@$%#! It WAS running good. Help!

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Mopar to ya

Mopar to ya

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I got the cam in my car. Felt dumb because I swear we had it all right, but it wouldn't start. Turned distributor 180 and it fired right up. It ran well, but even though I marked the timing mark with chalk, I never could see it. I timed it by ear and took it for a drive into town. It ran pretty well, though I was going to have to play with the timing. Made a few stops, ran great, sounded great. Bought some degreaser and hit the car wash to wash off the oil and grease underhood and wash the car. After, it started but backfired through the exhaust and had an obvious misfire. No big deal, I figure. Something got wet and is arcing, even though I was careful to stay away from the distributor. Long story short, it never went away. I bought new wires - still there. I ordered a new cap and rotor even though they look new and dry. Plugs look great. Bad misfire and any throttle causes a backfire through the exhaust. Everything was fine until the car wash. Any ideas? And any ideas on why I never could get the timing mark to come into view?
 
there are several things to consider....the coil could be bad,if you got a spare you could swap it out as a test,your ignition module/box could have gotten wet,or you could have a flat cam lobe.did you go through the cam break in procedure when you installed it.also what is your initial timing set at?
 
I lubed the cam generously on install. On start up I ran just over 2000 rpm for a half hour. Everything ran beautifully until I washed underhood. You almost have to believe it is a wet issue. I had one wire that had sat on a header and was melted a bit so I bought an entire new set and installed them. Still the same. Maybe it will be better in the morning, who knows?
I cannot get the timing mark to show no matter how far or which way I turn the distributor.
 
man you messed up everything. instead of hitting the car wash you should have set the timing, by ear is great but I like to double check just where its at with a light. Then you tighten the dist and never touch it cause its around 34 degrees all in--no vacuum. The rate it comes in might need to be adjusted but not the total amount--unless your trying to squeeze the last bit of power from it.

The dist or coil might be wet, even the dist cap or rotor could be it. I agree it seems like the water / unless the dist was not tight enough and it slip and turn when you started it, I done that before.
 
since you changed the plug wires have you triple checked your firing order?also i mean no insult by this but are you 100%sure you have the timing light lead on the number 1 plug wire?you should not have to turn the dizzy that far to see timing marks unless it way out.
 
Are you running a Mopar ECU? IF SO it could be wet under the heat sink. I used to 4x4 --340 powered 62 Landcruiser, and if I got ENOUGH splash "up in there" I'd have trouble with misfiring. Evidently, water gets under the heat sink/ transistor on the ECU and it don' lik' it.
 
Pull a plug wire one at a time while it's running until the one you just pulled makes no difference in how it runs. (easy to do)
This way you diagnosed which cyclinder it is that's not running.
Make sure spark is jumping to that plug, and if it is then pull that side vavle cover off and see if the rocker arms on that cylinder seem to be moving pretty much like the rest of them. (again,easy to do )

Start with the easy stuff first.
Try a diifferent spark plug in the cylinder thats missing
If you have spark and valve movement then it has to be loss of compression.
 
TrailBeast said:
Pull a plug wire one at a time while it's running until the one you just pulled makes no difference in how it runs.
Click to expand...

CLOSE but THIS IS NOT THE WAY

When you pull a plug wire OFF it creates an "open" and the spark will try to arc somewhere (crossfire) which can make your diagnoses incorrect

INSTEAD of pulling wires off, pull the boots up off the distributor towers so that you can get a thin probe down in, OR insert small brads/ nails down beside each wire, then ground out one cylinder at a time.

Each cylinder should "drop" the same RPM as the others and 'sound the same'.
 
I heard there is this arc situation where if the spark arcs for a little while it can continue to follow that path. Maybe in a plug wire or the coil, it has burnt a path while wet, and continues to arc when dry. I have never had a persistent miss after running the motor to dry it off after washing it. It will miss for a while when wet, then it gets over it.

I would change the plugs with new ones and gap them proper.

I have had plugs go bad after the motor ate some water thru a hood scoop in the rain. It miss - fired under load and pop out the exhaust a lot! This is even after several days of dry hot driving conditions, so I know the motor was totally super dry. Swapped in new plugs cured issue more than once on my motor.


