I want to know what it is suppose to be at and how to test it. I also wanted to know how to read codes with the jumper. I tried searching for both and couldn't find anything real informative. Anyway I finally fixed my car and I drove it all day and the next day it kept dying I was stranded on the side of the road. It wouldn't start again without starting fluid.

-It starts with starting fluid and will idle for awhile and than die. If I hurry up and slam it into drive and gun it, it's fine. Once it stalls, if you try to start it again the injectors won't do **** until you start it with fluid than they come back on.

 

This sounds like a possible ignition problem. What does the tach show when you crank the car after it sits? Does the needle remain at zero? Does it fluctuate? Believe it or not, the tach is the first thing to look at during no-starts as it gives an indicator if there are coil firings/reference pulses being generated by the dist. When cranking the tach needle should come up a little and indicate a small ammount.

The lack of injector pulses when cranking sounds like a potential faulty module. This is a VERY common problem with the older HEI distributers as the base of the distributer is very hot, and the module can slowly fail over time from heat, especially when the car is run hard at high RPMs. A bad coil or leaking spark will also slowly kill the module. Another possibility is a weak pick-up coil. They are inductive, and produce a weaker signal at low speeds. If the coil is failing, it may not trigger the module properly. Take a look at the tach the next time it happens. If the needle doesnt move at all when you crank the engine, the problem is the module. In that case, a new coil, module, possibly a pick-up coil, and tune-up are in order.

 

The tach is fine most the time. Every once in awhile it will jump but act no differently when it does. I had a bad coil but I just replaced it and it was running fine.

 

Even though its fine most of the time, the jumping indicates a possible ignition problem. I suspect that when you find the component responsible (most likely ign. module), it will also fix the starting issue.