Awhile back I had a thread about my spark jumping all over between 11100 and 2000 RPMs. Traced it down to a bad duraspark system, replaced it with a Pertronix Ignitor III and the problem was solved. I drove it a few times before pulling the engine to detail the bay. Just drove it for the first time since reinstalling everything and the problem is back, although noticably less severe. I do not recall this happening when I ran the engine in the past weeks in the garage. I had changed out cap/rotor/wires/plugs, so I changed them back but with no effect. Plugs are gapped the same as they were, .035. I'm thinking my ignition module crapped out on me again. Its only a few months and less than 100 miles old. I have the coil hooked to the stock ignition wire, which I believe has a resistor somewhere in line dropping it below 12V. I tried running a jumper wire off the starter solenoid to feed it a full 12V but it made no difference. Could running it for awhile with less than 12V have killed it? Any ideas? If I can't fix it I'll probably call Pertronix on Monday. Edit- I just read that leaving the ignition in the "run" position with the engine off can overheat and kill the unit. That very well may have happened.
Just swapped the old points system back in and got no change. The only thing I haven't tried swapping is the actual dizzy itself, since I don't have a spare.
Droppin the pan in a Mav is easy (compared to other applications) I'd suspect your distributor's bad if it's an old unit. Fresh remans can be had for $50-60.
Easy maybe, time consuming pain in the butt that I didn't want to deal with because I just want to drive it tomorrow.....definitely. What exactly can fail with a dizzy, other than the electronics? The mechanical advance appears to be working properly, there's not really any other moving parts besides that. Or could it be the vacuum advance? That wouldn't/shouldn't be kicking in at 1k RPMs would it?
The shaft bushings can go bad and cause spark scatter. And the vacuum advance diaphram can rupture. The diaphram is easy to check, just unplug the vacuum hose from the carb and suck on it while watching the breaker plate inside the distributor for movement (with the cap off)
Didn't know that about the bushings. I did what you describe with the diaphram when I had the dizzy apart. If I have the energy tomorrow I'll drop the pan to retrieve the shaft and hopefully NAPA has a distributor on hand. Gotta go find a clean 5qt container now.
The pan is easier to install if you use a Felpro 1 piece oil pan gasket. It'll come with 4 plastic studs that screw in the 4 large corner bolt holes for the pan. Screw these into place, put a dab of RTV in the corners next to the front and rear radius's, pop the gasket up over the studs (the've got "catches" on em to hold th egasket in place), then pop the pan up over the studs catches. Screw all the smaller bolts in snug, remove the plastic studs and replace with the corner bolts and you're done. There's no fighting with cork gaskets and sealer trying to keep them glued in place on the block while trying to get the pan back up in place and bolted. Th extra cost of it is well worth the price.
Oh I know, that's what I've always used, and whats on there now. Hopefully it goes as smooth as it should, and hopefully the shaft made it to the pan. Its definitely not where I can reach it from the top for sure, but I can't see it.
If it's not where it should be, then it's in the pan. The oil pump is in the pan, so seeing as the shaft plugs into the pump, then if it fell out, it too is in the pan.
what i was saying...leave it in there... i dropped one in before. once it goes to the bottom, it stays there... suggestion...if you do pull the pan, install a new oil pump and then install the dist. before reinstalling the pan. ......
Ok just my ,you said there was no problem with the dissy before you pulled the engine and detailed the engine bay, did you clean and paint the engine bay? I ask because a weak ground can make the dissy act up and if you removed your grounds and painted the place where it was grounded, maybe you don't have a good ground connection there anymore, might be worth checking into.
