The problem is that I thought it was a coil on my 85 gs... which is stock... so i got a new one, changed out. still didnt fix the problem. so i changed my ignitors. still didnt fix my problem. so i got a new distributor. That fixed my problem... only thing is that it will not stay running longer then 15-20 secs... rev it, it back fires when you let off the gas... exhaust is disconnected because it caught on fire when i drove it with the bad pickups.... what is the problem???? i need help!!!

 

Make sure you have your leading coil wired to the leading rotor spot on the dizzy. And the trailing to the trailing.

I recently replaced an ignitor and while diagnosing the problem got the coils switched around. and had this exact same thing I would let off the gas and the car would backfire like it was being chased by indians.

Switch the coil wires around see if that stops it. it did for me. Somewhere along the line I just got the things swaped around.

 

That wasnt the problem, checked it out... switched them around like you said, and i got bad throttle performance... still back firing though... Can someone tell me what i need to do to fix it.. only car i have, and i need to get to and from work... thanks

 

Anyone in my area who can help me with my problem????

thanks

 

can you give us a bit more info, come on this is the internet not a shop.

"the problem is i thought it was a coil so i changed that but it wasnt" or w/e you said.............................................. ......... So helpful. What was the problem? When did "it" start happening?

Was it running before? Did this just start happening all of a sudden...?

What did you change since it was running?

Why exactly is your exhaust unhooked? Probably has something to do with the backfiring.

 

Did you set your timing after you swapped in the new dizzy?

 

Well I have this weekend off, if you really need help let me know, its about 3 hour drive for me though.

 

Well, I bought the car in June of this year... drove it for 10 mins and the catylic converter was glowing red and the heat from it was coming up thru the floor board... so i stopped and had it towed...

hasnt been moved from the drive way since... bought the car knowing that it had a few problems, and it wasnt running right... after getting it home and relaxing for a few months, started back on it once again...

unhooked the exhaust because it was backfiring, and wanted to see if it was clogged, havent found out yet... and thats where i am now...

havent changed anything since i changed the dizzy... also need to get the the exhaust bolts out because they got messed up due to the glowing red cat... let me know something please... thanks

Have a 1985 GS, 12A, that only runs on the Leading. Replaced the Trailing Coil, and still not firing. Tested the igniter on the Trailing side and doesn't work. Thats how I found out bout the pickups not working on the dizzy... found one from a 83 model from the same engine... just dont know if it will make it work or not.

Havent changed the timing on it...

 

When someone says the exhaust was glowing, the first thing I think of is a timing issue. Also, I would suspect a bad ignitor before a bad dizzy.

Do you currently have spark on both leading and trailing spark plugs?

 

sounds like the engine had a simple problem, and someone tried to fix it before you bought the car and they really misconnected everything.

glowing cat can mean it is running too lean, that is when the spark plug fires.

per MazdaTrix, you can run the engine without the trailing plugs connected.

check your spark plugs, I bet right now the leading plugs are fouled, greasy and not firing. Adn that the trailing plugs are the ones that are firing when there is some ignitable air/fuel mixture. The timing is so far off, that when the leading plugs fire, there isn't ignitable air/fuel mixture. The un ignited air/fuel mixture then rotates to the trailing plug causing a over rich condition in the exhaust causing the back fire.

First verify that the plugs are sparking

Then try starting the engine with only one leading plug connected. Vary the leads coming off the distributor. This will get you close to TDC for the leading spark plug. Once you choose the setting for one leading plug firing, then connect the second leading plug.

When you get the engine running half ***, then make small adjustments in the distributor setting by pulling the distributor up, and rotatiing it a little.

Inshort, my engine had the same symptoms when I lost TDC, and timing was 90 degrees off

Backfiring like it is being chased by indians ---> snicker!!

 

I disconnected the leading and trailing coils, both have spark... and the 4 spark plugs have spark as well... tweaked the dizzy yesterday, and its not back firing any more... but its still not running right... i think it has something to do with the exhaust being all messed up... the way it looks is that one of the cats on the header is clogged, and so are the other ones, plus the muffler... I dont know what else to do with that. Any suggestions any one?

Also, I replaced both coils, and swapped ignitors, theyre both still good... the only thing we couldve thought of next is the dizzy... one of the pickups in the dizzy was bad... so we replaced that...

i am thinking the problem coudlve been that the pick up was bad, and thats why the cat was glowing the way it was... to test that theory, i need to take off 2 broken bolts from the header to the cat... when it heated up, it messed up the bolts... so now, i have to drill them out, or tap them or something like that... to see if it was glowing because of the dizzy...

Any other ideas?

 

tweaked the dizzy yesterday, and its not back firing any more... but its still not running right... i think it has something to do with the exhaust being all messed up..

Say what:

1>tweaked the dizzy? what do you mean?
2>still not running right? what do you mean?
3>exhaust being all messed up? what do you mean? in the 1st post you said the exhaust was disconnected

 

Recheck your plug wires, sounds like they may be wired wrong.

 

I turned the dizzy so it wouldnt idle as high, 2: its still idling wrong, and its not sounding the way it should; 3: exhaust being clogged, disconnected, or everything in the piping is wrong. Theres some hoses coming from the emissions system that are cut coming from the rats nest...

What would happen if i took off the rats nest... thanks for all the help, and im sorry that im not describing everything... let me know something else... thanks all whose helping me with this problem.