China?

 

[Evan Frucht]

Well ****....


Huge UPDATE, lol

I took the whole darn distributor out of the car and stuck her in my vice. THE CAM ON THE POINTS WAS WORN DOWN ANDI HAD BASICALLY NO POINT GAP!!! I replaced the points and condenser, set everything up properly, gapped, etc, and it works well now....

I also replaced the whole wire going to the coil as recomended with a high quality 16 gauge wire.

As far as coil... I was under the impression that the yellow accell coil I got was the one for points and not electronic ignition... I need to get to the bottom of that too... maybe it still needs a special ballast resistor.

I'm still on edge, it's been breaking down so much lately I dont know what to expect. But all seems fine as of now ...

 

[Ski 61701]

Well ****....


Huge UPDATE, lol

I took the whole darn distributor out of the car and stuck her in my vice. THE CAM ON THE POINTS WAS WORN DOWN ANDI HAD BASICALLY NO POINT GAP!!! I replaced the points and condenser, set everything up properly, gapped, etc, and it works well now....

I also replaced the whole wire going to the coil as recomended with a high quality 16 gauge wire.

As far as coil... I was under the impression that the yellow accell coil I got was the one for points and not electronic ignition... I need to get to the bottom of that too... maybe it still needs a special ballast resistor.

I'm still on edge, it's been breaking down so much lately I dont know what to expect. But all seems fine as of now ...

On your points, are you putting a dab of grease under the lip of the points block? this is the space that as the points go over the cam it is constantly getting a tad of lubrication. If you did not lube this area, the point block will wear down pretty quickly. Compare the set you just took off to the new set.
Is your engine wiring harness original to the car? Or has it been replaced?
Dealing with 56 yr old wiring is a crapshoot at best considering these cars were never meant to be on the road this long. Something to think about.