Hey guys, i have a 83 camaro carbed HEI v8 and i have a serious ignition problem

when the car is cold sometimes the car doesn't get spark when the motor turns? i know because i've hooked up a timing light while someone turned the key and the light doesn't flash.. but what usually works is, while someone turns the motor i shake the hell out of the distributer and if i'm lucky she'll fire up. Once the car is started it won't stall runs perfect.. or on a warm start up i don't have this problem


soooo i have replaced, the distributer, coil, spark wires, ignition module, condensor, rotor.. after i replaced the coil the problem went away for about 2 months now it's back..

when i first had the problem it was real bad. every morning it had trouble starting, and everytime i went to start her when she was cold.

i mean what else could it be?? I'm not experienced on this subject so i dunno?? what about my ignition control box or something??? i'm running out of things to troubleshoot here.

if you have ANY questions, i'll be glad to answer.. or if you have somethings you want me to try, i'll try them.

thanks guys,
vettetrax

 

I'm guessing you have an intermittent conneection issue somewhere. Those can be a ****** to isolate. Just as beating the hell out of something can be used as a diagnostic aid (primarily as a mind-clearing stress reliever), I suppose "shaking the hell" out of something can be of similar benefit. Chances are that it is within or near the distributor, as you probably suspect.
It could be as little as a poor ground of the HEI module or pickup coil connection. You might also have an internal connection problem, but that is questionable with the new distributor.

The next time this occurs, resist the temptation to start the small, localized earthquake and grab a DVM. Test the PRI or BAT voltage at the distributor. You should be able to get full battery voltage when the key is on. If you jave a higher voltage true RMS meter, check the coil lead at the distributor (labelled TACH) to see if the HEI module is even switching.

 

? can you put that in monkey terms for me

 

don't shake the hell out of it.

 

lol oh

 

Well i guess you could just take the cap and rotor off, look into the distributor how it look(wires and the modules well connected, also the connection on the coil) then put some "dielectric greace" (hope you understand i dont know how to write this) under the module, on the coil connector... make sure theres no carbon deposits. I dont know how you did to shake up your dist but it's should not move, the dist is well anchor in the block and the cap well held by the 4 retainings L's. but if you where like hitting the cap more than grab and move from left to right, then something is loose somewhere. Also reroute the wiring from coil to ext of cap... 1white 1 brown and 1 black connector...

That is the place i would visualy look into...

>>>This week i'll start ignition trouble shooting at school, right now i only did some theory and timing... i'll ask my :hail: teachers what they think about your problem.

 

i did put the dielectric grease under the control module and coil stuff like i should have, so i don't think there is a problem there

and when i say i shake the distrib. what i do is, grab the cap and just put a little pressure on it, it's not like it's knocking back and forth, it's in there good. i'm starting to think it's a wire somewhere, finding it is going to be a serious problem tho

 

It's the pickup coil. That's exactly how those fail: they get intermittent where the green and white wires connect internally to the winding wire of the coil.