22 replies to this topic

[Its a min]

Hi All,

 

So, I have a strange problem I'm hoping someone can help with. Car was running fine until one day, I parked her up in the garage and when I went back a week or so later, it just turned over and over until the battery drained. Charged the battery and tried again and just wouldn't kick in. After the battery being drained and charged a second time, I set about doing some diagnostics. 

 

I checked fuel supply and no problem there. Checked for a spark, no problem. Cleaned and re-gapped the plugs, all good. Checked dizzy and all seemed good there too. Still nothing. Set static timing as per a post found on here and seemed to want to start so slackened off dizzy clamp and slowly turned dizzy clockwise and she sprung into life albeit a bit lumpy.

 

Attached timing light and noticed the timing mark flashed every now and then but wasn't appearing every time the stobe flashed. Attached accuspark spark checkers and there appeared to be a strong spark across all four plugs. Set the timing to approx. 8 degrees and seemed to run ok with a slight flat spot. My next step was to attach the colourtune to try and get mixture roughly right but noticed an strange flash every now and then. This was on cylinder 1 so tried on cylinder 2 and it seemed fine. The flashing seems to occur at the same time as you hear, and feel, a slight flat spot when it's running.

 

I have some short video clips but for some reason, I can't upload them so happy to do so if someone can tell me how.

 

So, my first question is, any ideas why my timing would suddenly change given the dizzy clamp was tight and it was running fine?

My second question, Any ideas on what would cause that strange flash/detonation on cylinder one?

 

Thanks in advance everyone.

 

[cal844]

Old fuel would cause this, depends how old it is though

[Tones61]

Stuck dizzy weights or broken weight spring would cause timing change

[Its a min]

Old fuel would cause this, depends how old it is though

 

Hi Cal844,

 

Fuel is only about 6 months old. Used the Tesco Millennium grade with Millers additive.

[Dusky]

As you're saying you dont always see the timing mark when the strobe flashes.
You either have advance sights numoing around, or a leak on the HT side where the spark jumps to the wrong cylinder.

[Its a min]

Stuck dizzy weights or broken weight spring would cause timing change

 

Hi Tones61,

 

Checked the dizzy but all seemed ok.

[Quinlan minor]

If the age of the current ones aren't known, I'd suggest new distributor cap, rotor and HT leads may be money well spent.

[Chris1275gt]

My colourtune plug would miss and give a yellow flash until I checked and adjusted the gap then it was fine so I'd check that first.

[Tones61]

Stuck dizzy weights or broken weight spring would cause timing change

 
Hi Tones61,
 
Checked the dizzy but all seemed ok.

Did you twist on the rotor arm,it should move a bit and spring back

[Its a min]

 

 

Stuck dizzy weights or broken weight spring would cause timing change

 
Hi Tones61,
 
Checked the dizzy but all seemed ok.

Did you twist on the rotor arm,it should move a bit and spring back

 

 

Thanks for the tip. I'll give it a go tomorrow if I get a chance.

[Its a min]

My colourtune plug would miss and give a yellow flash until I checked and adjusted the gap then it was fine so I'd check that first.

 

Hi Chris,

 

Thanks for the post. When you say you adjusted the gap, where? My colourtune doesn't seem to have anything that you can adjust a gap on.

[Its a min]

If the age of the current ones aren't known, I'd suggest new distributor cap, rotor and HT leads may be money well spent.

 

Thanks Quinlan Minor.

 

Good call though the rotor arm and cap aren't that old but I did have a brand new Unipart dizzy cap that was faulty despite being straight out of the box.

[croc7]

Distributor Doctor for quality ignition components. With most other manufacturers, one never knows what you’re going to get. Once you find a source for good reliable parts, stock up.

[croc7]

So it was a faulty dist cap?

Edited by croc7, 20 December 2020 - 03:48 AM.

[Its a min]

So it was a faulty dist cap?

 

Hi Croc7,

 

Thanks for your posts.

 

Not as far as I can tell but will order a new one. With quality of aftermarket parts these days you can never tell.

Edited by Its a min, 20 December 2020 - 06:18 PM.