Car dies

-
1

1974 dart

Well-Known Member
Joined
Feb 15, 2011
Messages
49
Reaction score
0
Location
indiana
I cannot figure out why my car keeps dying. I have a 1974 dart with a 318 that has a summit cam and a 600 cfm carb. It idles fine but once it's warmed up and I stop it kinda starts to idle rough then die. I was told that it was my torque converter which makes sense, just replaced the torque converter with a 2200 stall and I thought it fixed the problem but no it's back, what could it be?
 
Have you checked for spark and fuel? I bet you'll find one is missing when it dies! It could be the ignition module or coil, or a fuel pump. You won't know till you do a little diagnostic work.
 
agree, check spark once it dies. I used to keep a good old plug around, laid it on the master cylinder and turned it over. Once it was a bad coil that failed when it got a little warm, the other was the ignition module ground.
I put a wire on one of the 2 bolts that held down the ignition module and ran it directly to negative on battery.
 
Mine did this and the ballist resanator was broke in there places...might be worth a try
 
And it only does it once its warmed up, I don't think I'm getting a miss because it idles great in park and drives awesome!
 
I think the moral of the story is,, get the motor running right,, via tune-up, etc.. before looking for other, obscure issues.. my .02
 
1974 dart said:
Ok so the timing just needs to be advanced some?
Click to expand...

initial timing....initial timing...please read the articles....

There are several types of timing that you need to know about. First, there's the initial timing, which is also known as "idle timing", which is where the timing is at an idle without the help of the mechanical weights inside the distributor, and without the vacuum advance hooked-up. Then there's the mechanical advance, which is the advance you get from the weights inside the distributor. As the engine RPM comes-up, it's the initial timing AND the mechanical advance that gives you your TOTAL timing. For instance; say your distributor has 26 degrees of mechanical advance built into the weights inside and you want a total of 36 degrees of total timing; you would need to set the initial timing (idle timing) at 10 degrees (10 degrees on the crank and 26 degrees from the mechanical weights = 36 degrees of total timing).

The trick is; for performance use you want as much advance as you can get on the crank and the least amount from the mechanical weights in the distributor, hence why race distributors have no mechanical advance at all. To really make a trick street set-up you should only have about 10 degrees or so of mechanical advance in the distributor and about 24 - 26 degrees of initial timing on the crank to obtain your total of 34 - 36 degrees of total timing. This will launch you out of the hole much harder, and give you great jack rabbit starts from street light to street light. You NEED advance at low RPM to make that engine pull hard. It'll have MUCH better throttle response, a better idle vacuum signal, and it'll run cooler & cleaner. Unfortunately stock engines & distributors are set-up completely the opposite so they need to be re-curved to fix this problem. This is why some guys can tune an engine and make it run killer (like we do), and other's just can't seem to get their car to get out of its own way.

Now; to find and set the total timing all you need to do is set the dial on your timing light to 36. Now rev your engine up to about 3,500 RPM (to insure that the mechanical weights are fully activated) and watch your timing mark on the harmonic balancer. Now rotate your distributor until the marks line-up at "0" on the crank. When it reads "0", (yet the light is set at 36), you have a total timing of 36 degrees. Make sure you do this with your vacuum advance NOT hooked-up. If you don't run a vacuum advance, then don't do anything, just leave everything as it is and tighten it down and you're good to go. Your engine isn't really at "0" or Top Dead Center. The timing light is offsetting the light beam by 36 degrees, so you should be reading "0" on the crank.

The total advance will change if you replace your distributor or install an advance curve kit, so always check it and KNOW where your timing is at! It's REAL important on more radical engines, especially on high compression / supercharged and/or nitrous engines! One degree off on the timing can mean anywhere fron 20, 30 or even as much as 40 horsepower loss in some engines!


the link to the mopar muscle articles show how to modify the distributor...
 
70aarcuda said:
initial timing....initial timing...please read the articles....

There are several types of timing that you need to know about. First, there's the initial timing, which is also known as "idle timing", which is where the timing is at an idle without the help of the mechanical weights inside the distributor, and without the vacuum advance hooked-up. Then there's the mechanical advance, which is the advance you get from the weights inside the distributor. As the engine RPM comes-up, it's the initial timing AND the mechanical advance that gives you your TOTAL timing. For instance; say your distributor has 26 degrees of mechanical advance built into the weights inside and you want a total of 36 degrees of total timing; you would need to set the initial timing (idle timing) at 10 degrees (10 degrees on the crank and 26 degrees from the mechanical weights = 36 degrees of total timing).

