I shouldve posted this a long time ago when it happened but i was driving my 1985 GSL and suddenly the car started surging and stalled... I found out what it was the positive battery line had corroted to powder straight through so anyways i trimed it. But when it was all back together the car didnt run right the idle seemed off and the air fuel mixture was all screwy leaving me wondering how that happened??? To get the timing remotly right i needed to retard the timing as much as possible. Has anyone else had this problem? What could it be? Im really confused about it... thanks for the help

 

could have a fuseable link that is almost broke. Check the links one of mine went screwey and threw off the whole car.

 

really dumb question where are these fuseable links you are talking about and isnt it really strange that it affected my timing like this.... My car has never ran the same since so if i change this fuseable link will it go back to normal? thanks alot

 

They are located under the hood on the driver side just toward the firewall on the strut pillar. They are all in the threads and there is even a mod to replace / upgrade them. Use the search. It has been many years, but I have lost all power and had to emergency pull over. Until I jiggled one of them bastards just right, I had no electrical to start the car. Use the search. It's in there.

 

Im kinda confused though so the fusible link would change my idle permanently until i changed the whole fusible link itself? That seems kinda weird to me... Its strange how it threw my whole timing and idle out of wack. By the way how much does one cost?

 

You can replace the links with fuses. All it is is a power distribution block with fusible links. As far as the electric problem, I am not sure. Good luck. Electrical problems suck.

 

Heh isnt that the truth

 

how would if the problem is a fusible link?

 

Could my timing get messed up like this from a worn distributor rotor? Maybe a dumb idea but my timing is wierd... cause after the power failure i have had to have my timing as far retarded as possilbe in order to get it to even remotly idle properly... Sorry my last post didnt make sense at all i dont know what i was thinking lol. If the problem was a fusible link wouldnt i be having other electrical problems???

 

I'm wondering if maybe you blew your leading ignitor. Maybe your timing needs to be retarded so far because you are only running on the trailing ignition? Were you able to hook a timing light up to the lead spark plug, or did you retard it by ear?

 

Make sure you have set your timing using the factory service manual or a haynes manual. never set your timing by ear. Also make sure you are using the right timing mark on the front pulley as there are two on there. If all else fails, you may have jumped timing when your engine stalled. I have never had to reset mine, but usually, you remove distributer, set motor to top dead center, line up dots on distributer, install, reset timing.

 

Hey there again another dumb question. How can you tell when the engine is Top dead center? And then i just match up the dots between the distributor and the distributor mark? (sorry im just starting to learn about this stuff)
Thanks lots for your help.

 

Here's my best guess at what happened..

The fusible link failed (possibly partially) leading to a low or inconsistent spark. Leading to a rich fuel condition, leading to fouled plugs (i.e. messed up fuel mixture). This could also lead to an ignitor failure. Your retarding the timing seemed to help because you are giving the weak spark a longer time to fully burn the fuel. I would replace the wired fusible links with the aftermarket kind that you can buy for a couple bucks at advance or zone (see attached pic) 60 amp for the middle one and 30's for the top and bottom ones. Replace the plugs and reset your carb and timing to factory specs. If that doesn't do it. Check the ignitors (search for how to check those, I haven't needed to, yet). Good luck.

Dave

 

Thanks ill give that a try.