Engine trouble..

[luigi164]

Hello all,

Been to the BBTR meeting last weekend in Germany. First time for the Newport for such a long trip ( about 330 km one way) so fingers crossed. But the car performed very well and it was a great meeting with about 23 fuselage C-bodies. The tour we made was very impressive cause when do you see 23 Fusies in a row driving around the river Mosel ? I will post some pics in another thread later.
But at the way home after about 100 km, the Newport started to give trouble:
After a stop, let the car idling, the engine started to hesitate when I drove away and had almost no power. After a few hundred meters it ran like before, no problem. Because I had stopped at a hill, nose up, and the tank was almost empty I thought the fuelpump had sucked up some dirt from the tank and that was probably the cause of it ?
Not ! because after a few miles it started again: no power, hesitating a few hicks and then back to normal. I was confused, what is the problem ? Anyway, we continued our journey but it got worse and worse, more and more hesitating and then the exhaust started to pop. As long as I could hold a steady speed (about 75 mls) it went good for a few miles. I had to stop several times because the popping became so bad it scared the other drivers on the highway.
When I stopped, the engine didn't stop and ran idle as usuall. Hit the trottle a few times, some hesitating and popping but after a few seconds it ran ok.
And so we came home, after 200 kms of hesitating, popping and sputtering pfff...

So, where do I start ? IMHO I think it's a ignition problem. A bad coil? or can it be a clogged fuelfilter?
Any imput on this will be appriciated,

Thanks, Luigi

 

[saylor]

timing. or ignition. not fuel.

my gut says timing.

try not to die -

- saylor

 

[luigi164]

Could timing be off all of a sudden? Just curious..

 

[FURYGT]

How old is the timing chain? It may have stretched and jumped a tooth. Definitely sounds like timing.

 

[Ripinator]

timing. or ignition. not fuel.

my gut says timing.

try not to die -

- saylor

My gut says: Coil is going. . .

 

[tbm3fan]

My gut tells me it was the beer and sausage...ugh where's my Tums!

My brain says start with the coil first as I have been down that road once with my Mustang decades ago. Drove me crazy and then I learned. Plus it is easier to simply change out before moving onto a timing chain.

 

[saylor]

good call and a coil is what $15 bucks? easy swap too

 

[1978 NYB]

I would swap out the coil. If it is the coil it will get worse and eventually quit running. Keep a good one in the trunk....I don't think you'll find one cruising around the Mosel River.

 

[Carmine]

Coil is weak and failing intermittently under a load. It won't show in an ohmeter test. The popping is unburnt fuel in the exhaust exploding outside the combustion chamber. The good news is the coil is easy and shouldnt be hard to source, even in Europe.

 

[GregG48203]

Also check the vacuum advance for proper operation. If it hasn't had one lately, give it a tune-up (spark plugs, wires, etc.).

 

[luigi164]

How old is the timing chain? It may have stretched and jumped a tooth. Definitely sounds like timing

Timing chain has never been replaced since I own the car and that's for 10 years now. Before that I don't know. But if that was the cause, wouldn't the engine run rough at idle too ?

Coil is weak and failing intermittently under a load. It won't show in an ohmeter test. The popping is unburnt fuel in the exhaust exploding outside the combustion chamber. The good news is the coil is easy and shouldnt be hard to source, even in Europe.

That is what I'm thinking too. It just happens under a load, idle is fine. Also took a peek under the hood today and noticed a drop of oil under the coil (see pic).

So I start with a search for a new coil.
As I've learned here on this forum: kiss (keep it simple...altough I can't remember the second S..

 

[tbm3fan]

...Sam

 

[65sporty]

...Sam

Some day's for me it's Stupid. Only some day's though

 

[fc7_plumcrazy]

if it starts leaking oil already it is really ready to go

Carsten

 

[luigi164]

Oke, update. Replaced the coil with a new one. Unfortunally this didn't solve the problem.
Engine started up right away and ran good at idle. Let it warm up and took a testdrive. At first I didn't notice anything wrong. On the highway I felt a few hickups and by the time I got back it became worse.
As said, idle is fine but when I slowly rev the engine up it starts to shake and running rough.
When I disconnect the vacuumhose from the advance, it seems the engine runs better when I rev it up..
I've read about the distributor with a solenoid and it's function here :

Let's Keep It Clean (Session 270) from the Master Technician's Service Conference

Hope to work on it next weekend and try the tests as discribed above.

 

[luigi164]

Did some working on the car yesterday. At first I replaced the sparkplugs. First time for me but what a hell of a job !! Couldn't manage to do it from above so, as I read somewhere, jacked the front up one side, removed the wheel and splashshield en voilá: at least I could see those buggers and thats making it a bit easier. Same procedure for the other side ofcourse.

The way the old plugs looked gave me a little hope that I solved the problem, see pics
But after installing new ones, yes Champions, the engine still didn't run well. When revving up slowly engine starts to shake and run rough. With vacuum disconnected at vacuumadvance, and hose plugged, I can rev her up with no problem. That makes me think it's ignition related ? Correct me if I'm wrong.
So did the test disconnecting solenoid wire to carb. This should increase the rpms from idle but it didn't !! Rpm didn't change.
Is the solenoid bad ? Do I NEED that solenoid ? As far as I understand from the article above it's only active at idle. Read on another forum without it, it's difficult to set timing right ?

Plugs 5 & 6

Plugs 7 & 8

 

[70bigblockdodge]

If it is still on points, they should be changed. If they are not set properly and in good shape the coil will not saturate enough to create a hot enough spark to handle load/rpm.
That's where I would start.

 

[detmatt]

So the problem goes away when vacuum advance is disconnected?

 

[luigi164]

If it is still on points, they should be changed. If they are not set properly and in good shape the coil will not saturate enough to create a hot enough spark to handle load/rpm.
That's where I would start.

Changing points is what I'm gonna do next. They are in there just as long as the plugs Never had the need to look at points/plugs because before all this car ran perfect. And what I've learned during the years: when something works good, do not touch it. But ok, that's not always true...

So the problem goes away when vacuum advance is disconnected?

Yes, without the vacuum advance I can rev her up without shaking and stumbling....

 

[detmatt]

The 383 in my vert does the same thing so I run it without the advance.