The trick is; for performance use you want as much advance as you can get on the crank and the least amount from the mechanical weights in the distributor, hence why race distributors have no mechanical advance at all. To really make a trick street set-up you should only have about 10 degrees or so of mechanical advance in the distributor and about 24 - 26 degrees of initial timing on the crank to obtain your total of 34 - 36 degrees of total timing. This will launch you out of the hole much harder, and give you great jack rabbit starts from street light to street light. You NEED advance at low RPM to make that engine pull hard. It'll have MUCH better throttle response, a better idle vacuum signal, and it'll run cooler & cleaner. Unfortunately stock engines & distributors are set-up completely the opposite so they need to be re-curved to fix this problem. This is why some guys can tune an engine and make it run killer (like we do), and other's just can't seem to get their car to get out of its own way.

Now; to find and set the total timing all you need to do is set the dial on your timing light to 36. Now rev your engine up to about 3,500 RPM (to insure that the mechanical weights are fully activated) and watch your timing mark on the harmonic balancer. Now rotate your distributor until the marks line-up at "0" on the crank. When it reads "0", (yet the light is set at 36), you have a total timing of 36 degrees. Make sure you do this with your vacuum advance NOT hooked-up. If you don't run a vacuum advance, then don't do anything, just leave everything as it is and tighten it down and you're good to go. Your engine isn't really at "0" or Top Dead Center. The timing light is offsetting the light beam by 36 degrees, so you should be reading "0" on the crank.

The total advance will change if you replace your distributor or install an advance curve kit, so always check it and KNOW where your timing is at! It's REAL important on more radical engines, especially on high compression / supercharged and/or nitrous engines! One degree off on the timing can mean anywhere fron 20, 30 or even as much as 40 horsepower loss in some engines!


the link to the mopar muscle articles show how to modify the distributor...
Click to expand...

I read them I'm just having trouble understanding initial timing, on the marks on my timing cover it has some lines and one says before and one says after, I just don't know where to start
 
Then that other link will really help,, cuz Crackedback describes an invaluable, idiot-proof method of degreeing your balancer..

hope it helps.
 
1974 dart said:
And my timing light does not have a dial
Click to expand...

That's a GOOD thing. You need to understand timing before you start using fancy stuff that adds problems sometimes.

Timing is ADDITIVE

Once you have determined that the timing marks are correct and that is, to eliminate odd parts swaps, or damage to the balancer which can cause the marks to slip,

1--You set INITIAL or IDLE timing WITH A LIGHT and work from there. You do this with the VACUUM advance DISCONNECTED. You use a vacuum gauge and tach to adjust the timing, the idle mixture, and idle speed screw to get the idle good, and "what the engine likes" for intitial timing. Give the engine enough advance that it idles well, in gear, "takes off" at the launch responsively, does not "kick back" on the starter when trying to start and does not "ping" or "spark knock" at low speed

2--THEN you see if what the distributor ADDS TO THAT which is MECHANICAL ADVANCE. To do this, calculate how many degrees per inch around your balancer and use a tape and scribe to mark the balancer out to 35, 40, and on out to 55-60 degrees. AFTER the initial is set in (1) above, determine how much TOTAL that is INITIAL + MECHANICAL you are getting.

MOST of the time if you have a stock, smog- era distributor, you will have way too much, IE way past 35-40* advance, and this, again is with NO vacuum advance.

NOW you will need to either buy a performance distributor with a short or adjustable mechanical advance OR you will have to "recurve" your distributor by shortening the slots in the advance mechanism.

3--Now assuming you have done all of the above, you have at this point a nice idle, a responsive engine "out of the hole," and it does not ping or knock, NOW you can hook up the vacuum advance and see if it causes any problems during cruising. Assuming you had, maybe 38* total from (1, 2) above, the vaccum ADDS to that and may advance on out to 55-60 degrees with LIGHT throttle and cruising. This vacuum advance helps fuel mileage, and is NOT active under heavier or full throttle.

There is TONS and LIGHTYEARS of material written on this Please do some Googling

https://www.google.com/search?um=1&...8.0....0...1c.1.24.img..4.25.2263.bSPLNomddRw


http://www.moparmusclemagazine.com/...809_distributor_setup_quick_tech/viewall.html
 
All of the previous posts assume your car is in good tune,, meaning things like spark plugs, air/fuel filters, pcv.. cap, rotor, plug wires are in good condition,, any of these things can cause probs themselves..

When was your last tune-up??

Going after your advance curve,, while having oil fouled plugs worn out to 50 thou, worn out cap and rotor,, might be premature,, just a thought
 
Robbie2734 said:
Have you checked for spark and fuel? I bet you'll find one is missing when it dies! It could be the ignition module or coil, or a fuel pump. You won't know till you do a little diagnostic work.
Click to expand...
my Duster used to do the same thing back in the '90s, it felt like the tranny/converter was locking up and stalling the car-would start up again right away, and never stalled while the car was moving. Turned out to be the ignition module.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
-

Back
Top