Hello guys..

I finally have to sit down and ask for some help because this s*** is driving me crazy right now.

i have a 84 camaro but with a 350 engine and 750 holley carb. i replaced already a whole bunch of parts because i tried to get behind that issue i have but now its at a point that i cant even drive the car anymore.

the issue is, that on load (even a little in neutral) the car wont get a good ignition and its impossible to drive it right now. it is exactly in the throttle range where you would just gain speed in cruising mode. if i push the throttle further it will keep stumble, all the way to have no ignition at all and even turn off and then with full throttle it will have power again, although not a clean ignition neither but at least it will accelerate. when i first bought the car i noticed a very bad ignition in high rpm's or if i would drive up a hill and have to give the engine more load to get up.

At times after I was accelerating to high rpm's, something I rarely do, it would just act up like it does now and I was happy to get back home. At the next day or a little later it would randomly be gone and ok again.

I replaced the spark-plugs, cables, battery and large ground cables because I also had issues to start the car when it was warm.

At times I thought it could be the carb too because the car just doesnt run good anymore since a while, lot of misfiring when im on engine brake but im pretty sure its a problem with the ignition because of the way it sounds, feels and smells. The best way to describe it is, as if the battery would get empty and there is not enough power to give a spark right before the battery is dead.

So before I go ahead and change a bunch of parts, I am hopeing that someone here can give me a good idea what it could be.

I thought it might be the ignition/rotor and I took off the cap and the rotor arm and it seems fine. There is some play but not a lot. Maybe 5mm play at the rotor arm. Could be the coil I guess. But could be a whole bunch of other things thats why I am interested to see if anyone had those issues.

Thank you a lot!

 

Back to Auto Ignition 101; check everything
http://easyautodiagnostics.com/gm_ic...n_module_1.php

 

Sounds like a fuel delivery problem.

Next time it does that, just while it's about to die, pop it into neutral and cut the ignition. Note: DO NOT let it idle while you coast off to the side of the road; the goal here is to CATCH THE CARB IN THE ACTUAL ACT OF HOW IT WAS BEHAVING IN THE ACTUAL STATE IT ACTUALLY WAS, WHEN IT WAS ACTUALLY IN THE ACTUAL ACT OF ACTUALLY FAILING. Idling will let it recover, and hide its tracks, so to speak. Be aware, you will have NO power brakes and NO power steering while you are doing this; BE SURE you are ready for the car to be VERY HARD to drive in every possible way. Don't turn the key to "Lock", (BAD BAD BAD) and don't hurt anybody because whatever happened however and you didn't think (stop right there, that explains everything)...

Anyway, what you will then do is, you will remove the bottom right fuel bowl screw, and see how much fuel comes out. Not too tough, in and of itself. Again, BE PREPARED; liquid fuel randomly pouring all over a hot engine is a recipe for .... starts with F .... isn't a "bad word" .... ruins your car .... oh yeah!!! FIRE!!! be careful. Before you do this test, prepare by finding a suitable vessel to catch the fuel. Something as simple as a spray paint can plastic top might be all you need. WHATEVER it is, have it ready to hand.

See how much fuel comes out. Compare to how much fuel comes out if you do the same thing after it's been sitting idling happily in your driveway for a few minutes (which in fact would be good practice for doing by the side of the interstate quickly before the texting middle-age chick in a minivan drives down the shoulder and cleans you out). Most likely, you'll see A FRACTION as much fuel come out when you do the beside-the-freeway test. If so, you clearly have a FUEL DELIVERY PROBLEM, and not an ignition problem at all.

There's an old truism in hot-rodding, that 90% of all supposedly ignition problems are really in the carb, and 90% of all carb problems are really in the ignition. That applies here. Quit swapping parts and getting nowhere except an ET improvement by way of weight reduction centered on the driver's wallet, and do some logical, orderly, disciplined, focused, purpose-driven, TROUBLESHOOTING instead.

 

hey sofa. that was funny to read but i am pretty pretty sure its not a fuel problem because i can smell the unburned fuel (by ignition failure) all over the place when it happens - and right now it ONLY happens. i cant even drive the car. so anyways, today i went to auto zone and bought the ignition coil it had on top of the cap. it was the one from a corvette. but by the time i got home it got dark and bad mood + darkness + tropical mosquitoes are not the best mix so i decided to install it in the morning. if that doesnt help, which i really hope is not the case, i will look into the other stuff.

but i have to tell you, i just recently tuned the carb and its not flooding or the opposite. but who knows. it might changed. lets see how the coil is doing in the morning.

 

I installed the new coil and noticed that the old one was corroded at the bottom where out connects with the spring. After trying to start the car, before it even turned on, the center cable top ground burned through. any ideas why that happened? i assume it can only happen because it's old as hell and the new coil deliver much more power.

 

sorry for the typos. phone keyboard correction

 

so i replaced the ign coil and the cable and it runs bit wrist than before. extreme misfire and backfire from the carb. when i use the throttle it almost sounds like out can't get air in. you can hear how the air starts to get sucked in at first when i use the throttle and then it sounds like there is no air being sucked in. i could be wrong but it wasn't the coil. very stressed right now since i really need the car tomorrow