I drove the car for about 45 min .Car did so great in this hot weather , well the new radiator did . Well I had almost made it back home , when I turned , I thought the car missed pretty bad twice . I turned in my neighborhood , and turned around to drive it some more , after I had been stoped a few seconds waiting to pull out , it died , it took a few seconds to start back up , I turned around and I think there was some smoke coming about the back . I turned back around and went back in the neighborhood and as I made my second turn it died again and took a few seconds to start up . I then drove it home . I got out , pulled in the driveway and parked it and ran it about a min and listened to it . It was running kinda rough , but not too bad . I was thinking MAF is bad , maybe fouled sparkplug or plugs , pickup coil , ignition control module . What do you guys think ? ?

 

Wayne, you know the routine.
I suggest...
Did you change the fuel pump yet?
Electrical,
check connections.
I think fuel or a loose wire.

 

I turned the key and heard it engaging , before ya even told me that ! heh .

It's my pick-up coil . It's got two burns on it and the insulation or whatever that stuff is on the outside is flaking off bad .

My Haynes manual says you have to remove the distributor from the engine . Is that really necessary Karl ? If so , is there a special tool to get to the distributor hold down bolt ? And what else involves this job ?


Radiator is not leaking a drop !!! Feels good not to have that crapola running all over my driveway! :lala:

 

Wayne, it's time you look for how to rebuild the distributor.
Yeah, you pull it all apart and clean and put back together.
Thread has been posted atleast a dozen times by now.
BUT
The bolt is a 15mm, a swivel head socket from SEARS does the trick, lots of the 3/8" extensions, too.
You'll need a new Small Block Chevy Distb gasket & the round o ring thing.
It truly is a very simple task.
BUT get your engine to Top Ded Center, #1 & then pull distb.
PLUS... It's scary BUT you can do this.
PLAN on having, (just incase) someone available to drop back in the distb. when you are thru with this job.
That one detail, it NEVER hurts to be shown the first time.
Yeah, my over flow tank doesn't leak either. Come Monday Anti-freeze!
Then Gauges & then AC!

 

. I was just hoping I can do this without remvoving it . My time is kinda pressed . I looked for how to change a pick-up coil in the search but couldn't find it . I read on how to do it in my Haynes . Looks like I will be removing it tommorrow . Hey can I use carb cleaner instead of break cleaner ? I have a bottle of that , just sitting there , might as well put it to use if I can .Thanx !

 

The pick up coil is held on with a rectangular retainer that flies off at your head when you pry it off with a screwdriver... a new pickup coil should come with a new retainer. To get the pickup coil off, you need to pull the distributor shaft out of the distributor, which involves tapping out the roll pin of the distributor gear, so, yes, you have to remove the distributor.

Search for "distributor rebuild", you'll find a TON of messages on it here... I promise.

 

Thanx Tom ! That clears up alot right there for me ! I was thinking how does this thing come out heh .Im ganna go look up distributor rebuild now .

 

One small thing the rebuild post doesn't cover that had my blood boiling for a minute until my brain went into gear: Put a mark on the dist gear and the shaft when you pull it off so you'll put the gear on the right way. I didn't realize I was putting the gear on 180* backwards, so the rotor wouldn't line up with the housing when it slipped into the enging block (had marked the housing and valve cover so the whole thing would be straight. Didn't have to pull the gear off though just rotated the housing a little.

 

yeah , i did that , Thanx ! .....I can't find where the damn roll pin is on the dist , I looked in my haynes manual , looked in that exact place and could not find it

 

Wayne, are you coping me, a month ago, I needed to rebuild my dist, and there you were, already talking about it, the other day, my radiator leaks and I go to search and what do I notice, " Radiator pouring like a river" post, do you always have to have the same problems?

Anyways, I quickly searched and ended up decideing that I wont need to spend on "aftermarket" radiator, stock will be fine, and I bought one from Pepboys and installed it myself same day.

My old one must have been fragile, cuase when I went to stick the temp sensor on my Hayden Fan switch and the thing busted, I tried to seal it worked for about three hours, so I bought the radiator. The best part is, it has been 65-70 since then and my water temp has NOT been above the 160* line on the guage, and that is without the fan switch connected nad the fan possitive line has been sliced (I really need to finish installing the switch, but I was interupted)

Tommorow, I finish installing the switch and get that fan running again. Also I got to change my Transsmissionfluid, i hade fun getting the line to line up right and most of my OLD OLD OLD flouid ended up in the driveway. Shifts way too hard now, I defiantly need to fix that.

 

Stuart
Man that is funny ! heh :sillylol: I think its all your fault I have these problems ! Your contagious ! heh:sillylol: I got me a radiator out of the boneyard in really good shape ! Only paid $50 !!! Don't tell me about your fan switch breaking , b/c I don't feel like working on my car anymore for right now .

 

Switch ain't broken, just installin it for "TOTAL FAN CONTORL" It turns on at 186* and off at 164* My car will be cool now, hehehe