72 I6. Points- waiting for my EI to get here. I replaced the coil and rotor today. I was driving last week and car died on me after driving less than a mile. Wouldnt start back up. Battery died. Had friend come jump me later that day and it started up, drove about 1/4 mile. It dies again. Wouldnt start for a min, waited 10 min maybe jumped and it was about to drive the 1/4 or so mile home. Drove it after that for a couple days no issues. Put a rebuilt carb on it and it started fine- cold w/o a choke soo well enough in those conditions. Trouble idling but had it running. Left it alone for a day or so. Took it out yesterday and it died after about 1/2 a mile. Left it there went back today and it started up but died- cold outside- and i restarted to warm it up- died again and no restart. Has a plug on me to test for spark and nothing. Rotor was a little corroded on the tip. replaced rotor and coil but no luck Could be points, timing, or dist cap. Anything else I could be missing? Any advice on testing other components?
You can test the coil with a test light. When it dies, ground the test light and touch each of the coil connector posts with the key on. Unplug the one leading to the distributor and touch the post. It should still light the test light. If it doesn't, the coil is open internally. If it does, check spark at the coil.
When the engine will turn over but no spark. If the battery is dying, that is something entirely different.
sorry i had missed where you said you replaced the coil. what you need to do is see what you loose when the motor dies. take the coil wire off the top of the distributor and put it near some metal and crank the motor. you should see spark jump the gap. if spark jumps then its not a ignition problem. if no spark, check to see if the coil is getting power on the + post. if you have spark you need to check the fuel system. check to see if the accerator pump squirts when you move the throttle.
If ur battery died and u needed a jump u should probably check ur charging system. Maybe u dont have enough power to run ur car cuz ur altenator isnt charging ur battery....
No my battery died from trying to get it to start. Alternator does its job. When I put in the EI and took out my points i saw a flat head bit in the distributor. Im guessing this is why I was having issues. Still gotta have a friend jump the car for me so ill let ya guys know what happens!
Ok figured out my issue. Wasnt getting spark and my EI came in so I swapped that in. Then I was getting spark. Still wouldnt start, and I noticed the gas petal didnt have a lot of movement in it. Took carb off and a link on the side that goes arm for the accel pump had come off part way and jammed. Fixed that and Walla! Got it running but im still having issues at idle. When ever i brake to a stop it dies, unless i put it in neutral and coast and even then sometime it dies. Any ideas? If I have an exhaust leak at my header gasket would that cause this? I have a header pipe on and i know that leaks are common. Ill double check my timing as well. I set it when I had points but havent taken another look since I put the EI on.
When you installed the carb...Did you set the mixture screw properly??? Did you adjust the curb idle??? Your carb may be running too rich/lean Your idle may be too low... Once you get the carb sorted out...Re-adjust the ignition timeing. You may want to adjust the choke as well so its working on cold startups. Check for vacuum leaks before you tear into anything though. Good luck!!!
ok so i made sure the lines going to the carb, dist, manifold, and valve at the front of the engine were good. they seem tight. Not sure how to set the curve idle. idle isnt low. I can set it higher and itll take care of the problem but itll be idling too high. Just replaced spark plugs yesterday and checked timing as well.
