15 replies to this topic

[subestyle18]

This is on my 83 4wd wagon gl with a weber
I went snowboarding at MT baker sunday the snow was awsome. On the way home i noticed that i was loosing power and had to keep the car floored to keep the speed constant. I get to a stoplight and the car dies. it starts and I get it into a parking lot. Theres a huge lack of power. I pop the hood and start checking hoses for vacume leaks. Then i go start the car again and it cranks but wont even sputter, and the battery gadge in the car zeroed but the light isnt on. I pull the wire from the coil and the treminal end breaks off (i have a accel super stock, and accel 8mm wires they are a month old) I go buy a new coil and wires and put them in and the car still just cranks and wont sputter. I Check the fuse and 15a coil fuse is burnt and so i relplace it. Then the car starts but idle ruff and then dies. The carb clearly has vacume leak i cant seem to find it though sprade starting fuild all over and their was no change in the idle. Then i let it rest and now it seems that the coil isnt getting power again. THe fuse is fine. I was wondering if any one had ideas what down the line from coil casue it to first cook the terminal end of the wire and then blow the fuse. and keep power from getting to the coil at all.
Thanks a lot
dave

[Qman]

There have been reports of bad super coils. I know of a few that failed almost immediately. The obvious question would be is the firing order correct? 1, 3, 2, 4.

[subiemech85]

the igniton module may be going bad, it's the only other thing on the coil circuit

[subestyle18]

I havent tested the ign. module but testing the differnt wires with a timing light while cranking the engine, i have found that i get a consistant spark from the coil to the distriburter, and then get speratic spark on two of the plug wires. I have already replaced the coil, wires and plugs. This makes me think that it is in the interanls of the distribuator. Any other ideas would be great.
Thanks David

[heep70]

Do you have the weber with the electric choke behind the carb? Make sure the spare tire is not making contact with the electric choke connection. The tire shorts out the system usually blows the fuse.

[subiemech85]

find a used one from a board member, ask me, I may have what you want, if you describe waht you need!!

[subestyle18]

How common is it for the internals of the distributor to go bad? Im getting spark from the coil to the distributor but then only spark at two of the plugs. All the wires, plugs, cap, rotor and coil are new and it still doesnt get spark to two of the plugs. My only guess is to replace the whole distributor. Sounds like a big job and didnt want to do it if others thought that it wasnt the problem.
Thanks a lot.
David
(this is all on my 83 gl 4wd wagon with a weber)

[NorthWet]

How common is it for the internals of the distributor to go bad? Im getting spark from the coil to the distributor but then only spark at two of the plugs. All the wires, plugs, cap, rotor and coil are new and it still doesnt get spark to two of the plugs. My only guess is to replace the whole distributor. Sounds like a big job and didnt want to do it if others thought that it wasnt the problem.
Thanks a lot.
David
(this is all on my 83 gl 4wd wagon with a weber)

Sounds like you are describing a secondary (spark) distribution problem. Did you replace the distributer cap and rotor? How about plugs? And how strong was that spark that you saw?

*edit sorry, I am tired and missed that you just said that the cap, rotor and plugs are new. Still worth checking, especially the plugs that can get wasted in just a few bad miles. end edit*

[subestyle18]

All the stuff is new since the car died, reading the trouble shooting part in my haynes manual it leads me to the pick up coil in the distributor, it is a 150.00 part at napa, it seems like a lot for a part that i dont know thats broken. I was wondering if anyone local had a extra distriburtor that i could buy this piece from. I think that it only can come from an 81-84 4wd, becasue they use a different dist. than the 2wd.
Thanks
David
If you can help my e-mail is davidbuswell@comcast.net
I would go to a junk yard but my schedule hasn't allowed it.

[snowstormer]

if you can not find anything local, i have a complete ea81 2wd disty i will sell you for a reasonable price to help you out. [25 bucks?]


i have got a lot of parts from washington folks when i needed them so would gladly help you out if you had no alternative.
i think you could find a disty in a yard out there though, keep me in mind if you cant.

it is easy to swap out the whole disty. take of the cap and note the position that the rotor is pointing. draw a line on something if you have to.

disconnect the small power wires to the disty.

remove the two bolts that attach it to the block.

slowly pull it up, the rotor will turn a little as you remove it.

do not disturb the motor or crank it when disty is out!

put in new disty, teeth have to engage and rotor will turn a little when you get it down, you may have to monkey with it- you have to get the rotor pointing at the exact point that the old rotor was pointing so you do not mess up your timing.

hook everything back up and hopefully that will solve your problem.


not 100% sure the disty is your problem but hope this helps you out if you find out it is.

are any of the small wires going to the disty intermittantly shorting on anything?

[snowstormer]

duh! i just saw you have a 4wd- sorry about that.


someone else can correct me, i think the only diff. between 4wd disty and 2wd disty is the advance curve. so the disty may still work if you need it.

sorry for the mixup.

[subestyle18]

What is the difference between the two distributors? (2wd vs 4wd) i can get my hands on a 2wd drive, but the manual lead me to believe that they had diffentent manufactures. Is a 4wd one better than a 2wd one? thanks for the help.
David

[NorthWet]

... reading the trouble shooting part in my haynes manual it leads me to the pick up coil in the distributor...

I am somewhat confused why you think pickup coil. You said that you are getting a strong spark from coil to ditributer cap, correct? I assume that is using the stock pickup coil and ignition module rather than bypassing both with wires that you are grounding manual.

If you are getting strong spark, then primary ignition components are probably good (exception would be intermittent/erratic operation). If strong spark to dist-cap, and weak/no spark to plug wires or plugs, sounds like problem in cap/rotor/wires/plugs.

If you need a disty, I have some '82s that I could loan you. (Might need them replaced eventually.) I will be out and about today and could drop one off.

Pat

[NorthWet]

What is the difference between the two distributors?...

PRICE!

I don't personally know, but I have heard several recommendations for performance increase to replace 4WD disty with a 2WD unit. Reason sited was better advance curves.

[subestyle18]

the pick up coil was a guess since the cap rotors plugs and wires are new, if the 2wd distys work i have one i can get. On the otherhand i cant find anything in the manual about an ignition modual that some one had mentioned as a posibility. Where is that located? is their a way to test it?

Thanks for all the help
David

[snowstormer]

i think all spark making modules and apparatuses [ha ha] are built into the soob distributor.


this is typical nondiagnostic parts changing advice but- if you have access easily to another disty, i would pop it in and see if it solves your problem.

if not then you can rule it out.

if you have already changed cap, rotor, wires and plugs, and you only get spark on two plugs consistently- i think it is worth a shot to change the disty. should only take you 10 min or so.

if nothing changes, put the old one back in and go from there, repost and maybe someone will come up with a better idea.