I think we are on different pages. I was refering to your timing gear/chain set. They come from Ford with a plastic top gear that more or less dry-rots and causes your timing chain to slip, or 'jump time'. I have had it happen, or almost happen many times with 60s-70s Fords. I just opened up my 72 and it was rotted and broken, luckily it hadn't slipped yet. Dave
Btw: Although Jamie's problem sounds the same, it wouldn't have caused the timing light to show a problem. Your's did... You need to look at the mechanical links between the distributor and cam... The biggest of which is your timing set. Dave
Another thing to check is the harmonic balancer. The rubber between the 2 pcs rots as well. This can cause the outer part to slip out of position with the inner part. When you put a timing light on it, you are relying on the outer part to be in sync with the crank. The outer part is also the balanced part with extra weight in it. When it moves, the engine becomes severely out of balance. This would cause excessive vibration. Possibly enough to make it feel really bad, but I am not sure. Either way, if it is your plastic timing gear, distributor drive gear, or balancer that has gone out of whack, you can get to it before something else is damaged, or you can keep running it until more stuff breaks. Dave
Is it possible that since I changed everything else and not the plug wires that it could be those... I know it is a long shot but im stretchingfor the easy stuff first. I dont know why the wires would make it sound like it is mis-firing, but who knows.
That still doesn't explain the timing. Sorry, don't hate the messenger. When you tuned it up, the part that gave could have been right on the edge, and the 5 hp that you gained back by the tune could have been the straw that broke it's back. Or when you shut it off at the gas station, the momentum of the crank vs the balancer or gear slipped the part in question.
Is all of the stuff you mentioned happen right away or over time? Everything was fine up until Saturday when i changed the plugs. Plus if it was just vibration, then the car would still have power i would just feel the vibration really bedly... wouldnt I? there is litrally not much power to it and I can just tell it is missing... somewhere!
Start the car. Very carefully pull ONE wire at a time. If the idle worsens, the wire is good. If the idle does not change, wire bad. Replace each wire and proceed to the next until you know which wire/wires are bad, if any.
Everything I mentioned happens in a split second. Runs great... Gun the gas, or shut the engine off... Part slips, strips, or breaks... Car runs bad.
Yes, It ran FINE before saturday... just did the tune up to improve performance. Yes, #1 is passenger side, front... checked and doubled check that it was in order. is it possible the plugs could be bad? im stretching again, but im gonna try anything small before I take it in for something I cant do. I also did the wire check and it could possibly be those... hey, why not do them just for the heck of it anyways... I have had the Mav for 2 years and I have yet to change them.
It sounds like you may have a plug or two that has cracked (even new plugs can crack).Pulling a wire, one at a time, (as ratio411 has mentioned) should reveal the bad one(s)
just dont advance it too much... this will cause a car to not run properly... and if the timing is too retarded it will cause the same problems..... start at 0* TDC and go from there
I would definitely start with the plugs then..... try what "ratio411" mentioned.....let us know what you find.