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340 8BBL said:
since you changed the plug wires have you triple checked your firing order?also i mean no insult by this but are you 100%sure you have the timing light lead on the number 1 plug wire?you should not have to turn the dizzy that far to see timing marks unless it way out.
Click to expand...

Yes. I never had more than one off at a time, but I checked the firing order anyway. And yes, I had the timing light on number 1. Wondering if car will run with distributor 180 off? I have know some cars that do.
 
dodge freak said:
man you messed up everything. instead of hitting the car wash you should have set the timing, by ear is great but I like to double check just where its at with a light. Then you tighten the dist and never touch it cause its around 34 degrees all in--no vacuum. The rate it comes in might need to be adjusted but not the total amount--unless your trying to squeeze the last bit of power from it.

The dist or coil might be wet, even the dist cap or rotor could be it. I agree it seems like the water / unless the dist was not tight enough and it slip and turn when you started it, I done that before.
Click to expand...

I couldn't set the timing with a light. As I said, the mark will not show no matter how far I turn the dizzy. I did have the distributor tight. I ordered a cap and rotor, but I pulled the cap and it was dry. I blew it out with air - still misfired. Getting the cap and rotor tomorrow. Hopefully it will make a difference, but I don't expect it will.
 
TrailBeast said:
Pull a plug wire one at a time while it's running until the one you just pulled makes no difference in how it runs. (easy to do)
This way you diagnosed which cyclinder it is that's not running.
Make sure spark is jumping to that plug, and if it is then pull that side vavle cover off and see if the rocker arms on that cylinder seem to be moving pretty much like the rest of them. (again,easy to do )

Start with the easy stuff first.
Try a diifferent spark plug in the cylinder thats missing
If you have spark and valve movement then it has to be loss of compression.
Click to expand...

I didn't pull the wires while running, but I hooked the timing light to each wire and they all flashed steadily. If drying overnight and changing the cap and rotor doesn't help, I will check rocker movement. Probably check compression first, but it would be weird if I lost compression from shutting off at the car wash and starting it up 15 minutes later. It ran perfectly all afternoon until that point.
 
Rice Nuker said:
arc situation where if the spark arcs for a little while it can continue to follow that path. .......I have had plugs go bad after the motor ate some water.
Click to expand...

Known as "carbon tracking." You could very well have cracked/ broken a plug -- water hitting hot ceramic

Mopar to ya said:
Wondering if car will run with distributor 180 off? I have know some cars that do.
Click to expand...

No car will run with the dist. "180 off" unless the wires are rotated accordingly.
 
67Dart273 said:
Known as "carbon tracking." You could very well have cracked/ broken a plug -- water hitting hot ceramic



No car will run with the dist. "180 off" unless the wires are rotated accordingly.
Click to expand...

I pulled the plugs to look, and they all looked new, clean burning, etc... but I never pulled them out of the socket to look for cracks. Hmmm. You would think it would have been an issue before this, but you never know. Plugs are cheap. Gotta try that as well!
 
Do you think the timing could be so far out cos when u did the cam and removed the oil pump drive gear it didnt go back in the same spot so its put the timing out even though the dizzy drive shaft is in the same spot?
 
Check the order with regard to 5-7 and also in regard to the correct #1 terminal. Check the top of the carb for crud in the air bleeds. Maybe blow down thru them with carb clean. Make sure you didn't knock off a choke wire or the choke adjustment didnt change. If it did it after washing, either something was marginal and you got it over the hump to bad, or it's something stupid. The fact you can't see the mark tells me you did something stupid... We all do them...lol
 
Did you use the Comp breakin additive? It is possible you wiped a lobe, I hope not.

Check all other options first and let us know what you find. As far as not seeing the timing mark, that is most curious.
 
spray wd 40 inside the distributor this will eliminate and moisture inside
 
Are you sure your timing mark on the dampener is lined up with the zero on the timing tab when the number one cylinder is at TDC on the compression stroke?

Would be worth checking out. Just turn the engine over by hand until your number one piston is at Top Dead Center (on the compression stroke). Remove all the spark plugs so you're not building compression, otherwise you won't be able to turn it by hand.
 
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