Hey everyone, Lately my car has been a jerk.. It will crank, and crank and not start. I'm still leaning toward a cracked distributor as the culprit, but I'll search for other opinions. I have 8.8 mm Accel wires, brand new cap and rotor, AC Delco plugs, new air filter, new fuel filter, and a brand new exhaust (less than 100km) If you need any more info just let me know.

 

Try replacing the coil on the distributor. Think its called the Ignition Module.

 

try module and coil. if one goes bad so does the other usually.

 

Module.. hmm.. The coil has less than 10k on it.. Is it hard to remove?

 

the module is not hard to remove and can be tested at auto parts stores. test it before throwing parts at it for no good reason. does it try to start if you ether it? or just backfire? what is your fuel pressure exactly? does it sound like it normally does when you crank it over?

 

not hard but when you dis connect the wires from the module make your self a cartoon of the wires and where they go.take distributor off and you will see a flat module with 2 bolts.unhook wires first with needlenose pliers careful with wires .wiggle them loose before you pull on them.take module to autoparts storeand have it checked.when you replace module clean the surface where it sets and apply dielectric grease to the metal base of the module & the surface of the distibutor. happy trails

 

I was thinkin too, when I changed my cap and rotor, the part the rotor goes on to was extremely rusty, would this cause a problem aswell?

Dodger -> When I try to start it, it just cranks and cranks. When it finally catches it smokes like hell (that extreme fuel smell) and hesitates for a while until it finally catches the idle.

 

yes because you are getting resistance from the rust on the shaft which feeds the rotor button. giving you inadequate spark to your distriubutor cap. in turn giving less spark to the plug wires.remember. all electrical connections should be clean always.if not you get oxidation. bad problem, simple fix.be sure to blow out dirty areas carefully.happy trails

 

i just thought of something.look under the module and see what that surface looks like. if its dirty clean it up and apply dielectric then give that atry before tearing everything out for replacement.

 

uhhh, wrong. the shaft can be as rusty as it wants. if the power from the coil was meant to go directly to ground, they would have found a way less convoluted way. the rotor button is fed from the center of the cap, not the shaft that it is heavily insulated from.

kevman: it sounds awful rich. have you done a fuel pressure test on it? and have you pulled the codes on it? you could have weak spark. you can check the coil w/ a volt/ohm meter. most parts can be checked before replacing them.

 

So I took off the cap and rotor.. What a mess, the whole internal assembly is rusty like mad. I'm just gonna clean it up for now, and put some dielectric grease on steel pieces. I have a few 2.8 Distributors that a friend of mine gave me a while back (The correct EFI ones, too) so I'll rebuild one of those, and switch it out at a later date.

 

yeah. that sounds bad. rust on the shaft itself is ok, but if the reluctor and p/u coil are ugly, that's bad...

 

Yea, it's not good. Plus all of the black build up on my brand new exhaust.. Flowmaster 80 Street Series...

 

Clean up the air gap, too. You'll see six "fingers" that line up with a 6-point magnet. Use a feeler gauge to make sure all of those fingers are bent evenly to meet the reluctor magnet. Before you do this, the distributor should spin easily in your hand. After you do this, when you spin the distributor, you'll feel each magnet 'catching'- and that sends a stronger signal to your pickup coil.

Try to find a replacement 1 inch inside diameter, 1/8th inch thick, o-ring for the distributor shaft seal. (It'll look like a hard black plastic ring on the distributor housing- it's supposed to be soft rubber!) That causes an oil leak that looks like the rear main seal. I follow KED85's advice (RIP Karl!) and also use a 305 chevy distributor gasket. (I just told the parts guy it was for an 88 Firebird with the 305 TPI)

But usually when a module goes bad, the car will die when the engine gets hot. When the engine cools down again, the car starts and runs fine- until it gets hot again. I would offer to check your fuel pressure (gauges used to be about $40, not sure what they are now). If your fuel pressure's too low (<40 PSI with Key On Engine Off), it won't be enough to start the car.

Your timing could've also slipped out past where the car would start & run. Before you loosen any bolts on the dizzy, see if you can turn it by hand. If you can turn it, then it worked loose on its own and you just have to fix the timing. After I changed my first fuel pump (it had about 10 PSI!), the car wouldn't start. I thought I screwed up the pump install, but after checking everything, the distributor had loosened up! A quick timing light got everything running OK again.

 

I had 45 PSI a few months ago when I got it checked at the dealer (turned out neoprene fuelhose was twisted) I'll definitely have to change that gasket, I'm just going to wait until school is done, and I can park the little bast#rd for a while.. The dizzy seems to be in pretty tight, I remember trying to turn it when I wanted to do the timing, but the timing was set at 13 before TDC.

But I'm still under the influence that it's a spark problem, because it runs really rich.. Especially at startup, when it hesitates, you can see the white smoke and smell the unburnt fuel (I still get 26MPG though..)