[MikeP]

I'm pretty sure one of my cylinders isn't firing because there is gas out the tailpipe, and it stalls if you dont give it a huge amount of gas.

I tried changing the cables, didnt help, now im going to smash the old rotor off the distributor and replace it and see if that helps. Any ideas on best way to troubleshoot this type of problem? How to find out which cylinder isnt firing perhaps?

-Mike

 

[Keith853]

The quickest way to find which cylinder isn't firing is to (very carefully to avoid a nasty HT shock) pull the plug lead from each cylinder in turn, replacing it before removing the next. When you pull the plug lead from a cylinder that is firing the engine will sound rougher than ever. When you pull the plug lead from the cylinder that isn't firiing there will be no difference in the running of the engine.

When you have found the rogue pot remove the spark plug from it, reattach the HT lead, make sure that the body of the plug is well earthed on the metalwork of the head and fire up the engine again. You should see a nice fat spark, if not then you know that the problem is electrical to that cylinder.

Good luck and let us know how you get on.

Keith853

 

[MikeP]

I took off the distributor, finally got the rotor removed (it was original, 309k on it) and replaced it, put it all back on, and now it doesnt start at all. does the spark arc to the rotor or does the rotor have to make contact with the leads in the cap? Because I see a line where the new rotor is rotating and its about 2-3mm lower than the metal leads. So I need to move the rotor up until it's hitting the leads on the side?

 

[Keith853]

Hello Mike,
I think that the contact on the end of the rotor arm should be aligned with the middle of the contacts embedded in the distributor cap.

As a loose thought, is the brush in the centre of the cap making contact with the rotor arm contact and is the arm in the correct orientation, i.e. is the arm a direct replacement.

Good luck.

PS was it hard to get the rotor arm off?

 

[ra5ax]

check your old post i had same problem ive written how i fixed it (Distributor itself)